All musicians try to make a piece of music their own by bringing it to life by means of a distinct interpretation. The musicians must feel the music for the first time, every time, so that they may fully communicate the piece to their audience. Sounds New is taking a unique approach to interpreting the music in its upcoming concert, titled “Still,” in which its members will breathe new life into pieces that sound new.
On Oct. 16 the Sounds New ensemble will bring to the stage three pivotal works that “still sound new,” they claim. They will give Schoenberg’s 1912 song-set Pierrot Lunaire a new twist. The work has been translated from the original German to English. The translation is by Ingolf Dahl, a colleague of Schoenberg’s from the University of Southern California. Sounds New’s soprano, Anna Carol Dudley, is especially excited about the English translation. “It’s fun doing it in English,” she remarks. The audience will have fun, too, as they live in the moment of Pierrot’s adventure. Dudley hopes that audience members familiar with the piece won’t miss the German, since the rhythm of the text stays true to the original poem. Dahl paid special attention to choosing a translation that not only conveyed the text’s meaning but also enabled the peculiar rhythm to carry through in the English version.
Dudley has had a long relationship with Pierrot Lunaire and says she’s thrilled to bring it to the stage once again. She has performed the work in both English and German, and though she has no objection to the original she’s especially glad to perform the piece once again in English, as “It is seldom done.” The meaning of the poem, both the comedy and lunacy, is found not merely in the voice but in the instruments, as well. Dudley explains that the singer does not always convey the meaning of the text. “The screaming comes in the clarinet, not the voice.”
The lack of screaming will no doubt aid Dudley as she tackles the final piece of the program, Ravel’s Chansons Madécasses. The piece is a set of poems about Madagascar. The powerful words touch on the beauty and duty of the lives of that island’s natives, before becoming an outcry against colonization itself. Dudley states that the work is the strangest piece Ravel ever wrote, though it fits in perfectly with the notion of a work that still sounds new.
It’s rare that an audience can experience a piece of music for the first time. The “Still” program, its presenters hope, will enable audience members to experience these beloved pieces in what will feel like the very first time.