Output details

Pentecost for soprano, baritone and recorders

This work uses the same pitch technique as the piano trio, although for practical reasons the quartertones are replaced with conventionally tuned minor 7ths above the fundamental notes. It also highlights three other ongoing concerns: studies in the relationships between materials which are texturally, melodically and rhetorically distinct, and how these relationships can generate and sustain structure (also seen in the trio); exploring the interaction between text, music and meaning; and working with relatively unusual instrumentations.

The work sets the biblical verses describing Pentecost (Acts 2: 1-4), and inscribes the key moment – the multi-lingual proclamation of the gospel by the disciples – into the piece’s structure. The first three verses of text are set in both Latin and English – initially alternating between languages, then later superimposing them – with the final verse set in seven languages (including English and Latin, the others chosen according to the recorder players’ linguistic abilities), six of which are spoken by the soprano and consort members.

In this work, as in many pieces, two strongly contrasted ideas (one idea each for the English and Latin versions of the text) are juxtaposed and, in this case, merged into a single texture. The Latin is set using a cyclic structure and textural techniques derived from bow music, whilst the English is presented with a highly ornamented and non-cyclic material using the same pitch system – here, as elsewhere, harmonic contrast is achieved simply through transposition of the pitch-set. The choice of the two principal languages and their musical settings is intended as a reflection of the ability of language to alienate or engage – a central issue in this text – the Latin setting abstracts and distances the text, whilst the English setting aims to reflect the human reality of the moment more immediately.