© Paul Frankhuijzen
Performers
Brabants kamerkoor
musical director; Fokko Oldenhuis
organ; Milena Ducanovic
carillon; Carl van Eyndenhoven
Recording:Kees van de Wiel
live 06.06.2009
Heikesekerk, Tilburg
The Netherlands
| Audio samples |
|
|
| © Paul Frankhuijzen |
The sea is clam to-night (2009) 13:30’
chamber choir, organ, carillon
lyrics: Matthew Arnold
Commissioned by Compam and BraM
Written for Brabants Kamerkoor
Free score
'The sea is calm tonight', alternates between lyrical singing and reciting.
'This song', soft notes with illustrious ambitions.
| Audio samples |
|
|
| © Paul Frankhuijzen |
Text lines from the poem ‘Dover Beach’ (1867) by Matthew Arnold* have been
used in it. In the poem Arnold reflects on the loss of Christian faith and its
subsequent outcome.
‘The sea is calm tonight’ is about contemporary culture that is threatened with
loosing its right to exist. The composition stands up for sound: cheering and
singing the praises of tones and words. However, if we are not careful, that
becomes a sound deprived of contents and culture.
In the composition the singers come into conflict with such a contemporary
process: culture as merchandise, culture as basic instinct, culture as an object
without a subject. The organ represents here, so to speak, the cyclic activity of
the sea. What’s more, it is an instrument on the brink of extinction, just like the
carillon.
*(1822-1888)A British critic, poet, cosmopolitan and humanist.
He was interested in science, and in social and religious issues.
The composition commences solo by using the organ, with a tranquil wave,
which is, however inconspicuously, not so peaceful at all.
The men launch their voices in a narrating way:
‘listen, you hear the grating roar…’.
Gradually the composition develops into an alternating between lyrical singing and reciting. It is only towards the latter part that organ, carillon en chorus come together as one great wave.
At that point there is a sense that something has changed. We look around us. ‘And we are here as on a darkling plain’. However, it is yet the cyclic activity which keeps on repeating itself constantly.
which is, however inconspicuously, not so peaceful at all.
The men launch their voices in a narrating way:
‘listen, you hear the grating roar…’.
Gradually the composition develops into an alternating between lyrical singing and reciting. It is only towards the latter part that organ, carillon en chorus come together as one great wave.
At that point there is a sense that something has changed. We look around us. ‘And we are here as on a darkling plain’. However, it is yet the cyclic activity which keeps on repeating itself constantly.
Paul Frankhuijzen was inspired by the text from ‘Song to the Siren’ by the American singer-songwriter Tim Buckley (1947-1975), an idol in the same league as Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell.
Frankhuijzen takes us back to the times of the seventies with this piece of music. It was a time of enormous social contrasts: Communist hatred, the Vietnam War and the resistance against that. By using Buckley’s text he wrote a musical piece that breathes the atmosphere of the illustrious ambitions of the younger Flower-Power generation of those days.
Frankhuijzen takes us back to the times of the seventies with this piece of music. It was a time of enormous social contrasts: Communist hatred, the Vietnam War and the resistance against that. By using Buckley’s text he wrote a musical piece that breathes the atmosphere of the illustrious ambitions of the younger Flower-Power generation of those days.
Just like a singer-songwriter introduces his song, so does the spoken text sound: it starts off dreamlike and gradually becomes more lyrical. Simultaneously the music also becomes more lyrical.
The piece is a fully composed entity, i.e. having refrains at the end of every stanza. The entity alternates between insecure glissandi and illustrious ambitions.
‘This Song’ is a reverence to people like Tim Buckley and the victims of that time, e.g. the Vietnam War.
The piece is a fully composed entity, i.e. having refrains at the end of every stanza. The entity alternates between insecure glissandi and illustrious ambitions.
‘This Song’ is a reverence to people like Tim Buckley and the victims of that time, e.g. the Vietnam War.
Performers
Brabants kamerkoor
musical director; Fokko Oldenhuis
Recording:Kees van de Wiel
live 18.04.2010
Nederlandse hervomde kerk,
's-Hertogenbosch The Netherlands
Brabants kamerkoor
musical director; Fokko Oldenhuis
Recording:Kees van de Wiel
live 18.04.2010
Nederlandse hervomde kerk,
's-Hertogenbosch The Netherlands
This song (2010) 8:30’
mixed choir
lyric": Tim Buckley,
spoken words by Paul Frankhuijzen
Commissioned by BkkC
Written for Brabants Kamerkoor
Free score
mixed choir
lyric": Tim Buckley,
spoken words by Paul Frankhuijzen
Commissioned by BkkC
Written for Brabants Kamerkoor
Free score
Listen to complete audio
menu audio vocal
menu audio vocal
Listen to complete audio
menu audio vocal
menu audio vocal