About the work BarndomsÅ (Childhood River), Birgitte Alsted writes:
“In my childhood we had access to a large garden that stretched down to Odense Å – with a view of ‘Munke Mose’, which was not a marsh at all, but part of a large central city park, including the ‘Fairy Tale Garden’, a sculpture of Hans Christian Andersen, and a monastery garden with herbs – all the way up to the cathedral, St. Knud’s Church, and more.
I spent a great deal of time in the garden down by the river, partly playing and talking with the other children from the property, but just as often alone, where I would stand and gaze into the river – at its many different states. Sometimes it was drained and had to be ‘cleaned’, and then you could see the bottom of it… – and at other times there were rowboats and motorized passenger boats… ‘We sailed up the riiiiiver…’ ????
But I have only taken indirect inspiration from the sounds from there – mostly I have simply sat and remembered how I felt as a child during my observations there – and then wrote whatever I felt like writing…”
Mette Nielsen writes about her work Song and Silence:
“It comes from a childhood memory in which the silence was deafening (and frightening). I sang in order to transform the silence into an accompaniment to my song and to make it easier to understand and accept. I wrote the piece for bass clarinet because it has the depth to be the night, while in its upper register it has the fragility to represent a child’s voice.”
The concert takes place in Ansgars Church in Odense. Find more information about the concert here.