Joyance – for Saint Julius Hydrophilos

In this piece the musicians have not only instrumental but also acting roles. They have to walk about the performing area in accordance with a specific plan, while uttering words and sentences taken from James Joyce's novel Finnegans Wake. The theoretical background to this use of the text is provided by the general container-function theory developed by the British psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion. This theory also determines all the parameters of the music as well. Assistance in working out the harp part was provided by harpist Sarah O?Brian, who was the soloist at the premiere of the work in Germany in 1999.