Date / Place I
03 December 2021 Gare du Nord, BaselDate / Place II
04 December 2021 Gare du Nord, BaselSeries
PhoenixTitle
James Joyce and the MusicProgram
Luciano Berio (1925–2003) “Chamber Music” for voice, clarinet, cello and harp (Text: from the poem anthology “Chamber Music” by James Joyce) (1953) – 8’30’’ Matthias Heep (*1965) “The Wake (Rappresentazione III)” for speaker and ensemble (2021, WP, commission EPhB) – 15’ Rebecca Saunders (*1967) “O, Yes & I” for soprano and bass flute (Text: Molly Bloom’s Monolog from “Ulysses” by James Joyce) (2017/18) – 11’ “Skin” for soprano and 13 instruments (2015/16) – 28’Musicians
- Svea Schildknecht
- soprano
- Christina Daletska
- mezzo soprano
- Lucas Rößner
- speaker
- Sebastian Gottschick
- conductor
- Christoph Bösch
- flute, bass flute
- Toshiko Sakakibara
- clarinet, bass clarinet
- Aurélien Tschopp
- horn
- Nenad Marković
- trumpet
- Michael Büttler
- trombone
- Daniel Stalder
- percussion
- João Pacheco
- percussion
- Consuelo Giulianelli
- harp
- Maurizio Grandinetti
- electric guitar
- Stefan Hussong
- accordion
- Manuel Bärtsch
- piano
- Friedemann Treiber
- violin
- David Sontòn Caflisch
- viola
- Martin Jaggi
- cello
- Aleksander Gabryś
- double bass
Program description
The influence of the literary work by Irish poet James Joyce (1842-1941) on 20th century composers is eminent. Samuel Barber, John Cage (“Roaratorio”), Luigi Dallapiccola, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez (“3rd Piano Sonata”), Bernd Alois Zimmermann (“Antiphons”) and many others have been inspired by this forward-looking poet. Luciano Berio set three texts from his early poetry collection “Chamber Music” to music. Probably the most frequently used text is the final monologue of Molly Bloom from “Ulysses”. This is also the base for the works “Skin” and “O, Yes & I” by English composer Rebecca Saunders. The world premiere will be a new work by the German composer Matthias Heep. His composition refers to Joyce’s last novel “Finnegans Wake”.
Sebastian Gottschick has stepped in at short notice for the conductor Jürg Henneberger, who has fallen ill.