MICHAEL GORDON
A Western
ARVO PÄRT
Drei Hirtenkinder aus Fátima
Morning Star
Virgencita
Habitare fratres in unum
Bogoroditse dyevo
JOHN LUTHER ADAMS
A Brief Descent into Deep Time
(Danish text below)
Two very different visions of the Americas are presented in this concert. We begin in the USA during the 1950s. Michael Gordon’s 'A Western' is based on the cowboy film High Noon starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. Gordon’s Western is about the Wild West and good guy–bad guy, but also references TV fantasies, gun law and consumerism. Gordon is one of the USA’s most important living composers; based in New York and southern California, he is is one of the leading figures in the Bang On A Can music collective. 'A Western' was composed for Theatre of Voices and might be described as punk rock meets close harmony.
'A Brief Descent into Deep Time' was also composed for Theatre of Voices and here receives its world premiere. John Luther Adams lived for many years in Alaska where his music was deeply influenced by the northern soundscape. There he started to explore the ‘space’ between the environment and human culture. He now spends much of his time in the Sonoran desert in Mexico. 'A Brief Descent into Deep Time' is a musical representation of time measured on a geological scale. Scored for voices, organ and percussion, it passes metaphorically through 1.7 billion years of descent through the layers of the Grand Canyon. A quotation from William Carlos Williams’ famous poem, 'The Descent', reads: 'The descent beckons as the ascent beckoned'. In his score, John Luther Adams quotes from the same source.
In between these two larger works are a set of five sacred pieces by Arvo Pärt. Pärt often seems to reflect in his music something of the actual place where a new piece is commissioned and is to be first performed. Sometimes this process is quite apparent – as with Virgencita – at other times it is subsumed by more personal influences. These five works were commissioned for five very different places: Basel in Switzerland, Durham Cathedral in northern England, Guanajuato in Mexico, Paris in France, and King’s College in Cambridge.
Arvo Pärt – nye klassiske toner, en western & hele jordklodens historie
Mexicos ørken, lagene i USAs Grand Canyon og Alaskas vidder mødes i dette program, der lægger ud med en historie fra det Vilde Vesten. Michael Gordons ’A Western’ er baseret på den berømte western ’High Noon’ fra 1952 med Gary Cooper og Grace Kelly i hoverollerne og skrevet til Theatre of Vocies til en koncert i Elbphilharmonie, som Die Welt roste til skyerne. Her er det klassiske opgør mellem godt og ondt, og et skarpt blik på TV-reklamer for våben, våbenlove og moderne brug-og-smid-væk kultur. Gordon bor i New York og er en af grundlæggerne i komponistgruppen Bang On A Can, der med deres festivaller og sommerkurser er med til at sætte retningen for ny musik i USA.
’A Brief Descent into Deep Time’ er også skrevet til Theatre of Voices og opføres her første gang for publikum. Komponisten John Luther Adams bor nu i den mexikanske del af Sonoraørkenen, men har i mange år boet i Alaska, og hans musik er dybt inspireret af musikken i naturen højt mod nord. ’A Brief Descent’ er en musikalsk gengivelse af jordens geologiske lag – en slags tværsnit gennem 1,7 milliarder år af klodens historie – ned gennem Grand Canyons lag, hvor menneskets historie ikke fylder meget. En tanke, der inspirerer til en vis ydmyghed.
Imellem disse store historier har vores dirigent Paul Hillier udvalgt fem værker af den estiske komponist Arvo Pärt, som han har arbejdet sammen med i snart 40 år. Også Arvo Pärt har en forbindelse til Mexico – i den lille sats ’Virgencita’, som er skrevet som hyldest til Jomfruen af Guadalupe, Mexicos skytshelgen. Når Pärt får bestillinger, tager han tit udgangspunkt i det sted, han skriver musik til. Nogle gange med helt åbenlyse referencer – andre gang mere skjult. De fem stykker på dagens program er skrevet til Basel in Switzerland, Durham Cathedral in northern England, Guanajuato in Mexico, Paris in France, and King’s College in Cambridge.
Theatre of Voices
-Else Torp
-Kate Macoboy
-Signe Asmussen
-Laura Lamph
-Miles Lallemant
-Paul Bentley-Angell
-Nils Greenhow
-Danny Purtell
-Andrew Mahon
David Bendix Nielsen, organ
Mathias Friis Hansen, percussion
Ying-Hsueh Chen, percussion
Paul Hiller, artistic director
Produced in collaboration with:
Hørbygaard Gods
Statens Kunstfond
Holbæk Kommune
William Demant Fonden
Lemvigh-Müller Fonden
Koda Kultur