Meredith Monk, Realm Variations (2012)
An American composer, singer, and director, Meredith Monk primarily composes for voice and opera and has innovated several extended vocal techniques. Her decades of work have earned her recognition and awards such as the prestigious National Medal of Arts presented to her in 2015 by President Barack Obama. Her ensemble, Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble, have recorded and expanded upon many of her works, with one even earning a Grammy nomination. Her approach to composing, which includes working with the commissioner in the composing stage, produces a unique style that lends itself to pieces like Realm Variations.
Commissioned by members of the San Francisco Symphony in 2012, Realm Variations plays with extended vocal techniques in its six vocalists. As Monk, a practicing Buddhist, has said, the Buddhist idea of multiple realms have inspired the piece. One such realm is to live in heaven and earth within the human realm. The idea, then, is that there are three distinct ‘realms’ that the ensemble progresses through as some parts are given greater presence at times. The variations don’t follow the classical definition of variation form; instead, as she says in her composer’s notes, “these variations unfurl kaleidoscopically, as the realms interpenetrate.”
Program notes by Sara Ostermeier (’23)
1 окт 2024
