A small trumpet tears into the horizon and the vision of Turner’s painting Norham Castle, Sunrise. And so opens one of George Benjamin’s first works. The relationship between what is and what will come, between a solid object and a moving surface, makes up the initial gesture of At First Light presaging great works to come by Benjamin. Chaya Czernowin’s music often crystalizes a visual experience where the presence of nature is captured by the physical impact of sound. Love Song is more of an existential convulsion than a specific ending (“falling in love”): everything takes place in the intensity of the connections created within a chamber ensemble. A former student of Czernowin, Benjamin Hackbarth, has methodically explored the relationship between electronic and acoustic gestures, instrumental stability faced with a world free of all mooring. From this unique anxiety a musical dynamic springs forth.

Benjamin Hackbarth © Liam Jamason

Ensemble orchestral contemporain
Conductor Daniel Kawka
Ircam Computer Music Design Gilbert Nouno

Benjamin Hackbarth Volleys of Light and Shadow
commissioned by IRCAM-Centre Pompidou, Premiere
George Benjamin At First Light
Chaya Czernowin Lovesong

An IRCAM-Centre Pompidou, Ensemble orchestral contemporain coproduction. Diaphonique is Franco-British fund for contemporary music, a joint initiative of the Institut français, the SACEM, the British Council, the Bureau Export de la musique française, the Amis de l’Institut français Trust, and the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.