BOOK OF BODIES (2017/2020)

BOOK OF BODIES (“Knjiga teles”) is a series of five monologues for soprano accompanied by twelve solo strings. The strings are generally treated as a single mass, providing accents, varied textures or concerted gestures in which tightly woven bundles of similar but distinct lines or percussive notes generate the impression of a viscous mass, or a cascade of droplets. Variations in texture and perspective are achieved by varying the number of instruments playing at any given time, often thinning the ensemble down to just two instruments, frequently in extreme registers, so that a sort of searching, ponderous counterpoint suddenly emerges from the prevailing collective texture. The vocal part is dominated by sung declamation in wide intervals, at times lapsing into speech or the even percussive effect of single consonants, with occasional rapid arabesques in cascading legato semiquavers. For much of the fifth and final piece, the prevailing convoluted textures of the strings give way to synchronised figures, rushing upwards and downwards in rapid, driving rhythms.