composer portraits
concert durata approx. 1 hours
KLAUS LANG: Construction of Beauty
Cikada has collaborated with the Austrian composer Klaus Lang for several years. This has, among other things, resulted in two pieces of sounding architecture, composed
especially for Cikada. parthenon. by Klaus Lang is inspired by the style and dimensions of the famous Parthenon temple in Athens. The latest piece is inspired by Japanese aesthetics as represented in Kōtō-in Temple.
Get an inside look of the cooperation!
Works:
parthenon.(2018)
fl, cl, pf, perc, 2 vl, vla, vlc, db
koto-in(2023)
fl, cl, pf, perc, 2 vl, vla, vlc, db
BENT SØRENSEN: Night Windows
– a portrait concert of Bent Sørensen and the Cikada Ensemble
The concert cycle Night Windows, which borrows its name from a painting by Edward Hopper, has been created by the composer in a unique, close collaboration with Cikada Ensemble. Night Windowsnow consists of eight pieces by Sørensen, played in one, continuous sequence without breaks, the complete cycle lasting for a little more than one hour. The scoring of the cycle oscillates between solo pieces, small chamber constellations and the full ensemble. This instrumental variation is also reflected in the fact that the spatial locations of the musicians on stage change for each piece.
”I sometimes think of a listener’s way through Night Windows as linked to his moving through an exhibition”, Sørensen says. ”In one movement the music might pull him forward. Then a resonance of something that has been creates a possibility to change direction and have an experience of returning. My music very often is about how things are changed by time. Contained in this is also a sense of loss and decay”.
Works:
The Hill of the Heartless Giant(2001)
double bass solo
The Lady of Shalott (1993)
String Quartet
Vuggeviser (2000)
Piano solo
The Lady and the Lark (1997)
viola solo and fl, cl, perc, 2 vl, vlc
The Weeping White Room (2002)
fl, cl, pf, perc, 2 vl, vla, vlc, db
The Songs of the Decaying Garden(1986/92)
clarinet solo
The Deserted Churchyards (1990)
fl, cl, pf, perc, vl,vlc
Funeral Processsion (1989)
fl, cl, pf, perc, 2 vl, vla, vlc
EIVIND BUENE: Possible Cities/Essential Landscapes
This chamber music cycle of approximately 70 mins is written on initiative from the Cikada Ensemble. Part I of the cycle is titled Possible Cities and part II Essential Landscapes. The titles, and much of the inspiration for the music, is from Italo Calvinos book Invisible Cities.
”I have always thought that moving through a city is a good metaphor for listening to new music. A big city will invite you through unfamiliar streets, into dark alleyways and sudden openings of light. It demands active participation, it offers new experiences, and there are countless ways of moving from one point to the next; a multitude of possible itineraries open up for both the wanderer and the listener. Traversing a city lets you meditate on construction and decay, on human ingenuity and the inevitable forces of time. Apparent chaos suddenly reveals a beautiful logic. Seemingly random patterns turn out to be networks of human interaction. And underneath the solid surfaces there’s always nature, waiting to take over, to obliterate our structures with organic growth. I have tried to make these liminal states audible in Possible Cities/Essential Landscapes. The work is an invitation to listen into a landscape where stories emerge, multiply and disappear. As Italo Calvino phrases it in Invisible Cities: It is not the voice that commands the story: It is the ear.”
Eivind Buene, 2012.
LAURENCE CRANE: From the cabinet of John Vigani
“I use simple and basic musical objects; common chords and intervals, arpeggios, drones, cadences, fragments of scales and melodies. The materials may seem familiar – perhaps even rather ordinary – but my aim is to find a fresh beauty in these objects by placing them in new structural and formal contexts and by using a surface texture that is highly reduced.”
Laurence Crane, 2013
Works:
Commission (2014)
(Contrabass clarinet concerto to be performed by Rolf Borch and Cikada)
English in Nordic Settings B (2011) 8′
bfl, bcl, pf
Seven Short Pieces (2004) 12’
bfl, cl, pf, vln, vlc
Four Miniatures (2003) 9’
fl, perc, pf, vln
Estonia (2001) 12’
fl, cl, vln, vlc
Erki Nool (1999) 3′
fl, pf
See Our Lake (1999) 6’
fl, cl, vln, vlc
Sparling (1992) 5′
cl, pf
Trio (1996) 5′
bfl, cl, pf
Photo: Ben McMahon / The Wire
CAROLA BAUCKHOLT: Ich muß mit Dir reden
Carola Bauckholt was born in Krefeld, Germany, in 1959. After working at the Theater am Marienplatz (TAM), Krefeld, for several years, she studied composition at the Musikhochschule Köln with Mauricio Kagel (1978-84). A central theme of Baukholt’s work is the examination of the phenomena of perception and understanding. Bauckholt often brings everyday noise into the concert hall. Extended intstrumental techniques are used to bring out her very special sound and an original expression, often containing visual elements.
Works:
Sog (2013) 18’
fl, cl, perc, pf, 2 vln, vla, vlc, db
Laufwerk (2011) 12’
fl, cl, perc, pf, vln, vla, vlc, db, electronics
Keil (2000) 15’
fl, cl, pf, perc, vln, vla, vlc, db
Treibstoff (1995) 10’
fl, cl, perc, pf, vln, vla, vlc, db
or:
ohne worte zwei (2011) 10’
cl(contra bass clarinet), vlc, electronics
Lichtung (2011) 11’
string quartet
