Whats lost/gained in the score from the original in the re-orchestration?
This re-orchestration was created in 1995 for the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne de Montreal. I had seen the premiere in Montreal, it has inspired me a lot. It is one of my goals to bring contemporary chamber opera to the San Francisco bay area. This opera in particular deals a lot with intimacy. It was written by Berg for over hundred musicians, it’s a big orchestra, and it’s difficult to give a sense of intimacy with this kind of production. The re-orchestration makes everything more intimate. Of course, with thirty musicians, it’s still hard to get the balance right, I’m still writing orchestra notes. What are orchestra notes? I’m taking the score, I’m looking at each line, and I write: 2nd Oboe, the crescendo starts from pianissimo to mezzo-piano instead of mezzo-forte to piano, so that we have the right balance with the singers. And after rehearsal, I do that for each instrument. Berg wrote 15 scenes, and in between there is a brief musical interlude to switch the sets, the play moves a
