Vokale (2017-2018)
for choir a cappella divided into 3 groups
Text by Arthur Rimbaud (Translated from French to German by Stefan George)
EDIZIONI SUVINI ZERBONI-MILANO
SCORE
AUDIO
Commissioned by the Dresdner Kammerchor
Dresdner Kammerchor under the direction of Hans-Christoph Rademann
at COROTOPIA - 4. DRESDNER CHORWERKSTATT FÜR NEUE MUSIK
in Festspielhaus Hellerau Dresden.
15 Min.
*******
The left and right hemispheres of our brain do not carry out the same functions. The left one performs tasks that deal with logic, speech, language, comprehension, time sequencing and mathematical skills.
The right one however, is the more artistic and creative side of the brain and deals with feelings, visualization, imagination and perception.
The brain stem is responsible for our basic life functions such as our cardiovascular system and respiratory control.
Brain science interests me a lot especially after one of my family members had a stroke.
In my piece Vokale, I have attempted to represent the characteristic functions of both hemispheres and the brain stem in my division of the choir, which consists of 3 groups:
The 3 Altos, 2 Tenors and 2 Basses who are in the centre at the front of the stage play the role of being the trigger in the piece.
The 4 Sopranos, 5 Altos, 3 Tenors, 3 Basses are the left hemisphere and perform verbal tasks such as speaking, and chattering with rhythmic gestures.
The 8 Sopranos, 3 Tenors, 3 Bass represent the right hemisphere and perform imaginative tasks utilizing 5 vowels and their formants. These are portrayed with stretched and drawn out musical gestures.
During the musical process, the equipoise of these three groups constantly fluctuates. Sometimes the character of the left hemisphere is dominating, but we are then escorted into a state of well being represented by calmness and floating linear like gestures which can possibly be from the right hemisphere.
Arthurd Rimbaud’s texts discuss the colours of 5 vowels with imaginative examples that clearly show the different methods of handling objects by either the right or left hemispheres. Arthurd Rimbaud’s texts discuss the colours of 5 vowels with imaginative examples that clearly show the different methods of handling objects by either the right or left hemispheres. He wrote the following in his poem : I invented colors for the vowels! - A black, E white, I red, O blue, U green. - I made rules for the form and movement of every consonant, and I boasted of inventing, with rhythms from within me, a kind of poetry that all the senses, sooner or later, would recognize. And I alone would be its translator….(A. Rimbaud, Alchimie du verbe, Délires II )
In my piece “Vokale”, I have attempted to represent the vowels in a non- verbal way by timbre (colour of sound), using the system and functions of the hemispheres.
(January 4, 2018, Malika Kishino)