related works
...e poi c’era… : Symphony Nº 1 / Luc Brewaeys
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
3fl 3ob 3cl 3fg 4h 3trp 3trb tb 4perc hp pf perc
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and large ensemble
Scoring:
sopr-m fl(pi,fl-a) ob cl sax 2h 2trb 2perc hp pf(synth, glock) 2vl 2vla 2vc
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and large ensemble
Scoring:
alt fl-a fl-b ob(eh) cl-b cl-cb fg-c 2h trp trb tb 3perc cymb acc pf hp str
Gezien Hercules Segers : for soprano and instrumental ensemble / Elmer Schönberger
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and large ensemble
Scoring:
sopr 2cl(cl-b) h tpt pf hp cimbalom perc 2vn vla vc db
composition
Schumann’s Ghosts : for soprano ad lib. and ensemble / Luc Brewaeys
Other authors:
Brewaeys, Luc
(Composer)
Description:
This small piece was commissioned by the Ictus Ensemble and composed in 1999. It was (the first) part of a cycle of "arrangements/revisits" of the song cycle op. 99 by Robert Schumann, realized by 7 composers, among them Jonathan Harvey. The idea was to keep untouched the vocal line composed by Schumann, while everything alse was totally free to each composer's discretion. I received song n° 1 "Lied des Schmiedes" (Song of the smith), which is very staightforward and harmonically very simple. I just kept the basic harmony and filled it with different moods, at places with many notes. I took a lot of fun realizing this, quoted Mahler (2nd Symphony) and Janacek (Glagolithic Mass) and made a grotesque kind of Foxtrot in the third verse. At the end a cuckoo sings "goodbye", while repeating sharpening by a quarter tone each time and the ensemble desintegrates before playing the conclusive bars which are a perfect mirror of the first two. I intentionally previewed two versions, with or without the voice. The first performance took place in december '99 in Brussels by Mitsuko Shirai with the Ictus Ensemble under George-Elie Octors.