The Great Question Mark (pfte)

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Length / year

15' - 1983

Instrumentation

soprano/pfte

Reviews

" . . . a striking new work by John Metcalf . . . Through a series of texts as diverse as they are penetrating the composer has created what is ostensibly a song cycle of impressions each hinting obliquely at a number of Wagner-related issues. . . . There is no doubt that he writes very skillfully for the voice . . . compelling and provocative . . . "
Edward Seckerson - The Guardian

Performance history

First Performance
Alte Oper Frankfurt
8th September 1983
Kathryn Harries - soprano
Michael Pollock - piano

Programme note

Five poems by or about Wagner:

Wagner (Rupert Brooke)

The Return of Napoleon to Paris (Wagner)

Le silence deja funebre (Mallarme)

The Death of Wagner (Swinburne)

Epitaph (Wagner)