Perles de l'opéra
Notes
Perles de l'Opéra takes the listener on a surreal journey inspired by the world of artist and film-maker Joseph Cornell (1903-1972). Cornell made boxes, each of which is an intricate and mysterious object that evokes memories and imagination. One of his boxes, made around 1948, was entitled 'Perles de l'Opéra' and was covered in collaged scraps of sheet music featuring operatic arias. I first saw pictures of this box back in 1981 and treated it as a sort of proto-score, transcribing some of the music and using other elements as instructions for my composition.
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Perles de l'Opéra exists in three versions so far:George W. Welch version (1991) LISTEN |
SCORE |
PARTS
Instrumentation: clarinet, tuba, piano duet, vibraphone, marimba, untuned percussion (drum, small tam-tam), violin, viola and cello. In this version, the clarinet and cello share the sustained melodic lines in the first half, and the spoken syllables were delivered on tape. This was performed at the Purcell Room and in subsequent concerts by the ensemble. The recording of this version was remastered by Ian Gardiner in 2024.
KNME version (1985) SCORE
Instrumentation: two sopranos, two pianos 8 hands, tuba, drum. This is the same as the studio version except that the vocal lines are sung by two sopranos, passing the sustained notes in the first half of the piece back and forth between them. This version was performed at Keele University by the Keele New Music Ensemble, conducted by Roger Marsh. (A tuba substituted for the sousaphone).
Studio version (1982) LISTEN
Instrumentation: two pianos 8 hands, two voices, sampled sousaphone and drum. This was multitracked by John Abram and myself in Keele University Recording Studio. Since neither of us was a singer, we recorded the vocal melodies on instruments and spoke the syllables of the lyrics.