Date / Place I

03 December 2021 Gare du Nord, Basel

Date / Place II

04 December 2021 Gare du Nord, Basel

Series

Phoenix

Title

James Joyce and the Music

Program

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.