Voyage to Hy-Bresail for guitar quartet or ensemble (2024)
Voyage to Hy-Bresail for guitar ensemble was commissioned by GitarreHamburg for Hamburg Youth Guitar Orchestra under the direction of Christian Moritz. The world premiere of the work took place in November 2024 at the Hamburg Guitar Festival with me conducting. For this composition, I was inspired by the Medieval and Renaissance European maps of the known world. I was fascinated by the description of unknown places as terra incognita and the inclusion of mythical beasts and water serpents near those undiscovered places on the map. When I started reading more about old maps, I found that some of them depicted “spectral islands” that did not actually exist in reality. One of the most intriguing of such ghost islands is Hy-Brasil (spelled sometimes Hy-Bresail and Hy-Brasail), a mythical island that was believed to exist in the Atlantic Ocean to the west of Ireland. It was also known as The Enchanted Island and The Isle of the Blessed in Irish folklore. People believed that the island was perpetually shrouded in mist and only became visible for one day every seven years. This piece is my imagining of a maritime journey to Hy-Bresail with excitement, dangers and beautiful sights along the way.
Voyage to Hy-Bresail for guitar ensemble was commissioned by GitarreHamburg for Hamburg Youth Guitar Orchestra under the direction of Christian Moritz. The world premiere of the work took place in November 2024 at the Hamburg Guitar Festival with me conducting. For this composition, I was inspired by the Medieval and Renaissance European maps of the known world. I was fascinated by the description of unknown places as terra incognita and the inclusion of mythical beasts and water serpents near those undiscovered places on the map. When I started reading more about old maps, I found that some of them depicted “spectral islands” that did not actually exist in reality. One of the most intriguing of such ghost islands is Hy-Brasil (spelled sometimes Hy-Bresail and Hy-Brasail), a mythical island that was believed to exist in the Atlantic Ocean to the west of Ireland. It was also known as The Enchanted Island and The Isle of the Blessed in Irish folklore. People believed that the island was perpetually shrouded in mist and only became visible for one day every seven years. This piece is my imagining of a maritime journey to Hy-Bresail with excitement, dangers and beautiful sights along the way.
Voyage to Hy-Bresail for guitar ensemble was commissioned by GitarreHamburg for Hamburg Youth Guitar Orchestra under the direction of Christian Moritz. The world premiere of the work took place in November 2024 at the Hamburg Guitar Festival with me conducting. For this composition, I was inspired by the Medieval and Renaissance European maps of the known world. I was fascinated by the description of unknown places as terra incognita and the inclusion of mythical beasts and water serpents near those undiscovered places on the map. When I started reading more about old maps, I found that some of them depicted “spectral islands” that did not actually exist in reality. One of the most intriguing of such ghost islands is Hy-Brasil (spelled sometimes Hy-Bresail and Hy-Brasail), a mythical island that was believed to exist in the Atlantic Ocean to the west of Ireland. It was also known as The Enchanted Island and The Isle of the Blessed in Irish folklore. People believed that the island was perpetually shrouded in mist and only became visible for one day every seven years. This piece is my imagining of a maritime journey to Hy-Bresail with excitement, dangers and beautiful sights along the way.
This work features frequent meter changes. If no tempo change is indicated, keep the eighth note value steady as time signatures change. One of the musical characteristics of this work is the interaction of different metric groupings that sometimes conflict with the prevailing meter. My beaming indicates desired metric accents, regardless of the overall meter of each section. The bass guitar part is suggested but optional, based on instrument availability.