Journey to Ixtlan to a fragment of the poem by Juan Ramón Jiménez

This composition for soprano and chamber ensemble was inspired by the incomparably beautiful poem El viaje definitivo by the Spanish poet Juan Ramón Jiménez, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1956 (the German translation of the poem is included in the score). The piece can be performed by several possible ensembles: 1) soprano and 12 stringed or 12 wind instruments, 2) soprano and 8 stringed or 8 wind instruments ? playing parts I-VIII, 3) soprano and 4 stringed or 4 wind instruments ? playing parts I-IV. The work was premiered in 1982 in Budapest by the New Music Studio Ensemble, conducted by Albert Simon.