A Hopeful Place is a song cycle in nine movements for soprano and chamber orchestra, and was written between August 2009 and July 2010. It runs approximately 65 minutes and follows one woman’s life journey from birth to death. Along the way we encounter experiences from her childhood, adolescence, romantic pursuits, true love, earthly pleasures, and the wisdom learned throughout a lifetime in a world filled with so much turmoil. The overall thematic idea of the piece is that although we are mortal, we leave an everlasting mark in the world through the love we impart to family and friends...

Dan Redfeld's A Hopeful Place is an incredibly moving work for soprano and chamber orchestra. I've listened to this almost non stop for over a week and fall deeper in love with it the more I play it.

I deliberately avoided reading the press information when I originally started listening to this - preferring to soak up the music without any background information. When I did read the press release it was interesting to discover that the entire movement charts the life, from birth to death, of a woman.

The album contains 9 tracks (1 hr, 04 min, 24 sec). The spirit of James Horner seems to permeate some of these tracks. The opening 'Introduction / Ruminations' has a couple of segments that are so close to Horner's work on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn, that on the first listen through I had to check my iTunes account wasn't playing up. 'Finale: Moments / I Wish you Music' opens with music very similar to Horner's score for The Land Before Time.

If you're looking for a beautiful, melancholic work that has the potential to reduce you to tears then look no further. Redfeld has delivered a stunning work here that you'll get years of pleasure out of.

10

Darren Rea