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Landscapes and Magic Words (1981) |
The idea for this piece arose out of my fascination for Eskimo poetry. The simplicity and directness of the words, together with their clarity and strong visual associations, suggested a multitude of musical ideas and provided a firm starting point for its composition. The piece begins with the seated solo voice, together with five other voices (sung by members of the ensemble) intoning a weird chant over a sustained instrumental chord. This instrumental/vocal sonority becomes a backcloth for the unfolding of a plaintive solo from the cor anglais.
Gradually, the solo soprano emerges from the musical landscape. She sings:
I arise from rest
with the beat of a raven's wing
I arise to meet the day
My eyes turn from the night
to gaze at the dawn now
whitening.
The music begins to build to its first climatic point, and the ensemble from being a 'distant and cold' accompaniment now embellishes and clothes the vocal line in an elaborate and contrapuntal section, featuring predominantly oboe, soprano saxaphone and electric guitar. From a triumphant chord, the music dissolves into a chant, out of which Eskimo words slowly penetrate the texture, punctuating the incessant rhythmic accompaniment. The solo voice is jooined by chanters from the ensemble, creating a blend of instrumental and vocal sounds. After three huge crescendi, the music suddenly returns to the soundworld of the beginning. Over sustained chords and distant voices, the solo voice sings:
our lives pass away
we flow and go flowing like water
The piece is scored for oboe, Bb clarinet (doublling bass clarinet) soprano saxaphone (doubling bass clarinet), horn, electric guitar, electric organ (doubling piano), percussion and dtring quintet. In addition, the three wind players blow across tuned clay bottles and the keyboard players and percussion use tuned wine glasses. All these forces are amplified and projected via eight loudspeakers situated round the hall. 'Landscapes and Magic Words' was commissioned by Capricorn with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain. It was first performed at the 1981 Edinburgh Festival, with the soprano Lynda Richardson, conducted by the composer.
© Simon Bainbridge