Alberto Posadas: Poética del camino

In recent years I have been intensively engaged in the composition of cycles about existential questions–I am more concerned with the search than with confirmation–as in a labyrinth, in spaces, on paths or in memories. In this cycle I combine German and Spanish poetry, without regard to geographical, cultural or temporal boundaries. Here as there, the path is the symbol of a life that changes towards death. The »Poetics of the Way« fragments the poems of Wilhelm Müller that Schubert used in his Winterreise. They alternate with poems by the Spaniards Jorge Manrique (15th century) and Antonio Machado (19th/20th century), and I have searched for points of contact between ideas, images and allegories. The dramaturgy of this cycle is not limited to the deconstruction or the playful reconstruction of these poems. It is at the same time about the »journey« of the instruments in space. In the course of the cycle, they gradually move towards each other until almost all of them are on stage. The range of instrumentation extends from a solo for bass clarinet to a finale for six vocal voices and ten instruments. The parts can be performed both cyclically and independently. In Poética del camino, instruments and voices embark on different paths in search of an identity they suspect, hope for, or even glimpse. Sound turns from an object into a moving subject.

 

In »Tan callando« the bass clarinet wanders through a fragile, mutated and unstable world. Shadow sounds expand the sound spectrum. In Fremd bin ich eingezogen, the trumpet is portrayed as an unidentifiable stranger, its tone altered by a saxophone mouthpiece. The singing voices are her alter ego, announcing her existential and at the same time futile search and finally the approach of death. Every Stream, Every Suffering also refers to verses from Winterreise. The intermittent trumpet muted clarinet, oboe and cello gradually create a constant stream that ends in diffuse silence. In the fourth section, The Dogs, the Chains, the sound wanders–just like the dog in Machado’s poem. The only thing the sound can hold on to as it tries to remember them is oblivion. Dissected into tiny, fleeting elements, sound is at once god and demon, radiant splendor and sinister tomb.

 

In »Todo pasa« the musicians, arranged in a circle, let the sound circulate in space. The percussion gives up its classical role–the focus is on vibration and friction. Sound sources distributed in the space follow different paths to the same destination: a temporary place. There the sounds do not linger, but are displaced by the memory of the song. The poem line Such’ ich des Wildes Tritt names the idea underlying the sixth movement. Each instrument leaves an »imprint« that is overlaid by another. When the instruments follow each other along the same path, however, they do not imitate each other. Rather, they are reshaping the material that has imprinted itself on our memory.

 

The cycle ends with the movement … Ist Alles zerflossen, which continues the idea of overlapping traces from the previous movement. Vocal and instrumental groups are spatially separated. When one group drives the other or antiphonal effects are created, new relationships emerge. The image of disappearing paths that allow no return determines the sonic development and, at the same time, the end of the cycle.

(Alberto Posadas)

Original contribution to the premiere at the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik on April 25, 2020.

 

1 Tan callando for bass clarinet/7′

2 Fremd bin ich eingezogen for two voices and trumpet/6′

3 Every stream, every suffering for oboe, clarinet and violoncello/7′

4 The dogs, the chains for two voices, flute, oboe, clarinet, viola and violoncello/6′

5 Todo pasa for six voices, trumpet and trombone/9′

6 Such’ ich des Wildes Tritt for flute, oboe, clarinet, piano, percussion, violin,

viola and violoncello/12′

7 … ist Alles zerflossen for six voices, flute, oboe, clarinet, piano, percussion,

violin, viola, violoncello/13′

 

Total playing time 60′

 

II

Fremd bin ich eingezogen,

Fremd zieh’ ich wieder aus.

Ich such’ im Schnee vergebens

Nach ihrer Tritte Spur,

Muß selbst den Weg mir weisen

In dieser Dunkelheit.

Jeder Strom wird’s Meer gewinnen,

Jedes Leiden auch sein Grab.

Nuestras vidas son los ríos que

van a dar en el mar,

Este mundo es el camino para el otro,

qu’es morada sin pesar;

 

 

VII

Such’ ich des Wildes Tritt

Es zieht ein Mondenschatten

Als mein Gefährte mit,

Eine Straße muß ich gehen,

Die noch Keiner ging zurück

Welch ein törichtes Verlangen,

Treibt mich in die Wüstenein?

Mein Herz ist wie erfroren,

kalt starrt ihr Bild darin

Die kalten Winde bliesen

Mir grad’ ins Angesicht

Und morgen früh ist alles zerflossen

 

IV

Es bellen die Hunde es rasseln die Ketten.

Como perro olvidado que no tiene huella

ni olfato y yerra por los caminos, sin

camino … … así voy yo, siempre buscando

a Dios entre la niebla.

Y era el demonio de mi sueño, el ángel

más hermoso. Brillaban como aceros los

ojos victoriosos, y las sangrientas llamas

de su antorcha alumbraron la honda

cripta del alma.

Es bellen die Hunde es rasseln die Ketten.

 

V

Was soll ich länger weilen,

Daß man mich trieb hinaus.

Was will ich unter den Schläfern säumen,

Soll denn kein Angedenken

Ich nehmen mit von hier?

Todo pasa (y) todo queda,

pero lo nuestro es pasar,

(pasar) haciendo caminos,

caminos sobre la mar

 

 

Texte aus:

Wilhelm Müller: Die Winterreise

Jorge Manrique: Coplas por la muerte de su padre

Antonio Machado: Galerías, Proverbios y cantares