Lasse Thoresen: Adventuring The Intangible

Description

The cello concerto marks the beginning of a larger musical journey through spiritual landscapes. I have given the works that belong to this series Italian titles. The journey continues through a viola concerto (Valle della unita-- Valley of Unity) and a piano concerto (Citta della luce--City of Light), and a large opus inspired by the Arctic (La terra meravigliosa-- Land of Wonder). Only the latter work has a published recording. The work found on this particular CD release is the end of this journey (though here, it is indeed a Greek, and not an Italian word in the title).

This work was commissioned to be part of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra's 100th-anniversary season 2019–2020 and was scheduled for a world premiere in April 2020. A video production was also in the works to chronicle the creation of the piece and my compositional activity as part of the documentation of the anniversary, but then of course the pandemic broke out. Alas the premiere of the piece was postponed indefinitely, and the video was never completed.

How to convey a sense of 'being' in music is hardly something that comes with a definitive answer. Perhaps we approach an experience of Being when we simply become aware of our existence. This probably happens more often when are resting or in meditation rather than when we are heading somewhere. So I have composed a piece consisting of a series of extended sound fields that are predominantly presence-oriented – i.e. not directed towards any musical goals. I wanted to envelop the listener in an atmosphere where the human voice is central. The human voice is after all closely connected to our inner sense of being in the world, to the self, and to
the deeper identity. To achieve an all-encompassing sound, I conducted a little experiment during the premiere, namely conveying a subdued choral sound into the hall through speakers that surrounded the listeners. Immersed in the vocal sound, the listener could then truly experience the orchestral texture. Recreating this in stereophonic sound turned out to be rather challenging, but in 'surround' production this becomes a superior experience, given the right listening equipment.