NEPSIS
32′ – 2005
for mixed choir & instrumental ensemble
Nepsis
Nepsis means staying awake, vigilant. Etel Adnan’s text (Five Senses for One Death) talks about death and portrays a modern shamanic ritual. The prologue opens the heart of a forge, raw materials are exploded, distant fragments of Tibetan rituals, songs of pearl fishermen, Byzantine chants, humanity under the anvil of Hephaistos.
A ceremony unfolds, reversing the polarities, collective-singular, communion, loneliness, fragility, violence, progression and ruptures.
With no apparent link, the parties unite and create a superior readable form, a funeral ritual, beyond good and evil.
Set
mixed choir (a clave, a reed flute, a maracas, a plastic bottle per singer), 1 flute / reed flute, 1 oboe, 1 clarinet, 1 horn, 1 trumpet in Do / Si, 1 trombone, 1 piano, 2 percussions, 1 violin, 1 viola, 1 cello, 1 double bass
percussions
4 metal containers of different heights, Tibetan cymbals, 1 xylophone, 1 marimba, 1 vibraphone, 1 bass drum, 3 large / medium / small hanging cymbals, 3 large / medium / small toms, 3 large / medium / small tams, 3 big / medium / small timpani, glockenspiel, flexatone, rek, fa key gongs from top to bottom: fa, sol, si, do, fa cowbells from bottom to top: mi mileu de portée, f sharp, si, cloches tubes clé de sol from bottom to top: ré sous la portée, mi, sol, sol dièse, la dièse)
Text: on a poem by Etel Adnan
original title: Five senses for one death
Singing language: English
Premiere: July 16, 2005
Place: Baalbeck International Festival, Baalbeck, Lebanon
Fadia Tomb el-Hage, contralto
By: Ars Nova instrumental ensemble and Les Éléments chamber choir, conducted by Philippe Nahon
Second Premiere: July 20, 2005
Venue: Festival de Saintes
Fadia Tomb el-Hage, contralto
By: Ars Nova instrumental ensemble and Les Éléments chamber choir, conducted by Philippe Nahon
May 18, 2010 – premiere of Vision, for choir, I had a dream, Nepsis and Khat. With the choir of chamber Les elements, the whole Pythagoras, direction Joel Suhubiette. Voice Presence Odyssud
May 17, 2009 I had a dream, Nepsis, Khat, Vision – Les elements ensemble, Pythagoras, direction Joel Suhubiette
October 9, 2006, Autre Silence, La Scala del cielo (premiere), Loubnân, Nepsis, Fanariki, Zikr, with Fadia Tomb el-Hage, contralto, Les elements chamber choir, conductor Joël Suhubiette and ensemble Ars Nova, direction Philippe Nahon. Bouffes du Nord Theater, Ile-de-France Festival, Paris, France
April 7, 2006, Loubnân, Nepsis, Fanariki, Zikr… with Fadia Tomb el-Hage, contralto, Cyril Dupuy, cymbalum, Michel Maurer, piano, choir Angers Nantes Opera and ensemble Ars Nova, direction Philippe Nahon. La Coursive, La Rochelle, France
April 4, 2006, Loubnân, Nepsis, Fanariki, Zikr… with Fadia Tomb el-Hage, contralto, Cyril Dupuy, cymbalum, Michel Maurer, piano, choir Angers Nantes Opera and ensemble Ars Nova, direction Philippe Nahon. The Hune, Poitiers, France
March 25, 2006, Loubnan (premiere) Nepsis, Fanariki Zikr… with Fadia Tomb el-Hage, contralto, Cyril Dupuy, cymbalum, Michel Maurer, piano, choir Angers Nantes Opera and ensemble Ars Nova, direction Philippe Nahon. Graslier Theater, Nantes, France
State Commission
© ŠamaŠ éditions musicales 2013
