„Esė apie vandenis“ is Lithuanian and is called „Essay on the waters.“ In each of my vocal works I try a different approach to the relationship between text and music. In this case, I asked the writer Anja Kampmann for a poem of a certain length, but not with a substantive requirement. In 2014 she gave me the poem „Versuch über das Meer“. Thus, the contect was given: sea and water. I used this text in a linear way and at the same time polyphonically with the translation into English (by Wieland Hoban), „About the sea“. At the same time I calculated the time relationships of Anja Kampmann’s reading aloud the texts on the total length of 13 minutes. So I got sufficient time between the text sections for
a) the (multiple) speaking of the word „water“ in 50 languages,
b) the madrigaleske mise-en-musique of the meaning of the text,
c) the onomatopoeic conversion of sea and water into musical sound.
So I deal with the text and its meaning on five levels that intertwine. The piece is written for the American singer Jeffrey Gavett who sings baritone, also using falsetto. In this respect, I use about three octaves.
Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf