Some Days

for mezzo-soprano and orchestra

texts by Joseph Kariuki, Bloke Modisane and James Baldwin

Mezzosopran und Orchester

Ausgabe: Aufführungsmaterial

Reihe: Some Days

Leihanfrage

Produktdetails

Beschreibung

The song cycle Some Days combines the jazz-inflected sound of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s music with the no less distinctive utterance of three black African and American poets, Joseph Kariuki, Bloke Modisane and James Baldwin.

The tone of the work is lyrical and intimate, befitting four poems chosen for their theme of loneliness (the third movement, ‘Tango’, is purely instrumental). The orchestral sound, product of an unusual line up of clarinets and bassoons with harp and strings, seems tailored to capture the brooding emotion of the cycle, whether in ironic mode, as in the second song, or the straight transcription of mood as conveyed in the closing blues. Also adding to the elegiac tone are stylistic echoes of Miles Davis, a musician greatly respected by the composer.

By 1989, the year of the work’s composition, Turnage’s skill as a writer for the voice was already well recognised. In contrast, however, to earlier successes as Lament for a Hanging (1983) and his first opera Greek (1988), in which ritual, myth and drama formed the background for vocal expression, Some Days was his first acknowledged essay in song conceived purely as vehicle for personal confession, a role characteristic not only of late-Romantic music, but also of twentieth-century popular-culture.

Dedicated to the memory of Michael Vyner, Some Days was commissioned by the David Cohen Charitable Trust for the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, who gave the first performance with mezzo-soprano Cynthia Clarey and conductor Bernard Haitink at the BBC Proms on 21 July 1991.

Nicholas Williams

Orchesterbesetzung

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Inhalt

I Come Away, my Love
II Lonely
III Tango
IV Some Days
V Blues: Now I am Absolutely Alone, Forever

Weitere Informationen

Titel:

Some Days

for mezzo-soprano and orchestra

texts by Joseph Kariuki, Bloke Modisane and James Baldwin

Sprache:

Englisch

Ausgabe:

Aufführungsmaterial

Verlag/Label:

Schott Music

Kompositionsjahr:

1989

Spieldauer:

15 ′

Uraufführung:

21. Juli 1991 · London (UK)
Royal Albert Hall
BBC Proms 1991
Cynthia Clarey, mezzo soprano · Musikalische Leitung: Bernard Haitink · Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

Auftragswerk:

Commissioned by the David Cohen Charitable Trust for the orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

Reihe:

Some Days

Technische Details

Bestellnummer:

LSL 4098-01