I Know a Man
(2011)Program note
When Hexnut asked me to write a new piece for their program WRENCH, I immediately said yes very loudly. WRENCH was a project of the ensemble Hexnut together with the photographs of Edward Burtynsky. The performance consisted of new compositions performed in a tightly versed integration of sound and projected image.
I picked out a series of photographs on which Chinese workers assemble or prepare consumer goods, in endless rows. It would have been obvious to write fast machine music. But instead I made slow pacing music, on I Know a Man: a prose-like poem with mysterious midphrase line breaks by the poet American Robert Creeley. That calm pace with blank spaces was the basis for my song.
I picked out a series of photographs on which Chinese workers assemble or prepare consumer goods, in endless rows. It would have been obvious to write fast machine music. But instead I made slow pacing music, on I Know a Man: a prose-like poem with mysterious midphrase line breaks by the poet American Robert Creeley. That calm pace with blank spaces was the basis for my song.
Scoring
Mezzo-soprano
Soprano recorder
Bass flute
Trumpet
Piano / Harpsichord
Soprano recorder
Bass flute
Trumpet
Piano / Harpsichord
Duration
6'
More info
Written at the request of Hexnut ensemble, with financial support of the Fonds Podiumkunsten.
First performance
Premiered by Hexnut, September 7, 2011, in the Vredenburg Leeuwenbergh, Utrecht.
Sheet music
Available for rent/purchase from Deuss Music.