Version for (Singing) String Orchestra
Fassung für (singendes) Streichorchester
Score | Partitur
Unverkäufl iches Mietmaterial:
Weitergaben an Dritte und Vervielfältigungen jeglicher Art sind unzulässig.
Einzeichnungen sind nur mit weichem Bleistift gestattet. Andernfalls sind wir genötigt, Schadenersatz zu verlangen.
Version for (Singing) String Orchestra
Fassung für (singendes) Streichorchester
Score | Partitur
MM 2385423 Printed in Germany
Nur das Mikrofon einschalten reicht nicht – Just turning on your microphone is not enough.
Haben Sie den Verlag schon eingeschaltet? Have you already turned to the publisher?
„Die Benutzung des Materials zu allen Arten von Audio-/audiovisuellen Produktionen, digitaler Speicherung (online/offline), Übermittlung, Wahr nehmbarmachung usw. ohne vorherige schriftliche Zustimmung des Verlages ist ausdrücklich untersagt.“
aus „Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen“, 5b
”The use of the material for all types of audio/audio-visual production, digital storage (on-line/off-line), transmission, creation of perceptible media, etc., is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of the publisher.“
see ”General Trade Terms,“ 5b
leih@breitkopf.de hire@breitkopf.com
The four movements may be played separately or as a collection. If played together the following order should be observed: 1 Dyngylday (c.4’) 2 Eki Attar (c.3’) 3 Kuda Yry (c.6’) 4 Ezir-Kara (c.6’)
Duration
approx. 19 minutes World
Orchestre National d’Auvergne, cond. Roberto Forés Veses
Clermont-Ferrand | 08/10/2020
It was the practice of Khöömii (throat singing) – following several workshops with Michael Ormiston – that first attracted me to Tuvan music. Composing this “Songbook,” the first in a series commissioned by the Ligeti Quartet, I took the chance to reflect on compositional questions around transcription and arrangement of existing music, and frequently found myself asking: where is the boundary between the source material and the new substance? Of course the relationship varies from piece to piece, and moment to moment: sometimes we seem to glimpse the pure source, but most of the time there are differing degrees of distance, working towards or away from it. This new version for string orchestra corresponds closely to the original quartet version, with an additional part for double basses.
The traditional Tuvan songs that I have transcribed and recomposed are all known to me from the Ay Kherel CD The Music of Tuva: Throat Singing and Instruments from Central Asia (2004, Arc Music). According to the notes from that CD, this is what the songs are about:
1. Dyngylday: “If you have come on a horse in blue, it doesn’t mean that you are the best. My heart tells me something else: my sweetheart doesn’t have such a beautiful horse, but he is my darling.”
An alternative interpretation from Alash Ensemble (alash ensemble.com): “The word dyngylday is a nonsense term with no translation. The song makes good-humored fun of somebody for being a good-for-nothing.”
2. Eki Attar (“The Best Steeds”): “The horse is the basis of our life. It is a magic creature. Even its step is full of music and rhythm. You may not be a horse rider, but when you hear this song you will always remember horses.”
3. Kuda Yry: “This wedding song glorifies the strength of the groom and the beauty of his Horse.”
4. Ezir-Kara (‘Black Eagle’): “This was the name of a horse, who became a legend through his remarkable strength and speed.”
It is not just overtones that abound here: there are galloping rhythms aplenty, and though I am no horse rider I tried to keep the horses galloping in my imagination while composing these pieces.
© Christian Mason (with quotes from Ay Kherel and Alash Ensemble)
Non-standard techniques are explained where they appear in the score. By way of a brief summary, these are the most important considerations:
Natural harmonics are used in a wide variety of manners. In cases where they are employed melodically it is important to achieve the written music precisely. On the other hand, when used texturally (for example the opening bars for the violins in Eki Attar) the gestures and shapes are more important than the precise pitches:
Microtones and accidentals: natural harmonics are usually notated to the nearest semitone with the assumption that natural intonation is inevitable, the one exception being Eki Attar which employs accidentals with arrows to indicate natural intonation. Where quarter-tone accidentals are used (e.g. Dyngylday or Ezir-Kara) these are to be interpreted as tempered quarter-tones, without reference to the harmonic spectrum:
Circular bowing = shifting constantly between sul tasto/pont. bow positions:
Pizzicato with subsequent “hammer-on” or “slide” occurs in Kuda Yry: in either case do not re-pluck the bracketed note:
Cello subharmonics are used in Ezir-Kara. These are achieved using a slow bow with excess pressure in a sul tasto position:
Singing (and shouting) while playing occurs in Eki Attar and Ezir-Kara. The recordings by Ligeti Quartet can be used as a reference for interpretation. The unison vocal part is notated on a single stave above the string orchestra.
arco 'crunch': sul tasto, slow heavy bow
q = 160 - 180
* Perfect accuracy is probably impossible: aim for the written notes, but don’t worry if you miss them. Follow the notated shapes. Any high nat. harm. on the G string will work.
Breitkopf & Härtel KG
Walkmühlstraße 52
65195 Wiesbaden Germany
info@breitkopf.com
www.breitkopf.com