Commission Ensemble Intecontemporain
Piece for 24 singers and 16 instruments based on a poem by Sjón:
an attempt to resuscitate du’a khalil aswad
tilraun til endurlífgunar dúu khalil aswad
Singers:
4 Soprano,
4 Mezzo-soprano
4 Alto
4 Tenor
4 Baritone
4 Bass
Instruments :
2 flutes (1st also piccolo and alto flute, 2nd also piccolo and bass flute)
2 clarinets (1st also bass clarinet and Eb clarinet, 2nd also contrabass clarinet)
2 horns (both mutes bouché, mutes wa-wa of trombone)
2 C trumpets (both mutes cup, practice mutes and mutes wa-wa, optionally piccolo trumpets)
2 tenor/bass trombones (both mutes cup, practice mutes and mutes wa-wa)
2 percussions (see the list below)
1 Harp
2 violoncellos
1 Contrabass
Each musician disposes 2 pebbles
The piece is a kind of ritual.
A special position of the choir and other musicians is required (see the schema bellow).
The instrument players also whisper and make some other noises without instruments.
The conductor has also a visual role in the piece. He disposes a black textile back filled with 24 pebbles that he distributes to the singers in the beginning of the piece (measures 1-21, Trajectory 1). He also makes noises with his own two pebbles and with his mouth (no singing or speaking is required). The conductor goes at the end of the piece to the musicians and collects their pebbles into his bag (measures 713-728, Trajectory 2).
Accessory for the choir singers:
Each singer plays with two pebbles (round stones, around 8cm each)
6 singers (S1, MS1, A1, T1, Bar1, B1) play also 1 siren whistle with bell each,
the same 6 singers have 1 hard stick each
6 singers (S3, MS3, A3, T3, Bar3, B3) play 1 tom-tom, (covered by a white and later by a black textile)
The same 6 singers have one soft mallet each
12 singers (S2, S4, MS2, MS4, A2, A4, T2, T4, Bar2, Bar4, Bas2, Bas4) have 1 boom-whackers (tuned flexible plastic tube) each
The style of singing is very related to the diction and to the rhythm of the text. The diction should be very pronounced British English (even with some exaggeration of the pronunciation), the type of voice and rhythm are both directly related to the diction and should be very natural, close to the spoken voice, sometimes jazzy, groovy, swingy, …
Sjón
an attempt to resuscitate du’a khalil aswad
Translation David McDuff, Sjón
(italic = additional words in German and Czech)
stein , steinchen
menschlich
menschliche hand
the human hand looks like an outstretched wing
whether it is throwing
a heap of small stones
or a fist-sized rock
the pebbles
skim across the water –
pause for a moment
in their flight before they fall
the big stone knows no rest until it
lands on the body of a seventeen-year-old girl in love
neusnou
(one is a recent newspaper story
the other the memory of a summer’s night)
*
the mind will not let go
of either memories or news stories
it never looks like an outstretched wing
*
to the god of the brothers of the stoned one
I offer this poem in exchange for her life
Sjón
tilraun til endurlífgunar dúu khalil aswad
(original in Icelandic)
mannshöndin líkist þöndum væng
hvort sem hún sleppir
lófafylli af smásteinum
eða hnefastóru grjóti
steinvölurnar
þjóta yfir vatnið –
gera andartaks hlé
á flugi sínu áður en þær falla
hnullungurinn ann sér ekki hvíldar fyrr en hann
hafnar í líkama ástfanginnar sautján ára stúlku
(annað er nýleg smáfrétt
hitt minning um sumarnótt)
*
hugurinn sleppir ekki takinu
hvorki af minningabrotum né fréttum
hann líkist aldrei þöndum væng
*
guði trúbræðra hinnar grýttu
býð ég þetta ljóð í skiptum fyrir líf hennar