Let Me Tell You (Hans Abrahamsen)

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Let Me Tell You is an orchestral song cycle by the Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen from 2013 based on a text by the poet Paul Griffiths (* 1947). The work was commissioned by the Berliner Philharmoniker with the support of the Statens Kunstfond .

Literary template

The text comes from the 2008 novella Let Me Tell You by Paul Griffiths. Griffiths used only the 481 word vocabulary of Ophelia from the tragedy Hamlet by William Shakespeare . He put these words together to form a monologue in which Ophelia's states of mind are revealed.

Abrahamsen and Paul Griffiths remix the 481 words of Ophelia from Shakespeare's "Hamlet". The character's emotional states are to be illuminated, her fears, her hopeless waiting, but also the calm she gains from talking about all of this at the end.

Ophelia does not go into the water like in Shakespeare's tragedy about the unfaithful Danish prince, but into the eternal ice. "Like walking in the snow" is one of the composer's instructions to the drummer, who rubs a sheet of paper on a large drum, which creates an effect that is as delicate as it is haunting.

Structure and shape

The work consists of three parts, the first being subdivided into three, the second and third part each into two subsections. The work lasts approximately 30 minutes.

Part 1: I Let me tell you how it was II O but memory is not one but many III There was a time I remember

Part 2: IV Let me tell you how it is V Now I do not mind

Part 3: VI I know you are there VII I will go out now

instrumentation

The work is composed for solo soprano and large orchestra.

Woodwinds: 3 flutes, 2 oboes, 1 English horn, 2 clarinets, 1 bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 1 contrabassoon

Brass: 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 1 bass trombone

Drums: timpani, 3 percussionists, celesta

String instruments: harp, violin I, violin II, viola, cello, double bass

premiere

The world premiere took place on December 20, 2013 in the Berlin Philharmonie . The Berlin Philharmonic under Andris Nelsons played. The soloist of the world premiere was the Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan , who held the exclusive performance rights until the end of 2018.

Performances

Reception and awards

In 2016, Hans Abrahamsen received the Gravemeyer Award for the work . The Guardian selected the work on September 12, 2019 as the best classical music work of the 21st century .

Note edition

The work was published in Edition Wilhelm Hansen in Copenhagen , ISBN 978-8-75982-644-7 .

Recordings

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Bayerischer Rundfunk: Hans Abrahamsen: "Let me tell you" | BR classic . May 20, 2016 ( br-klassik.de [accessed September 3, 2017]).
  2. ^ Hans Abrahamsen - Let me tell you (2013) - Music Sales Classical. Retrieved September 4, 2017 .
  3. ↑ a b Volker Tarnow: Hans Abrahamsen: Let me tell you. Factory introduction. Berlin Phil Media GmbH, accessed September 5, 2017 (American English).
  4. ↑ a b c Michael Stallknecht: Snow King . In: sueddeutsche.de . July 5, 2017, ISSN  0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed September 6, 2017]).
  5. ^ Andrew Clements, Fiona Maddocks, John Lewis, Kate Molleson, Tom Service: The best classical music works of the 21st century . In: The Guardian . September 12, 2019, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed October 18, 2019]).