Lemon Music for Soprano (or any Singer!) and Trombone.
Lemon Music was written for the opening of the exhibition of paintings by Yuri Sobolev and Gala Metelitschenko in Zurich on 6th March 1991. It was performed by Fiona and Philip Powell. The works of both artists had the figure of a lemon as a common theme—hence the title and content of this piece.
Lemon Music can be performed as music theatre although the theatrical details are left largely to the performers. We see the singer (a woman?) at work in her kitchen. She stands at a table surrounded by cooking utensils, water, sugar, etc., and, of course, lemons. Also on the table is a recipe (which can be her music) for Lemon-Sorbet. She reads the recipe and performs the appropriate actions. The trombone functions as her memory and the subconscious which prods that memory—no doubt reminding her of a wonderful holiday in the “Land Where the Lemon Trees Blossom”, or was it in Russia? (“moi Limon”)—wherever it was, they danced to that Strauss Waltz: Wo die Zitronen blühn (the trombone dances too!) and even the mention of a lemon recalls the rapture of that wonderful time.