Santa BUŠS : 'Blumenmuskel...' for ensemble (2021)
der/gelbe/klang, conductor Armando Merino 

(live recording : 04.07.2021. - Schwere Reiter, Munich, Germany)
video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgBltNTuhvU

The starting point for the piece “Blumenmuskel...” is a striking poem by Rainer Maria Rilke along with it's numerous translations and different perspectives that these interpretations create. The poem I am reffering to is listed as the fifth in the second part of his masterpiece, “The Sonnets to Orpheus”, a cycle of 55 sonnets written in 1922. Widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets, Rainer Maria Rilke was unique in his efforts to expand the realm of poetry through new uses of syntax and imagery and in the philosophy that his poems explored. It was in Munich where Rilke began in earnest a career as poet and writer, and that's how I came to revisiting his works, while starting to work on the piece for Munich based ensemble der/gelbe/klang. 
I am sure that my initial encounters with Rilke's writings came through translations in Latvian... And turns out that Rilke is one of the most translated German-speaking poets in the world... If we look only at his “The Sonnets to Orpheus”, in English alone there are tens of translations of the complete cycle, not even counting excerpts... 
It is absolutely fascinating to see how the same text, especially when it comes to poetry that is so closely linked with original language, extra-linguistic information and culture-specific backgrounds, can be read, understood, interpreted and perceived through various translations... And this is the “territory” where my piece starts.
After some research I came across more than 30 translations in English of the same poem that Rilke starts with words “Blumenmuskel, der der Anemone...”. Done by people living in different countries, times, political situations and cultural surroundings, these translations are rather diverse. 
Few try to replicate Rilke's rhymes, while others are rather carefree in that sense, some focus more on the poetic essence, while others have come up with a new original piece of art... Out of this collection I decided to choose five translations, based on how strong they are and how contrasting between themselves, and how close or far away they are from the original poem.  And each of those five translations plus the original Rilke's poem came to be the basis for the individual parts, while the whole piece can be seen as the same story told from rather different perspectives.

Santa BUŠS 'Blumenmuskel...'

Helena Tulve – Vers l'autre clarté (2024)

Pulss, mõõn ja voolamine / Pulse, Ebb and Flow (2012)

Wand'ring Bark (2024)

N A B U R O O M / ulrich langenbach-barbara weiss

With my friends Mico N. Aquino and Yvonne-Nikola Fontaine we wrote a new piece every day!
Here are my submissions to the project and you can follow the links here to see all the videos with scores :-))))))))))))))))

https://www.youtube.com/@AnatoArchives/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@MicoAquinoComposer/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@MatthewLeeKnowles/videos

DAY FOUR: HAPPY-FASTY-LOUDY-SMASHY

finest thoughts


I - VOYAGE FROM CYTHERA ( mov. 1 from Chamber Symphony) (1991-2017)
(Memoirs of yesterday’s world)
VOYAGE FROM CYTHERA
What is this black, gloomy island? — It's Cythera, They tell us, a country celebrated in song,
The banal Eldorado of old bachelors.
Look at it; after all, it is a wretched land.
— Cythera was now no more than the barrenest land, A rocky desert disturbed by shrill cries.
(The Flowers of Evil. Ch. Baudelaire)
Live recording of the premiere in KBH, by Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen. 
written in Memoriam of my professor, mentor, and friend, Harold Gramatges

I - VOYAGE FROM CYTHERA (fra chamber symphony)

No. 4 6

"Orison" is a work for ondes Martenot and electronics commissioned and performed by Daniel Áñez. It was irresistible for me to associate this early electronic instrument with science fiction and the idea of extra-terrestrial life, and so the work takes on a quasi-narrative, atmospheric character addressing these themes and their relationship with spirituality, the idea of the metaphysical 'other,' and personal feelings of alienation and otherness. Besides being an incredible ondist, Daniel has a virtuosic fluency with synthesizers and effects pedals, and so the work incorporates a significant signal processing component, which Daniel implemented. The work also features a vocoder during a brief sung passage. The work premiered in 2024 at the Electric Eclectics festival in Meaford, ON, and this studio recording was realized by Daniel Áñez and James O'Callaghan in 2025.

Orison - Daniel Áñez

santa.buss@gmail.com

Santa BUŠS is a Latvian composer especially interested in detailed pre-compositional process and working with extra-musical ideas (found in other art forms, physiology, history, mythology, nature, architecture, medicine, sports, philosophy, etc.). 

Though her main focus and form of expression has been linked with instrumental music, lately she has discovered a deep interest in the voice and its possibilities, as well as being keen to expand her approach towards sound, composition and exploring different forms of collaboration. 
This also includes exploring territories between conventional and unconventional notation and performance techniques, as well as experimenting between the boundaries of music, theatre and opera, often focusing on the physical manipulation of instruments and the presence of musicians as a source of drama. 

She has studied both composition and musicology at the Latvian Academy of Music and Hamburg University of Music and Theatre. 

Her works have been performed throughout Europe, in North America and Asia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgBltNTuhvU

Santa BUŠS 'Blumenmuskel...'

Santa BUŠS

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