related works
Miniatures : for bass clarinet / Initiated and edited by Fie Schouten
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Clarinet
Scoring:
cl-b
π = 3,14 : for alto solo and chamber orchestra / Julia Tsenova
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and large ensemble
Scoring:
ob fg h timp perc pf 2vln vla vc db
Dreamtime : for soprano and tape, 1976, revised version 1991 / David Rowland
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice solo; Multimedia and singing voice(s) with or without instrument(s)
Scoring:
sopr tape
Sine nomine : for soprano & chamber orchestra, (1973) / Enrique Raxach
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and orchestra; Multimedia and singing voice(s) with or without instrument(s)
Scoring:
sopr 2222 sax-a 2220 2perc el.g hp man ham.org cemb (pf synth ad lib.) str(8.5.5.4.2.) tape
composition
Urban songs : soprano, large ensemble, computers / Klas Torstensson
Other authors:
Torstensson, Klas
(Text writer/Librettist)
Torstensson, Klas
(Composer)
Description:
Program note (English): As a composer I feel attracted to writing series - or 'families' - of compositions, a method which enables me to concentrate, over a longer period of time, on a specific problem or on a specific definition of a problem. An example is my triptych Licks & Brains for saxophones and ensemble (1987-88). In the case of Urban songs, for soprano, large ensemble and computers, the 'family' is small; apart from this piece, the only other 'family member' is a composition for soprano solo, Urban solo (also written for Charlotte Riedijk). The traditional Libanese folksong Abu Zeluf - as sung by the Libanese singer Dunya Yunis - could perhaps also be considered as a part of this 'family'; Urban Solo as well as Urban Songs (first song) were partly inspired by this folksong. The song itself, however, is not quoted; similarities are rather to be found in certain kinds of ornamentation, and in the speech-sounds that are used (stripped of their semantic meaning!). Where the first part (song)
could - in spite of the title of the composition - in some ways be called 'rural', the second part (song) is definitely 'urban' in character. It not only refers to an urban style of music (no one can probably fail to notice which kind of music is meant), but also the 'montage'-like structure would be unthinkable without modern urban technologies such as the technique of sampling. - KLAS TORSTENSSON