I have been revising two older compositions, El Pozo for baritone and harp (my very first composition!) and fer cum paciencia: for baritone and organ. Only a few changes were needed for El Pozo, also as I didn’t want to ‘improve’ to much on what is the attraction of an admittedly naïve work. fer cum paciencia: is another story, since the work is much more developed, and rather ambitious. The text, written by Peter of Blois – or Petrus Blesensis, c. 1135-1204 – is a poetic debate elaborated as a dialogue between a ‘warner’ and a ‘courtier’. The message is quite subversive, or contemporary, in suggesting that the values of flesh and spirit are relative, that each is ‘natural’ in its context.

One of the work’s problems is that the intended repetitive nature of the part of the warner is a bit too much as it kills the expressivity of the baritone. The organ is quite massive, and should support the voice more with more contrast in the writing. Applying the composer-emoter tool for musical expression, it became possible to find consistent simplifications and a couple of adjustments that would provide contrast and maintain the expression’s stability.

For instance, there is a device of c-octaves in the pedal that do not take on sufficient meaning. A lot depends on the registers used, but the interest is not enough to sustain the repeated use. Another case was the tiny variations in some melodic motifs, that needed a bit more variation and recurrence.