Ensemble: Solo Soprano + SATB Choir + Violin + Viola + Violoncello + Piano Published: November 2016 (Rev. 1991) Text: J. Greshoff Duration: ±17 minutes
ISBN: 9789461330901 ISMN: 9790803557030
One way or another, I felt attracted already during my adolescence by this short poem by the Dutch poet / journalist Jan Gresshoff (1888-1971). Called the "Moralist of infidelity" by his biographer Annemiek Recourt. Soon I put the poem to music in rudimentary form. When I later became choir conductor, I picked it up and performed several times with only piano as accompaniment.
Many years later I made a second revision, now with strings and piano as accompaniment.
My last adaptation is from 2016. The piece performed in the Chapel Op 't Rijsselt in Eefde (Netherlands) under the inspiring direction of solo soprano / conductor Ivette van Laar.
This is the poem:
Loving someone is a burning death
and being born once again in
a single flash, the same sharp pain.
It is a renounce, a privation.
It is immoderate acquiring.
It is a final a begin.
Unified for ever.
Below you can get an impression of this composition in its final version.
I advise you not to listen to the music via a mobile phone, tablet or laptop. That could turn out to be a disappointment, unless you use very good headphones.
For a reasonably acceptable experience, a computer with a good sound system is required!
Please note:
This music is an electronic representation and is therefore not comparable to a human version!
For example, one does not hear the words of the sung text by the choir, but only "aah" and "ooh".
The instruments, on the other hand, are quite realistic thanks to the latest electronics.
It remains, however, that the whole of the interpretation of the conductors/musicians is missing and therefore may sound somewhat sterile
