Three sonnets of William Shakespeare for baritone and orchestra (PARTS ON HIRE)

Strictly speaking this work is not a song cycle but arises all in one piece, in which the three sonnets (n° 44, 73 and 146), sung by a barytone voice, irrigate all the course of the composition. The content of these poems in which are expressed an intense nostalgia, wild longing, dark resignation and visionary expectation, inspire every design of the vocal part as well as all the orchestral colours, which are almost always dark.

Nomenclature

3 Flutes (Fl.), The 3rd also plays the Piccolo (Picc.)

2 Oboe (Htb.), The 2nd also playing the English Horn (C.A.)

2 Clarinets in B flat (Cl.), The 2nd also playing the bass clarinet (Cl.B.)

2 Bassoons (Bn.), The 2nd also playing the Conbasson (C. Bn.)

3 Horns in F (C.)

2 Trumpets in C (Trp.)

3 Trombones (Trb.) (2 tenors and 1 bass)

1 Timbalist with a set of 3 timpani (Timb.)

1 Percussionnist Playing a Gong Medium (Gong.) And a Glockenspiel (Glock.)

1 Percussionist playing Suspended Cymbals (Susp. Cymb.) Acute and Medium, Triangle (Trgl.) And Bass Drum (G.C.)

1 Harp (Hpe.)

1 String Quintet (ca 12 - 10 - 8 - 8 - 4)