Michel van der Aa: Spaces of Blank at Concertgebouw
(March 2009)
Michel Van der Aa's new song cycle Spaces of Blank for mezzo-soprano, orchestra and soundtrack will receive its world premiere on 19 March in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. The Dutch mezzo-soprano Christianne Stotijn is soloist, with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Ed Spanjaard. The 26-minute work, set to texts by Emily Dickinson, Rozalie Hirs and Anne Carson, was commissioned by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Radio France, the NDR Orchestra in Hamburg and the Fund for the Creation of Music. The common element of the poems is the use of space as an analogy for anxiety. These five poems, spread over three movements, inspired van der Aa to take the listener on a virtual journey through 'spaces of blank': ominous moods combined with spatial experience, varying from an endless 'solitude of space' (Emily Dickinson) to a closed 'garden of statues' (Rozalie Hirs). The alternation between overwhelming expanses and oppressive intimacy is an essential element of the work, assisted by a soundtrack that either expands or freezes the sound of the orchestra and manipulates the acoustics of the various spaces.
A second performance with the RCO will take place on 20 March. Both concerts will be recorded, and the 'RCO Live' label plans to issue the work on CD in the near future.
Co-commissioner Radio France has programmed the piece for 1 October 2010 in Lyon by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, with Christianne Stotijn returning as soloist. Performance by the NDR Orchestra in Hamburg is scheduled for later in the 2010/2011 season.
> Further information on Work: Spaces of Blank
Photo: Marco Borggreve
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