Notizen-Fragmente - Book 1 (2009 - 15')
For Voice (soprano) and Organ
Texte by Rainer Maria Rilke - Notizen zur Melodie der Dingen (1898)
1. Ganz am Anfang – voice and organ
2. Solo 1 – solo organ
3. Ich kann mir kein seligeres Wissen denken – solo voice
4. Sei es das Singen einer Lampe oder die Stimme des Sturms – voice and organ
A shock. A revelation. It was impossible to remain indifferent to these Notes on the Melody of Things - incredible pages written by a juvenile author of twenty-three years old - a text which questions the function of art, its more intimate essence. Queries that upset us and pull us out of the dark cave to guess a draft of an inherent sense of our own artistic creation. Rilke gave us just few words. And everything is expressed on the need to route the intense desire of the artist we sometimes describe as intiateur. The One who wrote the first word behind a secular dash. After all, the composer could be also considered as a magician of sounds. Whatever his desire for modernity and individuality, he constantly brings to the front the ontological question of our "humanity in listening". In order to give a possible answer within the melody of things.
The first Book of these "Fragments" was composed at the request of Cindy Castillo during her artist residency at Kitara Hall in Sapporo (Japan). The premiere of these four pieces took place in this magic place for a composer fascinated by the Orient, along with Aurélie Franck, a wonderful singer who premiered my Passio secundum Lucam the year before. These Notizen-Fragmente highlight the many individual qualities of each of the musicians on the occasion of solo pieces, alternating with shimmering duos. A music which speaks about loneliness, but also about a musical sensitivity born from the fusion of the wonderful timbres of the voice and the organ .
A second Book is already planned in Fall 2013 for these wonderful artists.
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I.
Ganz am Anfang sind wir, siehst du. Wie vor Allem. Mit Tausend und einem Traum hinter uns und ohne Tat.
II.
Ich kann mir kein seligeres Wissen denken, als dieses Eine: daß man ein Beginner werden muß. Einer der das erste Wort schreibt hinter einen jahrhundertelangen Gedankenstrich.
XVI.
Sei es das Singen einer Lampe oder die Stimme des Sturms, sei es das Atmen des Abends oder das Stöhnen des Meeres, das dich umgiebt – immer wacht hinter dir eine breite Melodie, aus tausend Stimmen gewoben, in der nur da und dort dein Solo Raum hat. Zu wissen, wann Du einzufallen hast, das ist das Geheimnis deiner Einsamkeit: [...]
Aus den hohen Worten sich fallen lassen in die eine gemeinsame Melodie.