David Hill, Gregory Vajda, and David Loftus

Gregory Vajda, resident conductor of the Oregon Symphony, is also a composer whose works have been performed in his native Hungary and in festivals throughout Europe. Now, Vajda is making his US debut with a brand new work “Gulliver in Faremido,” which will be premiered by the Third Angle New Music Ensemble at its “Hearing Voices” concert on January 22nd at Kaul Auditorium. Vajda’s “Gulliver in Faremido” is based on a fanciful novella called “Voyage to Faremido” by Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy (1887-1938). In Karinthy’s tale, Gulliver (much like Jonathan Swift’s fictional character) visits a land called Faremido that is inhabited by inorganic beings – sort of like robots – and Gulliver relates his perceptions on the language and thoughts of these unusual inhabitants.

To find out more about “Gulliver in Faremido,” I met with Vajda, and David Hill, who wrote the text, plus actor David Loftus, who will take on the role of the narrator.

How did this piece of music come about? What got you started?

Vajda: Almost two years ago, I received a commission from the Third Angle New Music Ensemble. They wanted a piece for a narrator and chamber orchestra. So I thought of this story by Karinthy. I probably read it the first time when I was a teenager, and I liked it because music plays a big role in the story.

The robots who live in Faremido speak in a language consisting purely of musical sounds. They use solfège: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti to communicate.

But it’s always problematic to write a piece for spoken words and music. There aren’t that many great pieces like the “Lincoln Portrait” out there. The original story by Karinthy is too long for a 20 minute piece; so I needed to find someone who could condense it and made the story more succinct. That’s why I asked David [Hill] to write the text.

Have you collaborated together before?

Hill: No. This is our first venture.

Then how did you meet?

Hill: I moved to the Portland area two years ago and heard an Oregon Symphony concert at the Arlene Schnitzer concert hall. I read through the bio of Gregory in the program and found out that we had a few things in common, owing to the fact that I had lived nine years in Hungary. I had been involved in writing and the arts in that country, and had participated in a festival that Gregory had founded and even done a voice-over for a CD that Gregory had conducted. So I contacted Gregory and, after we met, he proposed this project.

So the collaboration has gone well?

Vajda: Yes. But I cut back the libretto a bit, because the music can fill in the context. Once you establish the mood, you don’t have to explain everything. So as I was writing the piece, I would send my changes to David to make sure that everything was working.

So how does the narration take place? Is it during the music…

Loftus: There are sections in which I am speaking alone. There are sections in which I speak over the music and with the music. I have to sing the parts of the robots also. I call that dissonant plainsong.

You have to hit a certain pitch?

Loftus: Oh yes, the robots have to communicate in music.

Vajda: There are two or three parts where he has to sing, but the piece is written for an actor. So it is written for someone with no musical knowledge whatsoever, but that person has to have some ears.

Loftus: There are some strange intervals! The actor has to have some musical ability or it’s not going to fly!

Vajda: In the first spot where he has to sing, my idea is that he is quoting one of the robots but in the story he is learning how to speak music. So, it’s like the Sprechgesang from Schoenberg. So the pitches don’t have to be absolute.

Loftus: But I don’t want the audience to think that I can’t do it!

[General laughter]

When did you write this piece?

Vajda: I started it at the end of June and finished it at the end of October. But I didn’t have time to write much during the summer months. It has parts for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, piano, and percussion. The clarinetist has to play a woodwind synthesizer. It looks like a soprano saxophone. You have to connect it to your computer. You can register it as a normal synthesizer and get all sorts of sound colors, because that’s when the robots are singing or talking.

Loftus: And Gregory has worked in two sets of tubular bells and vibraphone!

Vajda: That performer only plays metallic instruments, because the idea is that the world of Faremido is not very human. It’s cold. It’s full of metal. So, I wanted a constant vibration and the bells have a lot of that.

Are you using certain tones to represent the Faremido?

Vajda: I put a system together where every solfege letter has an equivalent, but, for example, C (do) can be C natural, C sharp or C flat. Faremido is the place. Faremido is the place, So-la-tis are the creatures, Mi-do-re – who is not the violinist – is the main robot that Gulliver talks to. They all fit into a chord in which C can be C sharp or C flat.

When the narrator first mentioned Faremido, you hear this music and it gets more involved as the story continues.

Are you as the narrator going to use a British accent for this?

Loftus: Yes, indubitably.

How did you reduce the text to a 20 minute span?

Hill: It wasn’t all that difficult to compact it down, because the original was quite wordy. I tend to be a pithy writer; so it was an easy task to compress it to the bare bones while still maintaining the narrative style.

Vajda: We also decided to make a few cuts and changes that would make the story more contemporary.

You can add them in for your opera later.

Vajda: Well, I’m now working on a chamber opera of “The Magic Mountain,” the Thomas Mann novel.

[Everyone except Vajda] Wow!

Vajda: It’s concentrated on the seven main characters in the book, and it will be performed in the hotel that was the sanatorium in the book. The hotel is in Davos, Switzerland as part of the Davos Festival.

Loftus: A lot of Magic Mountain is philosophical arguments and discussions. So you can toss that off the top.

Vajda: Right! I’m writing it in German, which is not all that easy for me.

When do you start rehearsing “Gulliver in Faremido?

Vajda: Well, I won’t be here for the rehearsals. I’ll be in Budapest working at the Hungarian State Opera in January, and I won’t be back in Portland until February.

What opera are you conducting?

Vajda, It’s a Hungarian one-act opera about WWII called C’est la guerre by Emil Petrovics. I’ll also conduct a ballet called “Variations on a Nursery Song” by Dohnanyi.

So you are going to miss the premiere of your piece with Third Angle?

Vajda: Yes. But I’m putting it in the hands of pros who can handle it!

Loftus: Well, at least Gregory won’t be here if we don’t do it right!

[Laughter]

This would be a great piece for a film.

Hill: An animated film would be terrific.

Is Karinthy noted for other works?

Vajda: In Hungary he is well known for his satirical humor. But a lot of his work is connected to Hungarian literature.

Hill: Karinthy is popular in Hungary for a book that consists of a series of pastiches that refer to other Hungarian works. You would have to know all of those other authors to understand that book. A lot of it was satirical and also made comments on issues of the day. So Karinthy was very much of his time.

Vajda: Yet the Eastern European intelligentsia at the time before the WWII was very connected to what was going on in Europe. Karinthy corresponded with H. G. Wells, for example. Small nations with small languages like Hungary were very aware of what was going on around the world.

Loftus to Hill: So what took you to Hungary?

Hill: Oh, it just sounded interesting… a lot more interesting than England where I’m from. But before I came to Hungary, I had studied German and Russian. I lived in Russia and Romania a little while before I tried Hungary. But Hungary turned into nine years. I still use a fair amount of German and Hungarian. I work with a Hungarian band that makes records here in the states.

What is the name of the band?

Hill: In Hungarian, the band’s name is Kistehén Tánczenekar. It’s called Little Cow in English. But they might try to rebrand the name.

Vajda: Maybe Big Cow!

[Much laughter]

Hill: Since Hungarian is so difficult for non-Hungarians to pronounce, I’ve advised them to rename themselves the Unpronounceable Band and be done with it.

So what do we call a text and music piece like Gulliver in Faremido? Is it chamber concert opera?

Loftus: It’s narrative sonata.

[All: Ah!]

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Post Script and FYI: Earlier this year David Hill published a book of poetry called “Consumed” with KenArnoldBooks.