Musical Category Soloist(s) and Orch./Ens. and/or Choir
With electroacoustics ("tape")
Instrumentation (general) soprano, mezzo-soprano, string sextet and electronics
Premiere
Date 1999
Performer(s)
Champ d'Action
Organization/Event Ars Musica Festival
Town Brussels
Country Belgium
Text / Lyrics
Title of Poem or Text [Upanishades Excerpt]
Text Text:
yo vai bhuma tat sukham, nalpe sukham asti, bhumaiva sukham;
bhuma tv eva vijijnasitavya iti; bhumanam, bhagavah, vijijnasa iti.
yatra nanyat pasyati nanyac chrnoti nanyad vijanati sa bhuma;
yo vai bhuma tad amrtam, atha yad alpam tan martyam;
sa, bhagavah, kasmin pratishthita iti;
sue mahimni, yadi va na mahimniti.
Translation:
The infinite is hapiness. There is no happiness in anything finite. Only the infinite is happiness.
But one must desire to understand the infinite. Venerable Sir, I desire to understand the infinite.
Where one sees nothing else, hears nothing else, understands nothing else, that is the infinite.
Verily, the infinite is the same as the immortal, the finite is the same as the mortal.
Venerable Sir, on what is the infinite established?
On its own greatness or not even on greatness.
Program Notes
I - Mahakala Sadhana (electronic music) II - Alap-jor-jhala-gat (violin, viola and electronic music) III Ghazal (2 soprano soloists, counter-tenor soloist, string sextet and electronic music) This work was commissioned for the festivities of the 500th aniversary of the Portuguese discoveries. It was conceived as a western perspective about some musical traditions of the eastern countries. There is no intention to establish strict theoretical relations, but the pieces of “Le Voyage des Sons” are the result of sound images suggested by these eastern traditions. This work is composed by three pieces.
The first piece (Mahakala Sadhana) is based on the musical tradition of Tibet Budhism.
The Mahakala Chak-she-pa is protector of the Darma, that removes all the obstacles and permits the achievement of full illumination.
The second piece (Alap-jor-jhala-gat) of this group is based on the tradition of India. Alap-jor-jhala-gat is an instrumental genre featuring unmetered melodic gestures, that gradually gains rhytmic pulsation, then proceeds to metered music on a gat.
The third piece (Ghazal) is based on the music of the Qawal (wandering ministrels) from Pakistan. The Ghazal are sung poems of a mystical character, and they usually refer to the emotions of love or the transitory aspects of the world. They are made of couplets. The text used in this Ghazal is from the Upanisads.
Commission
Date 1997
Commissioning Body Portuguese Discoveries Commemorations Commission
Town Lisbon
Country Portugal
Circulation
Work
Type
Date
Organization/Event
Venue
Town
Country
Performers
Notes
Inv Row
Le Voyage des Sons
Premiere
1999/Jan/01
Ars Musica Festival
Brussels
Belgium
Champ d'Action
Notes
Le Voyage des Sons
Partial premiere
1998/Nov/28
Music in November
Culturgest
Lisbon
Portugal
Alexander Stewart (violin)
Alexandre Delgado (viola)
