Atlantis

for baritone, boy soprano, cimbalom and orchestra

Commissioned by WDR Cologne

Description

First performance: 17 November, 1995, Cologne
WDR Symph.Orch.,
Conductor: Peter Eötvös
Dietrich Henschel, Marta Fábián

Text: Sándor Weöres

Did Atlantis really exist? Where and when? Was it just in someone´s imagination? A dream or a nightmare perhaps? Atlantis is the symbol of terrifying natural catastrophies, but it can also be interpreted as a sign of social and ethnic conflicts – it is just ahead of us. Humanity is continuously working on sinking itself, the apocalyptic fall of the anticipated final judgement is a bitter topicality.

Basically, Eötvös is an optimist, he never gives up hope. For him the “Artist” is a seismograph of the future who produces utopias for tomorrow. Eötvös rephrases Mussorgsky´s famous saying: “the past is with us in the present” into: “the future originates from the present.”

… We are all under water: this is the situation that Eötvös places the audience into right at the beginning of the piece. A world of fantasy-sounds surrounds us, from which the sounds approach us like far-off hallucinations… The ten string players and the ten percussionists symbolize the five twins of Poseidon and Kleitos, the first ten kings of Atlantis…
At the end of each movement, soft Transylvanian dance music can be heard from the distance, like the low, scratched recording on an old phonograph.
Is this all that remained after us? – we might well ask.

/Thomas Schäfer – Cologne, 1995/

Performances

21 Feb, 2020

Budapest, Hungary

Eötvös: Atlantis, Dialog mit Mozart, Reading Malevich

Cond: Peter Eötvös
Zsolt Haja (bar.), boy soprano, Miklós Lukács (cymb.)
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

Program:
Eötvös: Dialog mit Mozart
Eötvös: Reading Malevich
Eötvös: Atlantis

Venue: Müpa, Budapest

1 Nov, 2014

Porto, Portugal

Eötvös: Atlantis

Porto Symphony Orchestra
conductor: Peter Eötvös
Venue: Casa da Musica

24 Sep, 2010

Strasbourg, France

Eötvös: Atlantis

Orchestre Philharmonic Radio France
Strasbourg Musica Festival

22 Aug, 2010

Shanghai, China

Eötvös: Atlantis, Paris-Dakar

Atlantis (Szeged Contemporary Balett)
Paris-Dakar (ArtOrchestra Budapest)
Shanghai World Expo
Hungarian National Day

15 Sep, 2007

Luzern, Switzerland

Eötvös: Atlantis

Junge Philh. Zentralschweiz
Conductor: Peter Eötvös

23 Mar, 2007

Torino, Italy

Eötvös: Atlantis

RAI Orch
Conductor: Peter Eötvös

22 Mar, 2007

Torino, Italy

Eötvös: Atlantis

RAI Orch
Conductor: Peter Eötvös

9 Feb, 2007

Paris, France

Eötvös: Atlantis

Ensemble Intercontemporain
Conservatoire Superieur
Conductor: Peter Eötvös

8 Jan, 2007

Hamburg, Germany

Eötvös: Atlantis

Hamburg Staatsoper Orchestra
Conductor: Peter Eötvös

7 Jan, 2007

Hamburg, Germany

Eötvös: Atlantis

Hamburg Staatsoper Orchestra
Conductor: Peter Eötvös

22 Sep, 2006

Warsaw, Poland

Eötvös: Atlantis

Varsaw Autumn Festival
Cond: Zsolt Nagy

1 Oct, 2005

Frankfurt, Germany

Eötvös: Atlantis

Hessischer Rundfunk Orch.
Cond: Peter Eötvös

30 Sep, 2005

Frankfurt, Germany

Eötvös: Atlantis

Hessischer Rundfunk Orch.
Cond: Peter Eötvös

29 Sep, 2005

Frankfurt, Germany

Eötvös: Atlantis

Hessischer Rundfunk Orch.
Cond: Peter Eötvös

1 Mar, 2003

Berlin, Germany

Eötvös: Atlantis

Bartók: Four orch. pieces Op.12
Pintscher: Violin concerto
Eötvös: Atlantis
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Cond: Péter Eötvös

28 Feb, 2003

Berlin, Germany

Eötvös: Atlantis

Bartók: Four orch. pieces Op.12
Pintscher: Violin concerto
Eötvös: Atlantis
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Cond: Péter Eötvös

27 Feb, 2003

Berlin, Germany

Eötvös: Atlantis

Bartók: Four orch. pieces Op.12
Pintscher: Violin concerto
Eötvös: Atlantis
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Cond: Péter Eötvös

21 Feb, 2003

Stockholm, Sweden

Eötvös: zeroPoints, Jet Stream, Atlantis

Eötvös: zeroPoints
Eötvös: Jet Stream (Markus Stockhausen)
Eötvös: Atlantis

Royal Stockholm Philharmonic

Cond: Péter Eötvös

New Music Festival, February 17-21

20 Dec, 2002

Stuttgart, Germany

Eötvös: Atlantis

Radio Symph. Orch.
Cond: Péter Eötvös

19 Dec, 2002

Stuttgart, Germany

Eötvös: Atlantis

Radio Symph. Orch.
Cond: Péter Eötvös

6 Oct, 2001

Strasbourg, France

Eötvös: Atlantis

Musica Festival

Stuttgart Radio-Symphony Orchestra

Cond: Peter Eötvös

19 Mar, 2000

Budapest, Hungary

National Philharmonic Orchestra

Eötvös: Atlantis
Budapest Spring Festival
Conductor: Peter Eötvös
Wojtek Drabowicz, baryton, Marta Fábián, cimbalom

19 Mar, 2000

Budapest, Hungary

Eötvös: Atlantis

Budapest Spring Festival
National Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Peter Eötvös
Wojtek Drabowicz, baryton, Marta Fábián, cimbalom

23 Oct, 1999

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Eötvös: Atlantis

Amsterdam (VARA matiné)
Radio Philharm. Orch. Hilversum

18 Apr, 1998

Paris, France

Eötvös: Atlantis, Psychokosmos, Drei Madrigalkomödien

Radio France - Orch. Philh.

Details

Genre:

Concerto

Duration:

39 minutes

Date:

1995

Publisher information

Edition Ricordi München – performing material on hire (Sy 3221)

https://www.ricordi.com/en-US/Composers/E/Eotvos-Peter.aspx

Orchestration

TITLE Dur. Soloists & choir fl ob cl bcl bn hn tpt tbn tba perc pf hp vn1 vn2 va vc db Other Tech

Atlantis
Concerto 39' bar,boy.sop 5 5 4 1 5 6 5 5 2 10 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 4sax,bug,2epf,3syn,bgtr,cymb,timp=2plyrs amp

solo barytone,
boy soprano,
cimbalom,
virtual choir (3 synth.)
5 fl. (2-3-4-5 also picc., 4-5. also altfl.),
5 ob. (5. also eng. horn),
4 cl. (4. also bcl),
1 bcl (cbcl),
5 bassoon (4-5. also contrabassoon),
4 sax.(s., a., t., bar),
6 horn,
5 trumpet (1-2 also picctr.),
bugle,
5 trombone (1. alto, 5. basso),
2 tuba,
10 perc.
2 harps,
2 el.piano,
bassguitar,
strings: 2.2.2.2.2

Technical information

DX7 /FM8 computer program ‐ Logic with FM8 plug‐in
programmed on:
Mac OSX version 10.7.5
Logic Pro 9 version 9.1.8
Native Instrument FM8 plug‐in instrument version 1.3.0

3 keyboard players

You need a computer with 6ch output audio interface (3 player x2ch to the mixing console and monitoring) + midi interface with 3 inputs
+ Logic 9 program with ‘Native Instruments ‐ FM8’ installed (version 1.3.0)
+ 3 x master keyboard with midi connection
+ 3 x 1 hold/sustain and 2 expression pedal
expression pedal ‐ Foot Control pedal (FC1 control cc4 parameter FC2 control cc7)
Please copy the ‘Atlantis’ sound files from the ‘sounds’ folder to:
Mac:Macintosh HD > Users > *User Name* > Documents > Native Instruments > Shared Content > Sounds > FM8
PC:C: > Users > *User Name* > Documents > Public Documents > Native Instruments > Shared Content > Sounds > FM8
More info:
http://www.native‐instruments.com/en/support/knowledge‐base/show/877/how‐to‐transfer‐fm8‐from‐one‐computer‐to‐another/
Load the Atlantis session
On the master keyboards set the transmit midi channel:
player1= midi ch 2
player2= midi ch 3
player3= midi ch 4
so you can change the program from you keyboard.
The number of the program change number is the same as in the score
player1+ player2 + player3 channel should be record enable (all of three)
If there is any CPU overload during program change increase the I/O buffer size (preferences>audio>I/O buffer size)