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Artist: Benjamin Santora, Joel Hunter, Piotr Zimnik, Tito Muñoz
Title: Michael Hersch: I hope we get a chance to visit soon
Year Of Release: 2020
Label: New Focus Recordings
Genre: Classical
Quality: 24bit-48kHz FLAC (tracks+booklet)
Total Time: 61:04
Total Size: 618 MB
WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist:
01. I. — [Live] (9:48)
02. II. — [Live] (2:34)
03. III. — [Live] (1:04)
04. IV. — [Live] (2:24)
05. V. — [Live] (2:09)
06. VI. — [Live] (1:56)
07. VII. — [Live] (2:49)
08. VIII. — [Live] (2:31)
09. IX. — [Live] (4:36)
10. X. — [Live] (6:04)
11. XI. — [Live] (4:14)
12. XII. — [Live] (3:09)
13. XIII. — [Live] (5:48)
14. XIV. — [Live] (6:10)
15. XV. — [Live] (3:07)
16. XVI. — [Live] (2:52)
Composer Michael Hersch tackles difficult subject matter unflinchingly, delving deep inside the nature of pain, anguish, and suffering in works that frequently explore illness and mortality. I hope we get a chance to visit soon is no exception. The companion piece to his 2012 monodrama, On the Threshold of Winter, which set texts by Romanian poet Marin Sorescu who succumbed to cancer, I hope we get a chance to visit soon engages with the loss of Hersch’s close friend Mary Harris O’Reilly to the disease. Hersch’s own bout with cancer is always lurking in the subtext of these powerfully topical works, manifest in his chosen sonic world that primarily sets texts from correspondence between O'Reilly and Hersch, some of which were exchanged while both were in treatment. These texts are often set in opposition to fragments from the poetry of Rebecca Elson. The work is scored for two soprano soloists and chamber ensemble. Hersch divides the texts between the words of O'Reilly and Elson, establishing contrasting roles and perspectives on the situation that the protagonist finds herself in. That the formal release of this recording comes in the midst of a global pandemic will not be lost on anyone, and only intensifies the contemporary experience of this powerful work.
Hersch organizes the piece into sixteen total sections, the first of which is the longest and functions like a prelude or overture to the fifteen sections that follow. This extensive section sets texts by poet Christopher Middleton both in English as well as in German translation, establishing a duality between the two sopranos which will become a primary component for the text settings of O’Reilly and Elson moving forward. This section is in fact an adaptation and expansion of a prior work of Hersch’s for voice, violin, and cello, ...das Rückgrat berstend, which is included on Hersch’s release, “Carrion-Miles to Purgatory,” New Focus FCR229. The ensemble grows out of a cloud of sound at the opening, ushering in the voices as they overlap each other, uttering fragments of ominous English and German phrases. Though Middleton’s texts have not overtly laid out the central conflict of the work, Hersch’s taut sonorities signal the weight and import of the expressive world we have entered into.
It is in the second section that we are introduced to O’Reilly’s words directly. Hersch’s setting captures the paralysis that often accompanies such news, as haunting chords containing microtonal internal intervals in the strings wash over the listener like a slow moving sense of dread. The short, violent third section is undoubtedly expressive of one’s emotional reaction to the news once it has sunk in, free of the burden of keeping a positive face with a newly diagnosed friend. The subsequent sections alternate between gripping outbursts and quasi-recitative style text delivery, as Hersch brings the listener along a series of horrifying revelations about O’Reilly’s disintegrating health.
The sixth section opens with quiet material in the piano, enveloped by colors similar to the opening of section two, as the voice enters for an aria that is occasionally interrupted by brusque punctuations from the ensemble. Sections seven through nine are characterized by drastic character shifts, from the searing wildness of the opening of sections seven and nine, to the disembodied textures in section ten, as Hersch holds the intensity of the unfolding narrative by alternating between often brutal extremes.
We hear a return of the piano figure from section six in the twelfth section, an extended instrumental passage with fleshed out commentary from strings and winds. When the voices do finally enter in this section, they do so first in monotone and then in a whisper, devoid of the color and vibrancy of previous material.
The last four sections of the work chronicle the devastating effects of the late stage of the disease. When we reach the final sixteenth section, Hersch references the opening of section two with somber spoken text accompanied by whispered poetry, as if already heard from the beyond. We only hear the instruments again one minute before the close of the work, providing a forbidding pad for O’Reilly’s heartbreaking final lines, “so that’s what’s new with me...it’s kind of hard not to be frightened.”
Like many of his works, Michael Hersch’s I hope we get a chance to visit soon is a cathartic journey into difficult emotional territory. But Hersch chooses his subject matter and powerful, jarring musical approach not for shock value, but instead to grab our collective proverbial collars and wake us out of complacency, to remind us of the fragility of health and life. In a historical moment like the one we find ourselves in, the complacency has perhaps already been stripped away, increasingly replaced by an unfortunate resonance with the painful realities which he so deftly expresses in music.
艺术家：本杰明·桑托拉、乔尔·亨特、彼得·齐姆尼克、蒂托·穆尼奥斯
作品名称：迈克尔·赫施：《我希望我们很快有机会拜访》
发行年份：2020年
厂牌：新焦点唱片公司
音乐类型：古典音乐
音质：24比特-48千赫兹 FLAC（分轨+小册子）
总时长：61分04秒
总大小：618兆字节
网站：专辑预览
曲目列表：
01. 第一部分 — [现场版]（9分48秒）
02. 第二部分 — [现场版]（2分34秒）
03. 第三部分 — [现场版]（1分04秒）
04. 第四部分 — [现场版]（2分24秒）
05. 第五部分 — [现场版]（2分09秒）
06. 第六部分 — [现场版]（1分56秒）
07. 第七部分 — [现场版]（2分49秒）
08. 第八部分 — [现场版]（2分31秒）
09. 第九部分 — [现场版]（4分36秒）
10. 第十部分 — [现场版]（6分04秒）
11. 第十一部分 — [现场版]（4分14秒）
12. 第十二部分 — [现场版]（3分09秒）
13. 第十三部分 — [现场版]（5分48秒）
14. 第十四部分 — [现场版]（6分10秒）
15. 第十五部分 — [现场版]（3分07秒）
16. 第十六部分 — [现场版]（2分52秒）
作曲家迈克尔·赫施毫不退缩地处理棘手的主题，在那些经常探索疾病与死亡的作品中，深入挖掘痛苦、苦恼和煎熬的本质。《我希望我们很快有机会拜访》也不例外。这部作品是他2012年的独角戏《在冬天的门槛上》的姊妹篇，后者的文本来自因癌症去世的罗马尼亚诗人马林·索雷斯库。《我希望我们很快有机会拜访》则围绕着赫施的密友玛丽·哈里斯·奥赖利因癌症离世这一事件展开。赫施自己也曾罹患癌症，这一经历始终潜藏在这些极具现实意义的作品的字里行间，体现在他所选择的音乐世界中——作品主要设置的文本来自奥赖利和赫施之间的通信，其中一些是在两人都接受治疗期间互相交流的内容。这些文本常常与丽贝卡·埃尔森的诗歌片段形成对照。这部作品是为两位女高音独唱者和室内乐团而作。赫施将奥赖利和埃尔森的文字进行了划分，为作品中主人公所处的情境确立了相互对比的角色和视角。这张唱片在全球大流行病期间正式发行，这一点大家都能意识到，而这也只会让人们对这部强大作品的当代体验更为深刻。
赫施将这部作品总共分为十六个部分，其中第一部分最长，起到了类似于后续十五个部分的前奏或序曲的作用。在这个篇幅较长的部分中，设置了诗人克里斯托弗·米德尔顿的英文文本以及德文翻译文本，在两位女高音之间建立起了一种二元性，而这将成为后续设置奥赖利和埃尔森文本的一个主要元素。实际上，这个部分是赫施之前一部为声乐、小提琴和大提琴而作的作品《……脊梁断裂》的改编和扩展版本，该作品收录在赫施发行的专辑《腐肉——通往炼狱的里程》（新焦点唱片FCR229）中。乐曲开篇，乐团从一片音响云雾中渐起，引领着歌声相互交叠，吐出一些带有不详意味的英文和德文短语片段。尽管米德尔顿的文本并未直白地阐述作品的核心冲突，但赫施紧绷的和声却暗示着我们所进入的这个表达世界的分量和重要性。
在第二部分中，我们直接接触到了奥赖利的文字。赫施的谱曲捕捉到了这类消息常常带来的那种无力感，弦乐中包含微分音内部音程的萦绕不去的和弦，如同缓慢蔓延的恐惧之感一般向听众袭来。简短而激烈的第三部分无疑表达了一个人在接受这一消息后内心的情感反应，摆脱了在新确诊患病的朋友面前强装乐观的负担。随后的部分在扣人心弦的爆发和类似宣叙调风格的文本演绎之间交替，赫施带着听众经历了一系列关于奥赖利健康状况不断恶化的可怕揭示。
第六部分以钢琴的轻柔乐段开场，笼罩在与第二部分开头相似的色彩氛围中，当歌声进入时，唱起了一首咏叹调，偶尔会被乐团的唐突打断。第七至第九部分的特点是风格急剧转变，从第七部分和第九部分开头炽热的狂野，到第十部分那种脱离实体的织体，赫施通过在常常极为残酷的极端之间交替，维持着展开的叙事的紧张感。
在第十二部分中，我们听到了第六部分中钢琴乐段的再现，这是一段扩展的器乐段落，弦乐和管乐进行了充实的演绎。当歌声最终在这一部分进入时，先是以单调的音调，然后以低语的形式出现，没有了之前乐段的色彩和活力。
作品的最后四个部分记录了疾病晚期的毁灭性影响。当我们听到第十六部分，也就是最后一部分时，赫施以阴沉的念白文本并伴随着低语的诗歌，呼应了第二部分的开头，仿佛已经是来自另一个世界的声音。在作品结束前一分钟，我们才再次听到乐器的声音，为奥赖利令人心碎的最后一句 “这就是我的近况……很难不感到害怕” 提供了一个不祥的铺垫。
如同赫施的许多作品一样，《我希望我们很快有机会拜访》是一次进入艰难情感领域的宣泄之旅。但赫施选择这样的主题以及有力、震撼的音乐表现手法，并非为了制造震惊效果，而是为了抓住我们的衣领，让我们从自满中清醒过来，提醒我们健康和生命的脆弱。在我们所处的这样一个历史时刻，自满或许已经被剥离，取而代之的是对他在音乐中巧妙表达的痛苦现实的越来越强烈的共鸣。
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发表于 2025-3-29 07:57:45