related works

Upstream : 2004 / Will Eisma

Genre: Chamber music
Subgenre: Woodwind ensemble (2-12 players)

From death to birth : version II for mixed choir and tape / music: Tera de Marez Oyens, words: M.S. Arnoni

Genre: Vocal music
Subgenre: Mixed choir; Multimedia and singing voice(s) with or without instrument(s)
Scoring: GK4 tape

Variation on (R)evolution : for mezzo-soprano, violin and piano / Zaid Jabri; text by Yvette Christianse

Genre: Vocal music
Subgenre: Voice and instrument(s)
Scoring: sopr-m vn pf

De Dood en de Jongeman : for piano trio and mezzo-soprano/violin ad. lib. / Roos van der Burg

Genre: Vocal music
Subgenre: Voice and instrument(s)
Scoring: (sopr) vln vcl 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