NARRATOR AND ENSEMBLE
Contemporary Music for Narrator and Ensemble
Works for narrator and ensemble occupy a unique space between spoken drama and chamber music.
Lior Navok’s Nameless Journey continues this tradition with a deeply introspective setting for narrator, violin, viola, cello, and piano, blending poetry and music to explore themes of loneliness, alienation, and emotional distance.
The result is a contemporary stage work that merges narrative expression with atmospheric instrumental writing.
NAMELESS JOURNEY
for narrator and ensemble
Duration:
13:30 minutes
Instrumentation:
narrator, violin, viola, cello, piano
Year Composed:
2024
Libretto by:
Leah Goldberg
Language: Hebrew, English (Translation)
Premiere Performance:
8 November, 2025
Cambridge, MA, USA
Susan G. Bob, actor
Lilit Hartunian, violin
Ashleigh Gordon, viola
Rhonda Rider, cello
Sarah Bob, piano
Program Notes
Nameless Journey is a set of four poems written by Leah Goldberg during her stay in Copenhagen in 1960. In these poems, the poet evokes the loneliness and alienation she experienced in the cold, unfamiliar city. Set for narrator (preferably female) and a small ensemble consisting of violin, viola, cello, and piano, the spoken text—interwoven with music that alternately recedes and intensifies—adds a sense of eeriness, even spookiness, to the overall atmosphere.
Abstract
Nameless Journey is a contemporary work for narrator, violin, viola, cello, and piano, based on four poems written by Leah Goldberg during her 1960 stay in Copenhagen. In these texts, Goldberg evokes the profound loneliness and alienation she felt in a cold, unfamiliar city. The music mirrors this emotional landscape: the narrator’s spoken lines weave through an ensemble texture that alternates between sparse, receding gestures and moments of intensified, almost eerie resonance. Through this interplay of voice and instruments, Nameless Journey creates a haunting atmosphere that reflects the poet’s inner solitude and the quiet tension of displacement.
Sheet Music:
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About Music for Narrator and Ensemble
Narrator‑and‑ensemble works bridge literature and music, allowing spoken text to shape the pacing, atmosphere, and emotional contour of the piece. The combination of a narrator with a small chamber ensemble—here, violin, viola, cello, and piano—creates a flexible medium capable of intimacy, tension, and dramatic nuance.
Contemporary composers often use this format to explore psychological themes, personal narratives, and poetic imagery, making it a compelling genre within modern stage music.
Contemporary Repertoire for Narrator and Ensemble
William Walton – Façade (1922)
A quintessential chamber-narrative work for narrator and six instruments (flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, percussion, and cello)
Arnold Schoenberg – Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21 (1912)
Features Sprechstimme (speech-song) for a five-player "Pierrot ensemble" (flute/piccolo, clarinet/bass clarinet, violin/viola, cello, and piano).
Arnold Schoenberg – Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, Op. 41 (1942)
Scored for narrator, piano, and string quartet.
Lukas Foss – Time Cycle (1960)
A chamber version exists for soprano/speaker, clarinet, cello, and percussion.
Lior Navok – Nameless Journey (2024)
Narrator and chamber ensemble setting Leah Goldberg’s poetry.
Roberto Gerhard – The Plague (1963)
While sometimes performed with a larger group, it is often staged as a chamber drama for narrator and limited instrumental forces.