Finnegans Wake Grappa discussion
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John Buller
Para and Secundo texts and books
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John Buller (la dee dah!)
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Description of Two Night Pieces ::http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/97...
"for Soprano solo and ensemble
Forces or Category
Soprano solo & ensemble
Duration
15 minutes
Difficulty
Difficult
Orchestration
fl, cl, pn, vc
Programme Notes
The text for |Two Night Pieces is selected from pages 427, 143 and 556 of |Finnegans Wake, by permission of the Literary Trustees of the James Joyce Estate. Duration 15 minutes"
Description of The Mime of Mick, Nick and the Maggies :: http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/nav/i/cate..."for soprano, tenor, and baritone soli, narrator or tape, chorus of
Forces or Category
Vocal soloists, narrator/tape, chorus of 13, chamber ensemble
Duration
70 minutes
Difficulty
Moderately difficult to Difficult
Orchestration
fl (+picc&afl), ob (+ca), cl (+cbcl), bn (+cbn), 2 hn, tpt in C, 2 tbn, perc, cel (+elec org&pn), vc, db
Programme Notes
The musical idiom of Buller's Mime is at once popular and intricate...it is sympathetic music, witty and lyrical and brightly coloured, in the tradition of Stravinsky's Wedding, yet naturally idiosyncratic.' (William Mann, The Times)
To forge from so many apparently disparate ideas a musical language as dense and allusive as that of Joyce himself was a considerable feat, simultaneously mixing elements of music-hall, singing games, and dream.' (Robert Henderson, The Telegraph)
Buller avails himself of musical found objects on lines suggested by Johce's own magpie wealth of reference, and to this now hallowed technique he brings an acute musical ear and a fine perception of the beautiful and the stylistically apt.' (Stephen Walsh, The Observer)"
Two pieces from the NYTs, both from 1988 ::MUSIC; The Many Sounds of Joyce
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/31/art...
Concert: James Joyce Set to Music
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/03/art...
Two Night Pieces from Finnegans Wake (1971)
Finnegan's Floras: Full Score (1972)
The Mime of Mick, Nick and the Maggies: Full Score (1978)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bul...
"James Joyce was an early influence, beginning in 1971 with Two Night Pieces from Finnegans Wake for soprano, flute, clarinet and piano; a year later he produced Finnegan's Floras for 14 voices, percussion and piano. Buller's most ambitious Joyce piece came in 1976 with The Mime of Mick, Nick and the Maggies, for soprano, baritone, chorus and ensemble, a full 70 minutes in length. Staged at the Round House by the BBC, it earned him the admiration of the new-music community but a wider audience still eluded him." http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obi...
Finnegans Floras description::
"for 14 solo voices (4 sopranos, 3 contraltos, 4 tenors, 3 basses, hand percussion (played by the male singers), and piano
Finnegan's Floras is inspired by James Joyce's Finnegans Wake.
Forces or Category : 14 voices, percussion, piano
Duration : 12 minutes
Programme Notes ::
Scored for 14 singers (4.3.4.3.), hand percussion and piano with text taken from Part 2 of James Joyce's final novel |Finnegan's Wake, |Finnegan's Floras comprises three passages with particular perfomance directions supplied by Buller. The first public performance was at the 1975 Proms in a concert given by the London Sinfonietta Chorus with John Constable and conducted by Mark Elder. In the Mime of Mick, Nick and the Maggies - the first section of Part II of James Joyce's |Finnegan's Wake - Glugg and Chuff are playing outside their father's pub in the evening with their sister Issy and her seven girl friends. The game is Angels and Devils, and Glugg is the Devil (or Nick), Chuff St. Michael (or Mick), whilst the angels (or harpies or maggies) think of a colour - but twist it to the colour of their knickers (heliotrope). |Finnegan's Floras is made up of three passages sung by Issy's seven girl friends - with help from the boys - and showing their 'sweet' aspect - i.e. the floral girls, not the maggies. The passages describe, first, the girls themselves and their naming themselves after all the colours of the rainbow;second their Mass in praise of the beautiful brother Chuff whom they adore; and finally moonrise, or 'pire on poletop'.
Duration 12 minutes" http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/mu...
Found no on-line recordings. A little pleh?