Duett für Eine :: 1999

solo alto+flute, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trombone, percussion (1 player), 2 violins, viola, cello and double bass
Text by Li Bai ("Von der Schönheit" and "Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde" from the collection "Das Lied von der Erde"; in German)
Duration: 11'

Fp: Janus Ensemble Wien, Klagenfurt (Austria), July 29, 1999
3rd prize in the International Gustav Mahler Competition 1999

Duett für Eine (A Duet for One) is a work for 11 performers and alto solo. Both texts Von der Schönheit and Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde are used simultaneously in one movement. While soloist is singing one poem, other is heard in the background as whispers. References to a mahlerian late-romantic music is heard in the solo part, but the surrounding harmonies are something else; above the tonal structure traditional triads are expanded to a high pile of natural overtones. All this produces a strange-sounding combination, where traditon meets avantgarde.

© Uljas Pulkkis, 7/1999


Uljas Pulkkis Duett für Eine :: 1999 solo alto+flute, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trombone, percussion (1 player), 2 violins, viola, cello and double bass Text by Li Bai ("Von der Schönheit" and "Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde" from the collection "Das Lied von der Erde"; in German) Duration: 11' Fp: Janus Ensemble Wien, Klagenfurt (Austria), July 29, 1999 3rd prize in the International Gustav Mahler Competition 1999 Duett für Eine (A Duet for One) is a work for 11 performers and alto solo. Both texts Von der Schönheit and Das Trinklied vom Jammer der Erde are used simultaneously in one movement. While soloist is singing one poem, other is heard in the background as whispers. References to a mahlerian late-romantic music is heard in the solo part, but the surrounding harmonies are something else; above the tonal structure traditional triads are expanded to a high pile of natural overtones. All this produces a strange-sounding combination, where traditon meets avantgarde. © Uljas Pulkkis, 7/1999