Work
Ancient Letters : Concerto for amplified harpsichord and orchestra
by Elena Kats-Chernin (2017)
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It is listed in our catalogue because an event featuring a performance of this work was included in our calendar of Australian music. Details of this performance are listed below.
Work Overview
The Ancient Letters are the first known documents of the Sogdian
people who lived across what is today Uzbekhistan, the place
where I was born. The letters dated from the 4th century were
discovered ca 16 centuries after being written, in an abandoned
watchtower, far to the east of the main city Samarkand along the
Silk Road to China.
1. "Tiger Cub": Two of the five letters concern a woman called
Tiger Cub or Mewnai. Tiger Cub has not seen or heard of her
husband for three years. He has disappeared somewhere along the
Silk Road. She despairs for the years ahead. We will never know
what did happen to Tiger Cub. I have written a portrait of this
feisty, desperate, beautiful, deserted woman the way I see her.
The harpsichord begins the movement alone. Sometimes I find that
instrument to have a suspended, disembodied quality which can be
used to expressive advantage. When the orchestra enter it is with
unrelenting opposition to the more soulful first theme. The
struggle between the two forces charges the whole movement; the
harpsichord being the more human character, the orchestra
representing the harsh and often barbarous reality of an
uncertain life in a place that can be formidably glorious but
savage too.
2. "Musk Trade": Trade is one of the main topics in the
correspondence. The Sogdian travellers dealt in musk, silk and
silver. Musk Trade is a movement in two distinct parts;
the slow, aromatic Musk featuring harp and celeste
alongside the harpsichord in a series of orientally dusted
melodies, then the fast Trade of deal-makers, rush-hour
and negotiations. Soloist and strings take up a marketplace tune
based on an extended C minor 7th chord. This is buffeted by
cameos representing the different industries; metal (chords),
cloth (scales), spice (woodwinds with harpsichord clusters).
3. "Goodbye Samarkand": The city of Samarkand is one of the
oldest in the world. It is hot, dry, remote. There is a real
sense of displacement that haunts the Sogdian letters, these
people are living yawning distances from families and usually
with no real hope of going home, to Samarkand, 2000 miles away.
In Goodbye Samarkand I have written a little ballad to
home - the place, to paraphrase Thomas Wolfe, you can never go
again. It is the winds that feature first in this movement. The
melody came to me as I imagined looking back at a desert horizon
and realising that life is different forever; a mix of
misgivings, hopes and longings.
Elena Kats-Chernin
Work Details
Year: 2017
Instrumentation: Amplified harpsichord, flute (doubling piccolo), oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn in F, percussion (2 players), harp, celeste, strings.
Duration: 20 min.
Contents note: 1. Tiger Cub -- 2. Musk Trade -- 3. Goodbye Samarkand.
First performance: by Mahan Esfahani, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Brett Kelly — 5 Apr 17. Melbourne Recital Centre, VIC
Performances of this work
2 Aug 2020: at Tamara-Anna Cislowska & Elena Kats-Chernin (Live streaming event (online only)). Featuring Tamara Anna Cislowska, Elena Kats-Chernin.
5 Apr 17: Melbourne Recital Centre, VIC. Featuring Mahan Esfahani, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Brett Kelly.
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