It might seem foolhardy to set about to compose a piece based on the same text as that of one of the seminal works in twentieth century music, but British composer Roger Marsh has taken the risk and succeeded in creating something entirely new and hugely engaging. His choral cycle, Albert Giraud's Pierrot Lunaire, uses the same texts as Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, but beyond that, there is little basis for comparing the works, setting up Marsh's effort as a challenge to Schoenberg's masterpiece. Schoenberg used a German ...
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It might seem foolhardy to set about to compose a piece based on the same text as that of one of the seminal works in twentieth century music, but British composer Roger Marsh has taken the risk and succeeded in creating something entirely new and hugely engaging. His choral cycle, Albert Giraud's Pierrot Lunaire, uses the same texts as Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, but beyond that, there is little basis for comparing the works, setting up Marsh's effort as a challenge to Schoenberg's masterpiece. Schoenberg used a German translation of 21 of Giraud's poems, and his musical language gives them a decidedly Expressionist flavor. His work focuses on the vocal soloist, who delivers the texts in Sprechstimme, accompanied by an instrumental ensemble whose make-up varies from song to song. Marsh's setting of the 50 poems of Giraud's collection in French emphasizes their Symbolist origins. The diverse forces for which he writes give him wide-ranging expressive possibilities, and his ingenious deployment...
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