Programme notes:

The richly nuanced, intense, vocal work Il Cantico del Sole proved to be Naumann's international breakthrough at the 1966 ISCM (International Society of Contemporary Music) Festival in Stockholm. The French critic Antoine Golea spoke of "...a virtuoso, brilliant, transparent work - striking and masterful..." Il Cantico del Sole was composed in Rome in the fall of 1963. The text is from the oldest known version of the renowned Canticle of the Sun (Cantico delle creature or Cantico di frate sole) by St. Francis of Assisi (c 1182-1226), the merchant's son who, after a vision following a severe illness, renounced his former life, joined the poorest of the poor and the lepers, preached to the birds, and founded the order of mendicant monks that was to bear his name. The Canticle of the Sun was written in the language of the people -Italian (vulgate)-as a song of praise to be used alongside the liturgy. It lacks contemporaneous parallels. Using this text, Naumann composed a three-movement antiphon for two solo voices (contralto and baritone), choir,10 instrumental soloists, and orchestra. The 10 instrumental soloists sit in a semicircle around the conductor. Behind them sits the string orchestra, divided into groups joined by three trumpets, three bassoons, a harp, a piano, and a large percussion section. At the rear of the stage stand the choir and both vocal soloists. The work requires two conductors: one for the singers and one primarily for the orchestra, which, however, occasionally follows its own "reaction scores with independently adapted time-and-space configurations. The same applies to certain vocal passages. The static orchestral introduction - with piano clusters, tam-tam, and cymbals - is intended to create the same tranquillity as church bells summoning people to service: "The need for repose is greater than the sense of something imminent". The beginning of the second movement lives on frenzy and the feeling of bodily motion, which is why the rhythm is intensified by bongos and maracas. Regarding the text, Naumann has maintained that he did not concern himself with author's philosophy (regardless of whether he, Naumann, shares it or not). Rather, he was attracted by the nuances of the words, the mood, the vision, and the musical qualities of the text. Text: Rolf Haglund. From Phono Suecia nr 34 (1987).