Multitudinous Verses (1992) - Belinda Reynolds

for soprano and live electronics

Multitudinous Verses is a five song cycle for solo voice, synthesizers, and Macintosh computer. With it I explore the depth of meanings in six poems of Ping Hsin's from her collection, Multitudinous Stars and Spring Waters. (English translation ©1972 by Kenneth Rexroth and Ling Chung). The vocalist sings the text as it is written in Hsin's verse. Against this I overlay a computerized version of the poems in which readings of the text are altered to highlight the inner meanings of each poem. Both the synthesizers' harmonies and the singer's line are derived from the contours of the spoken poems. This work is dedicated to my husband, Dan, for giving me the inspiration to write this piece. Special thanks also goes to Jonathan Berger and Dafna Napthali for their help in putting the songs together.

Approx. Duration: 10'