Les Quatre Temps Cardinaux

Description

Soprano, Bass, Flute 1, Piccolo, Alto Flute, Flute 2, Alto Flute, Bass Flute, Oboe, English Horn, Clarinet in Bb, Bass Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Contrabass Clarinet, Horn 1, Horn 2, Trumpet in C 1, Piccolo Trumpet, Trumpet in C 2, Trombone 1, Trombone 2, Bass Trombone, Contrabass Trombone, Percussion 1, Percussion 2, Percussion 3, Harp, Piano, Celesta, Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, Double Bass, Electronics — LES QUATRE TEMPS CARDINAUX is a work for large chamber orchestra, solo soprano (Laura Aikin), and solo bass (Ethan Herschenfeld), with electronics, featuring texts by four poets, Neruda (Full Powers), Creeley (Spring Light and Buffalo Evening) Gioia (Insomnia), and the central poem by René Daumal from which the work takes its title. Each of the poems warmly affirms time positioning and varying qualities of light as central to our sensory and internal experiencing. The Daumal serves as the central poem, a cross, indicative of a transpersonal ‘Great Time’ around which the other poems turn, as specific markers of events on a more intimate, personal scale.