Ejnar Kanding's work Angstallein for string quartet and live-electronics is composed with inspiration from a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke titled Wir sind gans Angstallein (1898)
Wir sind ganz angstallein,
haben nur an einander Halt,
jedes Wort wird wie ein Wald
vor unserm Wandern sein.
Unser Wille ist nur der Wind,
der uns drängt und dreht;
weil wir selber die Sehnsucht sind, die in Blüten steht.
(English translation)
We are utterly fearfully alone,
holding onto each other alone,
every word becoming like a forest
ahead of our wandering.
Our will is only the wind,
that urges and turns us;
for we ourselves are the longing, that stands in blossoms.
The work Slender Trees was premiered by the ACME String Quartet in April 2023 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York facilitated by AFSMK (American Friends of SMK).
Slender Trees is a musical interpretation of Vilhelm Hammershøi's drawing Slender trees on a hill (1896). The music suggests the delicate layers of the drawing through six movements, each exploring different musical expressions, surrounded by a fragile piano theme.
"My goal for this piece was to create a place of peace and rest that, despite the harsh reality of both the 19th century and today's rapidly changing world, could be a musical sanctuary," Ejnar Kanding explains.
Angstallein and Slender Trees are both dedicated to and commissioned by the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME). Besides from the works by Ejnar Kanding, the concert programme includes works by My Beautiful Decay 1973.