Rebecca Saunders Triptychon I & II
Scar und Skin
MON 01. May | 19:00
Rebecca Saunders ©Astrid Ackermann
ACHT BRÜCKEN Freihafen
ACHT BRÜCKEN Konzerte
Juliet Fraser
| Sopran
Ensemble Modern
Bas Wiegers
| Dirigent
Rebecca Saunders
Scar (2018–19)
für 15 Solisten und Dirigenten
Kompositionsauftrag von ACHT BRÜCKEN | Musik für Köln gemeinsam mit Birmingham Contemporary Music Group & individuellen Förderern des »Sound Investment Scheme«, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Casa da Música Porto und Festival d’Automne à Paris
Rebecca Saunders
Skin (2015–16)
für Sopran und 13 Instrumente
Estimated end at 20:00
Supported by Kunststiftung NRW
ACHT BRÜCKEN
»Dust is the skin of a room.« This line from Samuel Beckett’s television play »Ghost Trio« inspired Saunders’ composition »Skin«. At the core of the piece, however, is not the texture of a room, but of a voice – that of soprano Juliet Fraser, whose sonic dimensions are revealed layer by layer, unfolding within the surrounding instrumental sound.
»Scar« also indicates a piece of skin, at the same time a relict of its wounding, when something »gets under your skin«, such as – metaphorically – the piercing instrumental entrances in Saunders’ eponymous ensemble work. Sharp glissandi rend the silence. In its abrasive left-right structure, the sound panorama is torn open over and over. The back-and-forth resembles the exchange of blows.
The game played within and with the space, with musical surfaces and undergrounds, can be further intensified: with the world premiere of a third composition, Saunders revisits this context, and »Skin« and »Scar« become part of a triptych.
