Dream of the Song

《歌之夢》是喬治-本雅明繼開創性的歌劇《寫在皮膚上》之後的首部作品，於2015年由反男高音貝瓊-梅塔、荷蘭室內合唱團和作曲家指揮的皇家音樂廳管弦樂團首演，是一部為反男高音、女聲和管弦樂團創作的20分鐘的迷人作品。這部作品採用了精簡的管弦樂隊（兩支雙簧管、四支圓號、兩名打擊樂手、兩把豎琴和絃樂），將三位在格拉納達度過成長歲月的重要詩人的詩句編排在一起；這三位詩人分別是 11 世紀中葉的兩位希伯來詩人撒母耳-哈納吉德（Samuel HaNagid）和所羅門-伊本-加比羅爾（Solomon Ibn Gabirol）（由彼得-科爾（Peter Cole）的英文版反男高音獨唱），以及加布裡埃爾-加西亞-洛爾卡（Gabriel Garcia Lorca）（由女聲合唱團用西班牙語原版演唱）。這對靈感迸發的文本組合創造了豐富、憂鬱和奇特的詩意，在最後樂章中表現得淋漓盡致，獨唱和合唱的疊加，提供了兩個同時出現的黎明景象，構思相隔千年"

作曲家: Benjamin, George
樂器: Female Voices, Chamber Orchestra, Countertenor Voice
出版社: Faber Music
原文簡介:
A beguiling 20-minute work for countertenor, women’s voices and orchestra, Dream of the Song, George Benjamin’s first work since his ground-breaking opera Written on Skin, was premiered in 2015 by the countertenor Bejun Mehta, the Netherlands Chamber Choir and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by the composer. Employing a reduced orchestra (two oboes, four horns, two percussionists and two harps and strings), the work sets verse by three major poets who spent formative years in Granada; two Hebrew poets of mid-11th century, Samuel HaNagid and Solomon Ibn Gabirol (sung by solo countertenor in English versions by Peter Cole), and Gabriel Garcia Lorca (sung by the female chorus in the original Spanish). This inspired pairing of texts creates a rich, melancholy and strange poetic conjunction, expressed most beautifully in the final movement which, overlaying soloist and choir, offers two simultaneous visions of dawn, conceived a millennium apart. ‘Perfectly structured music of great beauty, fleet-footed and profound, varied and thoughtful… Benjamin possesses a passionate, almost fanatical, gift for tone colour…’ NRC Handelsblad (Joe Stack), 28 September 2015