Ocells perduts

Based on the texts of R. Tagore (in the Catalan translation by Maria de Quadras), Homs produced different versions of Ocells perduts, making this series of songs one of the most frequently performed works in his catalogue. In this case, there is also an original version for voice and piano -­written between 1923-­24 and 1940-­, of ten songs, which served as a basis for the subsequent versions. Thus, in addition to this original version, we have one for solo clarinet, from 1992 -­which contains eleven numbers-­, another for voice, clarinet and piano from 1978 -with eight songs -, and a fourth, written for voice, flue, clarinet, violin, cello and piano, the instrumentation of wich was completed in 1976, wich is the one belonging to this score.

The instrumentation of the seven songs that make up our version underlines, in a perfect balance –which on occasions does not shy from linear duplications of the harmonic piano parts –the simplicity and clarity of the adaptation between the original music and the text (and between the text and the music, since in songs II and VI, and in the words of Homs himself, this involved “a process, in a certain way an inverse one, which consisted of selecting the texts of Tagore that were most suitable for being expressed musically by using various melodies whithout words which I had written down in 1931 and 1934...”). Tonal in their harmonic approach -­to a total extent in some numbers and in others,
more ambiguous-­ in the best “lieder” tradition, and completely genuine in their lack of pretension, the natural beauty of these pieces is safeguarded by an instrumental use in which colour and its expressive impact -­which is much more important in Homs than has been wished to be acknowledged -­, plays the role of a discreet tapestry on which the intimate discourse of the music carried by the song is laid out.
Juan José Olives