GURSKY SONGS (2015)
Tenor, Vl, Vcl, Piano
Duration ca. 17:00
PROGRAM NOTES
In three movements:
Paris, Montparnasse
Chicago, Board of Trade
Frankfurt, Hauptbahnhof
Gursky Songs is the result of an ongoing creative partnership with the gifted singer, poet and librettist Daniel Neer. In creating the poems that form the basis for this work, Daniel was inspired by the images of German photographer Andreas Gursky. Gursky’s pictures often involve crowded environments, digitally amplified to crowd scenes of monstrous proportions. Daniel’s poems, on the other hand, tended to emphasize the voice of an individual within this environment. Struck by this intriguing dichotomy, I attempted to synthesize both source elements into the music for this work, juxtaposing the solo voice against overwhelming textures that are in turn bustling, calamitous, and cavernous.
Commissioned by Daniel Neer. Premiered at the National Opera Center, New York, NY (March 2016).
SCORE PREVIEW
