Composition database

This is the Composition Database of BMC, which includes information about works by composers that are either Hungarian or Hungarian by origin or live in Hungary.

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Title of the work

New Psalm

Composer
Eötvös Péter
Original / Hungarian title
New Psalm
Foreign language / English title
New Psalm
Subtitle
For solo percussion
Year of composition
2013
Type
Instrumental solo
Number of players
1
Instrumentation
perc. (1 esec.: 7 camp., 2 camp.lst., 2 burma gong, gr.c.)
Duration
10 min
Premiere information
29 September 2013, Experimental Theater of the National Theater, Taipei, Taiwan; Ming-Jen Suen (perc.)
Publisher / Source
Ricordi Berlin, SY 4382
Available here!
Recordings
Video recording, 2014 - Jelle Van Dooren (perc.) (Available at www.eotvospeter.com)
Remarks, other info
Composed: 2012 - 2013

"This is a new concert version of Psalm 151. Ritual is part of my nature. I would actually call all of my pieces “rituals”, as gesture and sound appear in absolute unity first in this ancient genre. In “Psalm 151” the instruments – seven tubular bells, two bell plates and two hump gongs – are placed in a circle, with a bass drum in the middle. During the chorus, the drummer goes around – after having played a verse on the bass drum -, always following the same order: first the tubular bells, then the bell plates, finally the gongs. Then he comes back, plays a verse and again a chorus. This constant circling around the instruments creates a ritual act, in which every gesture, every mallet has a special role. The way in which the bells, plates and gongs are treated was very important to me: on the one hand, they chant (as they have a specific pitch), on the other hand, they are hit just as animals or people are hit, struck." (Peter Eötvös)