• Song cycle opus 88 for eight voices, eight instruments and heartbeats contains the following eight poems and a wordless finale: 'heb vaak in stilte (opus 4 number 4) by Ann Missorten for alto voice and clarinet, Krus ng Aking Ina by Franco Coralde Sangreo for baritone and guitar, Se Ora by Patrizia Cavalli for soprano and vibraphone, By the Temple by Wang Wei for tenor and piccolo flute, Féline Colère (opus 69) by Nathalie Racine for soprano and horn, Song of the Open Road (opus 62) by Walt Whitman for countertenor and piano, Winter Love by Moon Jeong Hee for soprano and cello, and In Praise of Sake by Ōtomo Tabito for bass baritone and percussion.

• Duration: 40'
• Composed in 2012
• First performance: 15.07.12 Singers Anna Koor, Edwin Cruz, Sabrina Zuber, Joseph Yap, Lim Yan Ting, Brendan-Keefe Au, Jeong Ae Ree and Masahiro Mita Esplanade Recital Studio, Singapore
• ISMN: 979-0-90165-8-6
• Parts: To rent the parts, please email <rc@robertcasteels.com>
• Downloadable scores for inspection:
  Music_from_Heart_full_score.pdf

Music from the Heart is a cycle of eight happy songs that explore different facet of human love. Most love songs deal with pain, absence, bereavement. Robert Casteels chose to explore positive expressions of human love: the maternal love for her new born child, the filial love of a grateful son for his mother, sapphic love, the love for fine liquor, the erotic love of a woman for a man from the lady's point of view, the love of a man for a man and finally a man's love for a lady and for nature. Each poem is sung in its original language. Robert went a literal step further by alternating the songs with pre-recorded sequences of  sounds of human ill heart beats, entitled pathos.