Chansons à Boire (2013)

This composition is a Hommage à Francis Poulenc, and it is especially his choir piece Chansons à Boire which shaped my composition. This is certainly not serious music. My Chansons à Boire is an attempt to understand the world in a playful manner. Of course, games sometimes teach serious matters. Maybe this work will encourage reflection on the world we live in. The composition is meant to evoke ‘cosmic laughter’ – Benjamin Zander’s term – that smile we feel when we realise that our intense efforts are standing between us and our moments of insight. “How fascinating!”

I’ve never been captivated by drunkenness, mine or anybody else’s. So, this work is not an ‘Ode to being Drunk’. It presents a bunch of wits. Some of the wits are nitwits. Some say more, even in their inebriated state. The second movement wants to tell important stories.

The present version of the work has four movements and it was written in one university town, Potchefstroom, for another: Grahamstown. A short article that I wrote about this composition can be downloaded here.

1. Préambule (c. 3’10”)
2. Chorale (c. 9’45”)
3. Complainte (c. 1’30”)
4. Cadence (c. 5’00”)

Total duration c. 20’30”