SATB Choir
SKU:
BT.MUSM570368679
For choir and fixed
media. Composed by
Evis Sammoutis. Score
Only. Composed 2019. 14
pages. University of York
Music Press
#MUSM570368679. Published
by University of York
Music Press
(BT.MUSM570368679).
Isthmus denotes
a narrow strip of land
with sea on either side,
forming a link between
two larger ars of land.
The title is a metaphor
for an effort to bond
artistically my
experiences of living in
Cyprus, my birthplace,
and in the USA, my
recently adopted
homeland. Having lived in
a small, partitioned
island for my formative
years and in England for
eleven years, water has
always had a double
meaning: it has at once
served as a gateway to
other cultures but also
as a border, a violent
and absolute interruption
of a continuum. While in
the USA, or indeed in a
now connected Europe, it
is possible to travel on
land for days without
having to encounter a
border, in the countries
where I lived for most of
my life, that was not
possible. As an artist,
this notion of
establishing boundaries
and consciously trying to
break them is very close
to me, as my music deals
both with modernity but
also with tradition and,
similarly, with metaphor
and reality. As a
Cypriot, the sea, the
world of antiquity, the
mysteries of the oracles,
the notion of borders and
the pastoral are all very
central to my way of
thinking. In Cyprus,
different layers of
history are frequently
superimposed on a single
building that might still
preserve its Roman,
Byzantine, Venetian and
Ottoman features in its
layers of stone and
architecture. Similarly,
ancient ruins or the
barbed wire of modern
conflict often interrupt
placid fields. An
isthmus, therefore, can
be seen to symbolize my
artistic struggle to join
strikingly different
experiences and notions
in a cohesive way.
Similar to an isthmus, in
this short piece, I
connect these experiences
with the purpose of
creating a distinct and
unique sonic context,
connecting technology and
tradition, the pastoral
with the urban, the
musical with the
extra-musical and the
abstract with the
concrete. For example,
the choir does not always
sing in the traditional
sense, but the singers
imitate various natural
sounds, such as water,
air, crickets or birds,
to create a vivid visual
impression for the work.
Scandinavian herding
calls blend with field
recordings from the seas
of Cyprus and the lakes
of Upstate New York,
communicated within
clearly defined, singular
acoustic sources and
spaces through wireless
speakers. The text used
is both onomatopoeic,
articulating an imaginary
language, but also
literal, with a setting
of the poem, “To make a
prairie” by the iconic
American poet Emily
Dickinson and a tiny
fragment from
Callimachus’ “Hymn to
Demeter.” Technology is
used sparsely and very
intentionally to
articulate the expressive
qualities of pastoral
imagery, creating one
unified synthetic timbre
with the choristers’
sounds. This piece is
dedicated to the
wonderful singers of the
Georgia Institute of
Technology Chamber Choir
with special thanks to
Professors Hsu and
Ulrich, without whose
support this composition
would not have been
possible. Practical
notes: A choir of no
less than 24 singers is
sought with 4 additional
soloists (2 Sopranos and
2 Altos). Each singer
must have their own
wireless speaker, secured
either in the music
folder or as a strap
inside their shirts. All
sounds must match in
volume the sound from the
speakers, creating one
unified timbre. The
speakers should not be
noticeable to the public.
The four soloists are
placed offstage at the
beginning of the work.
From 1:35’ onwards they
enter the hall and take
their positions, ideally
at the four corners of
the hall. If the hall is
too large, the singers
can find alternate
positions, but these
should always be
antiphonal. The four
soloists sing
predominantly in the
“kulning” style and
the antiphonal aspect is
very important to the
work. There are two sound
files for each section
(SATB) that are triggered
by each singer’s mobile
device. The first occurs
at the start of the
piece, and the second,
about a minute before the
end. The sound files are
able to be purchased
separately, on CD, or are
available directly from
UYMP.
