related works
Fleur miroir : pour hautbois, clarinette et basson, 1984 / Will Eisma
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Woodwind ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring:
ob cl fg
Requiem pour une marée noire : for soprano, vibraphone and piano / Alexandre Rabinovitch-Barakovsky
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and instrument(s)
Scoring:
sopr vibr pf
Invention-1983 : for medium voice, cor anglais and electronic organ / Mathieu Geelen
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and instrument(s)
Scoring:
medium eh el.org
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and instrument(s)
Scoring:
sopr vl pf
composition
Le cheval mort : mezzo-soprano, bass clarinet, piano, percussion: marimba + tamtam, 2 synthesizers, 4 channel tape / text: Aloysius Bertrand, Will Eisma
Other authors:
Bertrand, Aloysius
(Text writer/Librettist)
Eisma, Will
(Composer)
Description:
Program note (English): The compositions Le Gibet and Le Cheval Mort were set to surrealistic poems by Aloysius Bertrand from his collection: Gaspard de la nuit, septième livre, Pièces détachées. The wonderful ambience derived from the poems inspired me to set some of these to music. The text of the poems expresses the dramatic environment of a battlefield and a graveyard. This lends itself easily to natural nocturnal sounds, bloodcurdling whistling and cracking noises. This is, however, something I wanted to avoid. I have tried to create an unreal atmosphere in my music. In Le Cheval Mort the electronics are prominent, especially in the second half of the work. It was written for the music festival in Witten, Germany and received its première there in 1976. - WILL EISMA