Trio Ismena premieres works by Mette Nielsen and Martin Stauning
Trio Ismena will premiere the new works by Mette Nielsen and Martin Stauning at a Moderne Mandag concert in Frederiksberg/Copenhagen on 22 October.
The Same River by Mette Nielsen
The title of Mette Nielsen's piece 'Den samme flod' - The Same River is inspired by the quote from Heraclitus saying that you can never step into the same river twice - the water flowing by is not the same, and the person stepping into the river has also changed.
In the piece the same figures come back again and again but the rhythm changes and becomes slower and slower throughout the piece. Also the audience hear the figures again as 'changed' listeners - we have become minutes older, and gradually we get the sense of recognition linked to the various figures.
Mette Nielsen includes three quotes from an older generation of composers, Gunnar Berg, Erik Jørgensen and Axel Borup-Jørgensen. The quotes are not complete, but the material partly serves as the starting point of this composition. You might say that she dips her cup in the same river as the previous generations of composers, but a lot of water has flown since then, and the result thus becomes something else in the hands of Mette Nielsen.
Martin Stauning's 3 Barcarolles
Martin Stauning's '3 Barcarolles' deal with the mythological afterlife. The first barcarolle has the title 'Charon' named after the ferryman who carries the souls of the deceased across the river Styx. We hear a slow ternary movement, steadily flowing towards nothing. The second barcarolle deals with Hermes, the psychopompos, guiding the dead on their journey. Hermes moves freely between the world of the living and the dead, and this duality is expressed in a movement that looks back at the previous - we hear Charon's horn in the fog - and ahead at the last barcarolle, Hypnos - sleep - a quiet lullaby.
In '3 Barcarolles' Martin Stauning works with more or less direct quotes. The piece includes almost concealed quotes from Mendelssohn's barcarolles in Lieder Ohne Worte. The movement Hypnos is based on a barcarolle by Giuseppe Millico. It is repeated three times veiled in an ethereal string movement, and the piece ends in an open manner with single notes in the absolute outermost registers of the piano.
MARTIN STAUNING: 3 BARCAROLLES & METTE NIELSEN: DEN SAMME FLOD
22 October 19:30
Metronomen, Frederiksberg (DK)
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