Musical Compositions

Newborn

2020-01-13 Category: Chamber Music

29 Newborn

Setting Prepared sextet: clarinet in Bb, optional brass instrument, percussion, piano, optional bowed string instrument and harp ad libitum.
Period of creation 2016-01-08 to 29 and 2016-02-16 to 23 (1st version); 2016-11-11 to 15 and 2017-08-16 (2nd version); 2018-03-28 to 2018-04-12, 2018-07-21 to 24 and 2019-12-29 to 2020-01-13 (3rd version).
Title 1st version Nouveau-né.
Duration 7 min.
Commission / occasion 1st version: Commissioned by the nyMusikks Komponistgruppe (Nor) for the ensemble asamisimasa (Nor).
2nd version: Commissioned by the institution Musik i Syd (Swe) for the Riot Ensemble (Gbr), funded by Norsk kulturråd / Fond for lyd og bilde (The Arts Council Norway / The Audio and Visual Fund) (Nor).
Publisher BabelScores.

Newborn is the English term for French nouveau-né. The main idea of the work is to reflect, both sonically and formally, the evolution of the newborn child, the development process from the “Big Bang” of the fertilization to the constant growing up and the increasing recognizability of organs and parts of the body and finally to the miraculous birth of the complete human being.

After a big initial bang, the musical development starts with nebulous, “neutral”, non-rhythmic sound-lava, consisting of continuous distorted sounds and constant repetitive scraping. Gradually, rhythmic cells and motifs appear and evolve into concrete shapes and themes (i.e. organs and parts of the body), while the timbre transforms into whistling and fluido sounds as well as into shorter granular and repetitive attacks.

Finally, single attacks of dry and gong sounds emerge into larger-scale structures forming an increasingly articulated and dense rhythmic texture (i.e. a complete human being).

2020-12-07 œnm . austrian ensemble for new music (setting: cl in Bb, trb, pc, hp, pf, va) and Chungki Min (conductor)
Brick-5 / Pea Factory in Vienna (Aut) – cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic
2020-12-05 œnm . austrian ensemble for new music (setting: cl in Bb, trb, pc, hp, pf, va) and Chungki Min (conductor)
Künstlerhaus Salzburg / Great Hall in Salzburg (Aut) – cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic
2020-12-04 œnm . austrian ensemble for new music (setting: cl in Bb, trb, pc, hp, pf, va) and Chungki Min (conductor)
Künstlerhaus Salzburg / Great Hall in Salzburg (Aut) – cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic
2020-04-26 Elision Ensemble (setting: cl in Bb, trb, pc, hp, pf, vl) and Carl Rosman (conductor)
Festival ISCM World New Music Days 2020, at the School of Music Theatre at the University of Auckland in Auckland (Nzl) – world premiere (revised sextet version) / cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic
2018-04-14 Riot Ensemble (setting: cl in Bb, trb, pc, hp, pf, vc) and Aaron Holloway-Nahum (conductor)
Festival Tonsättarweekend (Composers’ Weekend), at the Dunkers Kulturhus (Dunker Culture House) in Helsingborg (Swe) – world premiere (sextet version)
2017-12-16 Ensemble Aleph (setting: cl in Bb, tp in C, pc, pf, va)
Aleph concert series, at La Cartoucherie / Théâtre de l’Aquarium in Paris (Fra), live introduction by Clément Lebrun (Radio France) – world premiere (7 min quintet version)
2017-09-29 Riot Ensemble (setting: cl in Bb, trb, pc, pf, vc) and Aaron Holloway-Nahum (conductor)
Festival Nordic Music Days 2017, at the Southbank Centre / Royal Festival Hall / The Cube in London (Gbr) – workshop (7 min quintet version)
2016-03-13 Ensemble asamisimasa (setting: cl, pc, el gt, pf, vc)
Borealis Contemporary Music Festival in Bergen (Nor), at KODE 4 (Art Museums of Bergen) / Tower Hall (Tårnsalen) – 1st version (Nouveau-né / quintet)
2016-03-05 Ensemble asamisimasa (setting: cl, pc, el gt, pf, vc)
Caféteatret (Café Theatre) in Oslo (Nor), live interview with Tanja Orning – world premiere (1st version / Nouveau-né / quintet)
2016-02-13 ensemble:hörsinn (setting: large ensemble) and Eva Fodor (conductor)
KlangZeit Festival for New Music, at the Theatre Münster / Small House (Ger) – world premiere (1st version / Nouveau-né / large ensemble)

3,33% Selection (Swe) for the ISCM World New Music Days 2020, 2/60 (2019-10).
8,33% Selection by the Ensemble Aleph (Fra) at the competition 8th International Forum for Young Com­posers, 5/60 (2017-07).
20% Shortlisted (Swe) for the ISCM World New Music Days 2020, 12/60 (2019-07).
25% Selection by the festival Nordic Music Days 2017 (Swe) for a commission to be premiered by the Riot Ensemble (Gbr), 3/12 (2017-08).
31,58% Selection by the ensemble asamisimasa (Nor) for a commission by the nyMusikks Komponist­gruppe (Nor), 6/19 (2015-05).

View score example.
Coming soon.


Riot Ensemble and Aaron Holloway-Nahum (conductor);
Helsingborg (Swe) 2018-04-14;
Festival Tonsättarweekend (Composers’ Weekend), at the Dunkers Kulturhus (Dunker Culture House);
world premiere (sextet version), complete recording;
duration: 7 min 29 sec.
Camera / video editing: Ansgar Beste.