SILENT EARTH<\/p>\n\n\n\n
for mixed choir and orchestra
Poems by Kerstin Perski
Duration: 30 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One evening in March 2019, Kerstin and I sat talking about us human beings and the Earth. Our planet Earth, being increasingly exposed. Vulnerable. The ice is melting, the forests are aflame, our rivers and streams are overflowing in a way that we haven\u2019t seen before. The proportions are frightening. What will happen? What is happening right now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In our thoughts, we transported ourselves to another planet. We sat there and gazed from a distance at our beautiful blue planet. The Earth. So beautifully suspended in space. Yes, there it is. But what do we find there? Could there be life? Are there people?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We chatted for a long while and somehow it felt consoling that we nevertheless sat there philosophizing, albeit on another planet. We existed. We were alive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was about to begin composing a large-scale piece for choir and orchestra; I was looking for ideas and felt that it was impossible not to touch upon the climate crisis, that fateful issue for humanity. With my voice and a piano I had improvised a free introduction that I gave to Kerstin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After our conversation, she returned with two short, exquisite poems. The third poem had already been completed. It was written in 2008 and is a very dramatic text about a natural disaster. Even though it was written first, I decided that it should be placed last in the piece. Then I started to compose and, as always, I was carried away with the music. After a long phase of coalescing it gradually becomes clear and begins to take form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My starting point is always that I examine something with the help of music. I try to hear what needs <\/em>to be said, what needs <\/em>to be expressed. It becomes a conversation with the notes, in which I set in motion processes keenly alive to where the music wants to go. I work at it, play it over and over, knead, sing, dream the music forth. If it is inspired, it opens up and starts to compose itself. Things arise that I never would have been able to hit upon by thinking<\/em>. You have to pay attention, have your feelers up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n About<\/strong> Silent Earth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The first movement is desolate with wind gongs, cymbals and icy brass. In the midst of this: the choir, Humanity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the second movement, the choir \u2013 we humans \u2013 sing to the Earth. Telling who we were. How we lived. The sonorities are often in unison, having the simplicity of a song. At times almost romantic. Actually, when listening to a recent playback I thought it was a little too romantic, too beautiful. As an artist, I then began to paint over the movement with trills, sometimes harmonious, sometimes discordant. Now and then I made the music come to a halt, freeze. The movement concludes with the choir singing in many different languages to the Earth: Save yourself from us! Save us from ourselves! Save us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The last movement is quite dramatic, a depiction of a natural disaster and a lament combined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The burning earth. The tremoring earth —<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The piece is rounded off by an extended coda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Commissioned by the Eduard van Beinum Stichting, at the request of the NTR ZaterdagMatinee, Radio 4\u2019s concert series in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Composed for the Netherlands Radio Choir and the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Choir and The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. SILENT EARTH for mixed choir and orchestraPoems by Kerstin PerskiDuration: 30 minutes One evening in March 2019, Kerstin and I sat talking about <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-programme-notes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/programme-note_cirkel_4A-1.png?fit=576%2C358&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p79arM-Bc","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2292,"url":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/silent-earth-now-its-time-for-the-delayed-premiere\/","url_meta":{"origin":2306,"position":0},"title":"Silent Earth – now it’s time for the (delayed) premiere","author":"admin2","date":"January 22, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"If all participants stay healthy, it now looks like it will be the premiere of Karin Rehnqvist's work Silent Earth. The first premiere would have taken place in Amsterdam in early spring 2020. The pandemi blocked this. Now the NTR ZaterdagMatinee (the Dutch equivalent of BBC Proms) is making a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Latest"","block_context":{"text":"Latest","link":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/category\/latest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Silent-Earth.jpg?fit=1200%2C785&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Silent-Earth.jpg?fit=1200%2C785&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Silent-Earth.jpg?fit=1200%2C785&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Silent-Earth.jpg?fit=1200%2C785&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Silent-Earth.jpg?fit=1200%2C785&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2562,"url":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/the-composers-appreciated-eulogy\/","url_meta":{"origin":2306,"position":1},"title":"The composer’s appreciated eulogy","author":"admin2","date":"November 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Karin Rehnqvist's acceptance speech after being awarded the Nordic Council's Music Prize 2022 for the choral and orchestral work Silent Earth at the prize gala in Musikhuset, Helsinki, on 1 November. Astronomers calculate that there are 2000 billion galaxies in the universe.That's 2000 plus twelve zeros. There are a lot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Latest"","block_context":{"text":"Latest","link":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/category\/latest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/KR_tack_Nordradet22eng-text.jpg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/KR_tack_Nordradet22eng-text.jpg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/KR_tack_Nordradet22eng-text.jpg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/KR_tack_Nordradet22eng-text.jpg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/KR_tack_Nordradet22eng-text.jpg?fit=1200%2C840&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2433,"url":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/time-for-the-swedish-premiere-of-silent-earth\/","url_meta":{"origin":2306,"position":2},"title":"Time for the Swedish premiere of Silent Earth","author":"admin2","date":"August 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Listen to Silent Earth! Swedish premiere, Berwaldhallen, Aug 27, 2022 [Baltic Sea Festival] On 27 August, after a delay of two years,\u00a0Karin Rehnqvist\u2019s\u00a0Silent Earth\u00a0finally will receive its Swedish premiere during the\u00a0Baltic Sea Festival\u00a0in Stockholm.\u00a0The Swedish Radio Choir,\u00a0The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra\u00a0and conductor\u00a0Dima Slobodeniouk\u00a0will perform the half-hour-long work that was described\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Latest"","block_context":{"text":"Latest","link":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/category\/latest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Silent-Earth_rep_BWH.jpg?fit=1200%2C647&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Silent-Earth_rep_BWH.jpg?fit=1200%2C647&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Silent-Earth_rep_BWH.jpg?fit=1200%2C647&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Silent-Earth_rep_BWH.jpg?fit=1200%2C647&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Silent-Earth_rep_BWH.jpg?fit=1200%2C647&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2315,"url":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/then-it-finally-became-the-world-premiere-for-silent-earth\/","url_meta":{"origin":2306,"position":3},"title":"Then it finally became the world premiere for Silent Earth","author":"admin2","date":"January 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Just over thirty minutes of monumental and powerful music for choir and symphony orchestra. 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Karin Rehnqvist's music to Kerstin Perski's congenial lyrics becomes an overwhelming piece of music that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Latest"","block_context":{"text":"Latest","link":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/category\/latest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Concertgebouw_KRscore_2.jpg?fit=1200%2C824&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Concertgebouw_KRscore_2.jpg?fit=1200%2C824&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Concertgebouw_KRscore_2.jpg?fit=1200%2C824&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Concertgebouw_KRscore_2.jpg?fit=1200%2C824&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Concertgebouw_KRscore_2.jpg?fit=1200%2C824&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2333,"url":"https:\/\/karin-rehnqvist.se\/eng\/here-you-can-listen-to-silent-earth\/","url_meta":{"origin":2306,"position":4},"title":"Here you can listen to Silent Earth","author":"admin2","date":"February 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On January 29, 2022, it was (finally!) 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\u2013 Karin Rehnqvist, 28 February 2020<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"