Puzzle of Purcell (2017) for mezzo soprano and electric guitar

New Music by Karlheinz Essl

Performed live by Keiko Morikawa (voice) Francesco Cuoghi(guitar) on Dec 18th, 2021 at Chiesa di San Paolo entro le Mura in Rome, Italy during the festival Contemporaneamente - De Natura Sonorum: ALEATORIO. "Puzzle of Purcell" is a piece for mezzo soprano and electric guitar based on two songs of Henry Purcell (1659-1695): "Music for a while" (from the theater play „Oedipus”) and the famous "Cold Song" from his semi-opera „King Arthur”. Selected fragments of those songs form the material of my composition, where they are shuffled and re-combined in a highly intuitive manner. The electric guitar adds a new dimension to this music, which was originally rooted in the early English baroque by introducing sounds and playing techniques from rock music and heavy metal. By this, a new image has been rendered which bridges a time span of more than 300 years, telling a tale about grief and solace. Score and more: https://www.essl.at/works/purcell-puzzle.html