Two Poems (9/11/01, 9/10/01) (Kiel)
Martin Hennessy
About this work:
This work was composed in response to the events of 9/11 and was premiered May 5, 2002 at the Works and Process Series at Guggenheim in NYC, by David Adam Moore, Baritone, Patricia Johnson, Soprano, Cassatt String Quartet and Martin Hennessy, piano, Mark Shapiro, conductor.
"I am interested in what lies beneath the surface of things: inner meanings. Paul's poems attracted me because they provoke an examination of our own cultural responsibility in the September 11th attacks. The power of the past is unleashed by reversing the order of days. The past tense itself becomes fiercely active and reveals a continuous transformation in both directions as it relentlessly seeds the present. I heard two voices singing the poems not only to heighten a sense of witnessing but also because the centrality of the strolling couple in the second poem seemed to demand it. I think of
them as an Adam and Eve and how this catastrophic event banishes them into a new necessity of awareness."
Contact composer email for score.
Version: soprano, baritone and piano quintet
Year composed: 2002
Duration: 00:13:00
Ensemble type: Voice, Solo or With Chamber or Jazz Ensemble:Two or More Solo Voices with Chamber/Jazz Ensemble, 2-5 players
Instrumentation: 1 Piano, 2 Violin, 1 Viola, 1 Cello, 1 Soprano, 1 Baritone