related works
Inzet : for carillon, 1994/1995 / Ron Ford
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Carillon
Scoring:
car
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising : for ensemble / Yale Strom
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Speaking voice and large ensemble
Scoring:
voc fl cl vc vl db
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Speaking voice and large ensemble
Scoring:
recit(bas-bar) cl-b cl-cb cfg 2sax h trb tb 2perc g-b pf 4vl 2vla 2vc 3cb
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Speaking voice and large ensemble
Scoring:
recit fl ob cl fg h perc 2vl vla vc cb
composition
Salomé fast : for ensemble and reciting voice, 1996 / text: Matthew 14:1-12, Mark 6:14-29, Aramaeic version, Ron Ford
Other authors:
Ford, Ron
(Composer)
Description:
Program note (English): Text-too long, dramatically weak, based on text which is totally incomprehensible: what else could it be but opera? Still I am fascinated by the dramatic stories that lay the foundations for these mega-art works. I got the idea to use the libretti of several key operas as frames for music pieces with a dramatic but non-operatic character. Salomé fast is based not on Strauss' opera, but on its libretto. Richard Strauss' inspiration was the theatre version by Oscar Wilde, who in turn was inspired by the Bible. In Salomé fast one moves one step further towards the source, in that the story of Salomé form the Bible is recited in Aramaic, the spoken language from that time. Thus in Salomé fast, the story is pulled both into the future and backwards in time to its most original form. The libretto was translated into English and ruthlessly reduced to the absolutely necessary minimum of text. This version (just a couple of pages) was used as a strict frame for composing the
instrumental music. Melodic length, shape, instrumentation and form were derived from this - otherwise unheard - shadow libretto. The speed with which one is whipped through this material gives the piece a bugs bunny cartoon-like character. - RON FORD