The text comes from the ‘Kalevala’, and the Old Testament (Jeremiah, Psalms and Job). The players should speak the lines quite matter-of-factly and fairly fast. Individual meaning is not meant to come across.
First Performance: COMA, 31 May 2003, Assembly Rooms, Bath Festival
This piece was written for CoMA, whose forces vary widely from performance to performance. It is therefore a flexible work. The conductor is free at all times to make appropriate adjustments or substitutions in the scoring in order to produce the best overall musical effect
Commissioned by CoMA