EchoTempo

soprano, percussion, and orchestra (35')

PROGRAM NOTE:

EchoTempo is a setting of Native American translations for soprano, percussion & orchestra.

The first aspect of this unusual combination of soloists that struck me was the concept of voice and drums as the “original” instruments. I felt that the text that I chose needed to reflect a timelessness. The simple elegance and power of these Native American texts not only fulfilled that quality but also offered me a wonderful doorway into the spirit of these inspiring cultures. Their connection to and reverence for nature and the human experience resonate through the translations (which are themselves beautiful works of English). My musical settings do not incorporate the original songs or dances with which they were conceived. Rather, I looked to the sources of the original music for my inspiration as well – rhythms and sounds from the natural world around us – animal movements and sounds, elemental & emotion-based sounds interpreted through my musical language.

The four texts are set in a continuous cycle (performed without pause):

Song 1 (“Spring is Opening”) - a celebration of the cacophony and renewal of spring

Song 2 (“Neither Spirit not Bird”) - a love song

Song 3 (“War God’s Horse Song II”) - from the fantastic & beautiful Navajo mythology. “War God” (also known as “Enemy Slayer”) is one of twin sons born to Changing Woman (the principal Navajo deity whose name comes from the cycle of changes in her age: young in the spring, mature in the late summer, old in winter, and young again the following spring) and the Sun. These warrior twins were sent to the world by the deities to rid the world of monsters who were born of the quarreling people of the earth, and who were ravaging the land. The twins were sent to restore harmony to the world.

Song 4 (“In the Great Night”) - also known as “Owl Woman’s Death Song”

Each song represents a season, joined in an endless cycle, renewed again each spring.

When I was compiling the texts that I would set, I hoped to find expressions of human experience common across time, across cultures. The delight in the senses of spring, the passion of love, and the transcendence of death, were evident choices. Sadly, so was the choice of a text that portrays the senseless repetition of human conflict. As disturbing an issue as this was when I began EchoTempo, it became even more resonant as we prepared to premiere the work in NYC in the autumn of 2001.

My orginal co-soloist for EchoTempo was the extraordinary percussionist, Christopher Lamb. 
I am forever grateful to him for his creative collaboration in realizing this work.

"...a kind of double concerto for voice and percussion...an expansive setting of American Indian texts in which mythology is interwoven with a sense of the cyclic and symbolic (spring and birth, winter and death)... singers who don't perform new music because composers disregard the limitations of the voice might consider the demands that singer-composers like Ms. Botti have made on their voices, often to great effect... Ms. Botti is sensitive to the texts she is setting, and her approach in 'EchoTempo' covers considerable ground, from an almost whispered lyricism to virtuosic angularity. The last two of the work's four movements - 'War God's Horse Song II,' a Navajo text, and the brief but chillingly effective 'In the Great Night,' a Papago evocation of death and transfiguration - were especially striking... the percussion writing was varied and tactile... Often she used her voice as a counterpart to the percussion battery, mirroring the marimba melodies and rhythms in textless sections."  -- Allan Kozinn, The New York Times

"There is something sweet about Susan Botti's EchoTempo, which the New York Philharmonic commissioned and premiered... The piece employs percussion soloists and a soprano - on this occasion the composer herself - singing Native American texts. Botti (who has impressive new-music performing credits) is a ravishing singer - pure, playful and inventive, with a glowing voice that's absolutely even from the top to the bottom of her range... you'd also want to give her credit for things that normal concert singers rarely do. For instance, she sings achingly in tune - not just precisely on pitch but in a special joyful zone somewhere in the heart of each note. At one point her score calls for the singer to imitate the percussion soloist, and she matched not just the precise inflection of a high G-sharp played on the marimba but its timbre as well. She played percussion instruments herself, and with so much concentration that you might have thought the music was a sacred rite...the audience appeared to love it (which, for anyone who cares about new music, was wonderful to see). They applauded warmly, and twice brought Botti back for extra bows." -- Greg Sandow, Andante

Instrumentation (full orchestra):
3 Fl (1 dbl picc, 1 dbl alto fl)
2 Ob, 1 Eng. Hn
2 Bb Cl, 1 Bass Cl
2 Bsn, 1 Contrabsn
4 Hn, 3 Bb Tpt
2 Tbn, 1 Bass Tbn, 1 Tuba
3 Perc:
1) vibraphone, 4 brake drums, slapstick, shaker, susp. cym, susp. crotales,
sm metal scraper, wdblk, rainstick, afuché, puilis, bow
2) lg bass drum (pref. "gong drum"), 3 toms, rainstick, puilis
3) susp. crotales, susp. cym, puilis, sandpaper blocks, lg tam tam,
rainstick, afuché
Harp
Strings
Soprano Solo
Percussion solo:
Marimba setup: 5-8ve marimba, bells/chimes/keys, coco rattles, crotales,
maracas, mounted frame drum (no jingles), susp. cymbals, sm gong
Multi setup: 5 hand drums, susp. cyms, susp. metal bell plates, crotales,
cowbells, sm. gongs/brake drums

Instrumentation (chamber orchestra):
Fl1 (dbl Alto Fl), Fl2 (dbl Picc)
Ob1, Ob2 (dbl Eng. Hn)
Bb Cl1, Bb Cl 2 (dbl Bs Cl)
Bsn, Contrabsn
2 Hns in F, 2 Bb Tpts, Tbn, Bs Tbn, Tuba
3 Perc:
1) vibraphone, 4 brake drums, slapstick, shaker, susp. cym, susp. crotales,
sm metal scraper, wdblk, rainstick, afuché, puilis, bow
2) lg bass drum (pref. "gong drum"), 3 toms, rainstick, puilis
3) susp. crotales, susp. cym, puilis, sandpaper blocks, lg tam tam,
rainstick, afuché
Harp
Strings
Soprano Solo
Percussion solo:
Marimba setup: 5-8ve marimba, bells/chimes/keys, coco rattles, crotales,
maracas, mounted frame drum (no jingles), susp. cymbals, sm gong
Multi setup: 5 hand drums, susp. cyms, susp. metal bell plates, crotales,
cowbells, sm. gongs/brake drums