A radical listener.
The Italian composer Luigi Nono (1924–1990) is referred to as one of the most central – and radical – composers of the last century. On 29 January, he would have turned a hundred years old, and during the Bergen International Festival his anniversary is celebrated with a concert featuring musicians from the chamber ensemble Cikada, SWR Experimentalstudio, tubaist Max Murray and mezzo soprano Zsuzsa Zseni.
– Nono expands and enlarges even the most delicate sounds of the ensemble and uses live electronics almost like a magnifying glass to showcase what exists in this microscopic world, conductor and Professor for Composition at the Grieg Academy Dániel Péter Biró explains.
All the works on the program are created at SWR Experimentalstudio, which has worked for more than 50 years with music utilising live electronics. Throughout the 1980s, Luigi Nono was a regular presence in the studio, which has also been a workplace for composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pierre Boulez.
The concert is organised in collaboration with the Grieg Academy (UiB) and the symposium and artistic research project In Nono's Footsteps, in connection with the opening of the Holberg Week. Four compositions created by the next generation of composers, responding to the works by Nono at this Festival concert, will be premiered as part of In Nono's Footsteps.
Image: Kenneth Karlson (photo: Siv Dolmen)
Cikada
Anne Karine Hauge flute
Rolf Borch clarinet
Kenneth Karlsson piano
SWR Experimentalstudio
Michael Acker, Joachim Haas, Daniel Miska sound direction
Max Murray tuba
Zsuzsa Zseni mezzo soprano
Dániel Péter Biró conductor
Luigi Nono (1924–1990)
… Sofferte onde serene … (… suffered serene waves …)
for piano and magnetic tape
À Pierre. Dell’azzurro silenzio, inquietum (To Pierre. From the blue silence, unquiet)
for bass flute, contrabass clarinet and electronica
Post-prae-ludium no. 1 per Donau
for F tuba and electronica
Omaggio a György Kurtág (Homage to György Kurtág)
for contralto voice, flute, clarinett, tuba and electronica
The Grieg Academy – Department of Music, University of Bergen