THE CAT (MAČKA) (2004)

THE CAT (MAČKA) (2004)

for soprano and piano
On a poem by Svetlana Makarovič

instrumentation: S, pna
duration: 5 minutes
première: May 29, 2004, Pfingstwerkstatt Neue Musik Rheinsberg, Germany
Teja Saksida – sopran, Vito Žuraj – piano

THE CAT (MAČKA)

score preview

THE CAT (MAČKA)

(full recording)

May 29, 2004, Pfingstwerkstatt Neue Musik Rheinsberg, Germany (première)
Teja Saksida – sopran, Vito Žuraj – piano

Additional performances

June 15, 2015, Australian National University, Llewellyn Hall, Australia
Helena Mamich – soprano, Anne Ewing – piano
October 20, 2013, University of Music Karlsruhe, Germany
Alessia Hyunkyung Park – soprano, Marija Skender – piano
June 30, 2010, Haus der Deutschen Ensemble Akademie, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Ellen Luker – soprano, Vito Žuraj – piano
June 2, 2004, BKA Berlin, Germany
Teja Saksida – sopran, Vito Žuraj – piano

VIDEO

THE CAT: Full recording
June 15, 2015, Australian National University, Llewellyn Hall
Helena Mamich – soprano, Anne Ewing – piano
THE CAT: Full recording
June 15, 2015, Australian National University, Llewellyn Hall
Helena Mamich – soprano, Anne Ewing – piano

ABOUT

A nimble coloratura recitative in an impulsive and expressionistic style, THE CAT (MAČKA) describes the deceptive innocence of a cat by day, in comparison with what it is presumed to get up to at night. The piano operates on two levels, one as a sedate chordal accompanist, providing a foundation to the skittish figures of the soprano, and one as an equal partner to the vocal line, with nimble arpeggios and playfully insistent, repeated chords acting as an extension of the singer’s phrases and broadening the inventiveness of the vocal line.

It is with one such arpeggio that the piece concludes, almost nonchalantly rounding off a brief coda in the piano, as if vanishing into thin air.

Alwyn Tomas Westbrooke

A nimble coloratura recitative in an impulsive and expressionistic style, Mačka (“The Cat”) describes the deceptive innocence of a cat by day, in comparison with what it is presumed to get up to at night. The piano operates on two levels, one as a sedate chordal accompanist, providing a foundation to the skittish figures of the soprano, and one as an equal partner to the vocal line, with nimble arpeggios and playfully insistent, repeated chords acting as an extension of the singer’s phrases and broadening the inventiveness of the vocal line. It is with one such arpeggio that the piece concludes, almost nonchalantly rounding off a brief coda in the piano, as if vanishing into thin air.

Alwyn Tomas Westbrooke