Javier Alejandro Garavaglia

Laberinto (..."palabras, poemas"...) for 4 singers and ensemble (1991) based on poems by Jorge Luis Borges, Alejandra Pizarnik and Marcelo Gasparini

Genre: Instrumental Music

Duration: ca 25 minutes.

 

 

"Laberinto (..."palabras, poemas"...)" (Labyrinth (..."words, poems"...)), was composed in 1991. Exactly as in another work of mine "Poème du temps qui ne passe pas"(..."del otro lado del muro"...) from 1993, the central point is to put into music some poems and ideas of the Argentinean poet Jorge Luis Borges, whose vision of the world is very close to that of my own. The two works cherish almost the same tone-material, which consists on a series of 6 notes, so many as the name "Borges" has got. In "Laberinto..." there are another poems of other Argentinean poets also (Alejandra Pizarnik and Marcelo Gasparini), which reinforce the main thematic of the work. This is the vision of Borges, that the world and life itself does look like a labyrinth, where we all are captured. The paths might be different and many, but the goals remain the same. The piece will be played without interruptions, where the 7 poems will be separated by interludes, which prepare the atmosphere of the next poem.

 

The form of "Laberinto (..."palabras, poemas"...)" cannot be seen "a priori", because it depends entirely on the poems and is also determined by them. The last 3 measures however, are identical with the first three, what gives the impression that the piece could start from the beginning again and again, up to the eternity.

 

The performance of "Laberinto (..."palabras, poemas"...)" should take place in darkness, where the singers (who take different places on the stage during the performance) will be eventually illuminated as given in the score.

 

The 7 poems describe with music and text some aspects of everyone's life, such as love, death, dreaming, the moon (which acts as the eternal witness of humanity) and last but not less, the labyrinth itself.

 

"Laberinto (..."palabras, poemas"...)" won in 1997 the award „TRIMARG 97“ from the ”Consejo Argentino de la Música” (Internacional Music Council).