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- Simon Holt
Era madrugada (1984)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Commissioned by the Royal Institute of British Architects
- pic(fl)01(bcl)0/1000/pf/str(va.vc.db)
- 12 min
Programme Note
Somewhere ‘between the night and the morning’ (era madrugada) in the Lorca poem Sorpresa, a man is discovered in the street – a knife through his chest. Nobody would look into his eyes – open on raw air. Who is he? Why is he there?
The piece is as much about this strange little poem as it is about that particular time of day.
© Simon Holt
Sorpresa
Muerto se quedó en la calle
con un puñal en el pecho.
No lo conocía nadie.
Cómo temblaba el farol!
Madre.
Cómo temblaba el farolito
De la calle!
Era madrugada. Nadie
Pudo asomarse a sus ojos
abiertos duro aire.
Que muerto so quedó en la calle
Que con un puñal en el pecho
Y que no lo conocía nadie.
-------------------------------
Surprise
The dead man lay in the street
With a knife in his chest.
No one knew who he was.
How the streetlamp trembled!
Madre.
How the little streetlamp trembled!
Between the night and the morning.
No one could lean over his eyes open on raw air.
How come
This dead man lies in the street, what?
with a knife in his chest, and that no
one should know who he was?
The piece is as much about this strange little poem as it is about that particular time of day.
© Simon Holt
Sorpresa
Muerto se quedó en la calle
con un puñal en el pecho.
No lo conocía nadie.
Cómo temblaba el farol!
Madre.
Cómo temblaba el farolito
De la calle!
Era madrugada. Nadie
Pudo asomarse a sus ojos
abiertos duro aire.
Que muerto so quedó en la calle
Que con un puñal en el pecho
Y que no lo conocía nadie.
-------------------------------
Surprise
The dead man lay in the street
With a knife in his chest.
No one knew who he was.
How the streetlamp trembled!
Madre.
How the little streetlamp trembled!
Between the night and the morning.
No one could lean over his eyes open on raw air.
How come
This dead man lies in the street, what?
with a knife in his chest, and that no
one should know who he was?
Media
… era madrugada
Scores
Preview the score
Reviews
…era madrugada took as its starting point the poem ‘Sorpresa’ by Lorca; a story about a murder. The music conveys this threat into a visual language of engaging narrative expressivity: it threatens, announcing danger…It is descriptive music with a narrator (the piano), accompanied by scenery (the rest of the group) and temporary signalling of the story (anticipation of action, eruptions, repetitive modes), all enveloped in a dramatic parabolic reading of contrasting desires.
(Translated by Shelley Hughes)
(Translated by Shelley Hughes)
1st April 2004
Discography
Simon Holt: …era madrugada
- LabelNMC
- Catalogue NumberD008
- ConductorLionel Friend
- EnsembleNash Ensemble
- SoloistFiona Kimm, mezzo-soprano
- Released1993
