Rebecca Saunders Triptychon III

»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 the third composition »Skull«, Saunders revisits this context, and »Skin« and »Scar« become part of a triptych.