PROGRAM NOTE

Last modifiedd 12 March 2021

Sketchbook (for The Unbearable Lightness of Being) (1985)
(Voice and Piano)

by Roger Reynolds

SKETCHBOOK explores three texts that I drew from Milan Kundera’s novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The themes treated are: I., The idea of eternal return; II., Seeing one's own “I”, and III., The unbearable lightness of being. Kundera’s tone, his mode of address to the reader, is inventively varied. At certain times he offers only dialogue, at others narrative commentary, even informal philosophical discourse. These may alternate with surprising rapidity. Reflecting on Kundera’s craft, it seemed to me that his ability to operate on several levels almost simultaneously (and to do so with such fluidity) would present an intriguing task for a vocalist. It suggested the sort of performance a gifted nightclub entertainer might achieve towards the close of an evening, when defenses are down, formalisms in retreat. What I have done is to conceive a framework within which something this flexible, but perhaps more dimensional, could take place. There is no conscious reference to balladry beyond the convention of the amplified vocalists and a piano at which she can accompany herself.

          Kundera’s thoughts have been parsed into three strata: Lyrical (sung) text, transitional text, and spoken text. There is no direct correspondence between my three levels and the change of tone in Kundera’s text. Rather, my effort has been to establish one multi-faceted thread of communicativeness which is frequently displaced (sometimes abruptly, and at others in a smooth, gradual fashion). The displacement happens in one of three ways: by change in vocal approach, by breaks in expected continuity, by reiterative looping. Electronic transformations are called for in certain sections in order to intensify the range of vocal behaviors.

          Sketchbook was written for Joan La Barbara, and was premiered by her at Symphony Space, in New York in May of 1985.

– Roger Reynolds