solo voice(s)+2 to 6 instruments

Forth and Back is a setting of the poem by Catalan poet Felip Costaglioli. Costaglioli's poetry is rich with evocotive imagery and musicality, heightened by how he lays out the written words on the page. His poetry is meant to be performed as sound, and this setting of the text has been strongly informed by a recording of the poet reading this work shortly after he completed it in August 2003.   The poem examines the past and looks to the future, anticipating "the beautiful absence of us," when two come together and individual identity is erased as part of becoming the "other," which is "us." 

Tenor:  Arnold Schoenberg/Erwin Stein

Baritone:  Heinrich Schoenberg/Heinrich Jalowetz

Soprano:  Gretchen/Trudi

Mezzo-Soprano:  Mathilda/Ursula