Agata Zubel

What is the Word

'What is the word' was created to Beckett's poem of the same title. The work was commissioned by Klangforum Wien and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. The premiere will take place in the Austrian Cultural Forum of New York, an institution celebrating its 10th anniversary. It is a chamber composition for voice and four instruments (flute, violin, cello and piano). This work is a single-movement, about ten-minutes long, with a very clear texture and distinct motifs. The composer uses the whole palette of colours and highly varied instrumental and vocal articulations. The rhythmic factor plays a significant role in the piece: great movement and liveliness in the flute, violin and cello are in opposition to the vast sound planes in the piano. The entire work demonstrates a concise and clear form. The aphoristic text of Beckett's poetry, consisting of short words and phrases, was musically given in a superb manner through the splitting of vocal phrases.