piste@dac_8224198-99-1
piste@dac_8224198-99-1.1
oeuvre@24438
Creating sonic art based on the fifth book of Homer’s Iliad is no light task. The book is about acts of war committed in a bloodthirsty frenzy, barbaric acts that that took place over 3,000 years ago. It is pithy, elated and packed with heroic deeds as well as grim associations with the civil wars of the twentieth century: the bloodiest century yet. In this work I play with recognizable sound objects that constantly elude identification, intended to lure the listener out of familiar ways of interpreting sounds.
The composition was premiered along with works by five other Danish composers at the Glyptotek Museum in Copenhagen in the autumn of 1999 in connection with a complete reading of The Iliad in a new Danish edition translated by Professor Otto Steen Due.
[source: reseauxconcerts.com]
piste@dac_8224198-99-1.2
oeuvre@24439
piste@dac_8224198-99-1.3
oeuvre@24440
piste@dac_8224198-99-2
piste@dac_8224198-99-2.1
oeuvre@24441
piste@dac_8224198-99-2.2
oeuvre@24442
The work was inspired by a particular section in Book 21 of The Iliad by Homer. In this section, Achilles runs amok against the Trojans. He chases them to the river, Scamander, and forces them into the water, where he continues his merciless slaughter. The river is soon blocked by the many corpses and Scamander pleads with Achilles to end the bloodshed. Achilles refuses to cease straightaway and Scamander is shocked by Achilles’ arrogance. The river responds by overflowing its own banks and creating a veritable deluge. Finally the Gods intervene and Hephaestus sends a huge fire across the plain to stop the flooding.
Burning River begins and ends with a quote from the Iliad recited in Ancient Greek, which roughly translated reads:
“As when the smoke rises up towards the broad arch of heaven / Over a burning town, and is sent by the wrath of the Gods / Suffering it brings to all, and to many it brings death; / Such were the torments and sorrows Achilles brought to the Trojans.”
Burning River was commissioned by the New Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum with financial support from the Danish Arts Foundation and produced at DIEM in Aarhus, Denmark.
[source: reseauxconcerts.com]
piste@dac_8224198-99-2.3
oeuvre@24443