Photo: Alexander Banck-Petersen - www.AlexBP.dk
On the first day of Klang 2019 Jexper Holmen’s piece 'The Darkblue Purplewomen in the Residential Neighbourhoods' (De mørkeblå lillakvinder i villakvartererne) world premiered. The perfomance was well received by the Danish newspaper Information, reviewing it as: “a strong world premiere of an opera about violence, delusions, and women who are hard to get”.
“How do the narrative and the music of the opera affect each other?” we asked the composer in an interview in May. “They take turns driving each other crazy,” Jexper Holmen answered. And this craziness was picked up by the reviewer who writes: “It is strong poetry, and it is strong music. 'The Darkblue Purplewomen in the Residential Neighbourhoods' is placed among a number of narratives about crazy female characters such as Richard Strauss’ Salome or Lars von Trier’s Antichrist”. He stresses that “as a real tragedy the drama is the character’s own”.
Overall, the world premiere was successful according to Information. The review ends in a magnificent compliment to the composer, scenic staff, and artists: “The show is well instructed all the way through, the scenery is simply made of video projections and single requisitions, and both the singers and the musicians put in an excellent effort in their strong management of a large assignment”.
Read the full review here.
Also Politiken reviewed 'The Darkblue Purplewomen in the Residential Neighbourhoods' describing it as: “fierce and fascinating. With long, tough tones in pillars that create a heavy pulling power syllable by syllable throughout 90 minutes”. And so, Klang began.
Read Politiken's review here.
Photo: Alexander Banck-Petersen - www.AlexBP.dk
James Black also received great feedback on his world premiering piece, 'POSY', performed Tuesday June 4th. According to the Danish newspaper, Politiken, the piece “ended in pure, simple melody and sadness saturated beauty”. Black was performing his own piece and has showed himself as a composer: “who uses simple instruments, sings themself – although they really can’t –, and draws on the romantic past”. As the performance began with meditation and ended in “raw, primal screams added crooked five-part vocal harmonies”, the concert was “pure, melancholic beauty”.
As James Black’s performance ended, another Edition-S composer Bára Gísladóttir continued the festive event in doors, where her piece 'Music to accompany your sweet splatter dream' showed “how nightmare-like and transcendent she can write”. And the performance was shortly reviewed as “A crazy experience that put the body in a state of alert”.
Furthermore, a mention of Rune Glerup’s 'Piano Concerto' as “a piano concert of psychological drama supremely played by Jonas Olsson by the piano,” and lastly, Li-Ying Wu who “united inspiration from Stravinsky with a traditional Asian expression”.
Read full review here.
Klang 2019 continues until June 10th with more works of Edition-S.