Vocabulary II (1997)

In 1986, I composed the piece Vocabulary for soprano solo and electronics. It was performed at Lerchenborg Music Days the same year as part of a collective composition involving a total of five composers. The following year, it was used as accompaniment to Charlotte Rindum's ballet Transit for five (masked) dancers. Since then, it has been waiting to be adapted into a version for voice and four instrumentalists - a total of five musicians (excluding the conductor). The welcome opportunity to realize this plan came with Figura's invitation to collaborate.

The textual basis of Vocabulary II consists of the four words: Five Meeting - Density Changing. Throughout the piece, these words are broken down into phonemes and morphemes (the smallest meaningful units of words), and towards the end, some of the sounds and word parts are juxtaposed to form: Identity Fainting (other words and meanings are "randomly" touched upon along the way). Each of the speech sounds is linked to a given harmonic and/or sonic element.

The text arises from/comments on the musical situation (five musicians on stage - varying musical density), and simultaneously, the text is thrown back into the sonic universe as the basis for the musical material. Thus, it is an example of the self-reflective structures that have been cultivated in various art forms over the years, including music. Depending on temperament, this "self-referential" aspect can be perceived as a quality in itself or as (yet) another example of inaccessible self-sufficiency. However, the question remains whether the music can refrain from also telling other "stories". For me, the point is to capture the stories that musical bonds of precisely this kind might release.

Niels Rosing-Schow