related works
Deux personnages : pour marimba et vibraphone, 1985 / révision 2008 / Will Eisma
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Percussion
Scoring:
mar(vibr)
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and instrument(s)
Scoring:
bar 2vl vla vc
Pep It Up : Fantasy for soprano, percussion, piano and string quintet / Isidora Žebeljan
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and instrument(s)
Scoring:
sopr perc pf 2vn vla vc
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and instrument(s)
Scoring:
bar org 2vl vc
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