Danish composer New Year’s Day 2000 the composer Bent Lorentzen (b. 1935) mobilized everything that went ding-dong in central Copenhagen in his work Te Deum. Among the ‘instruments’ were the bells in 16 churches, three scores of carilloneurs and the chimes high above the church of Redeemer.  Bent Lorentzen incorporates the experience of the audience in his works. He is fascinated by all types of sounds, and it is also typical of him to focus on the experience of sound and material. Bent Lorentzen extracts new sounds from traditional instruments: He uses quarter notes, he makes the musicians play on mouthpieces, and he uses the percussion and the human voice in all imaginable ways. The human voice has always played a prominent part in Bent Lorentzens oeuvre. His work list is dominated by choral works, instrumental music for theatre and no less than 14 operas to date. His latest opera, Kain and Abel (2006) brings the history of the Old Testament up to date, as it takes place in modern time. Kain and Abel is a tragedy, a psychological drama, and at the same time a cartoon comedy, which underlines its foundation between Old Testament- and present time. It is emotional music, and at the same time based on simplicity. The opera has been characterized as ‘a work where the composer goes to the heart of the matter, and every tone that is included in the work is necessary to define the great and unmistakable drama’. Though Bent Lorentzen is characterized as a pioneer in the field of Danish electronic music, he prefers the human presence involved in live music to the all-too-final character of machine-made sounds. The focus on the human voice reflects his fundamental attention to the communication between music and audience. Music for its own sake does not fit his way of thinking. For Bent Lorentzen music can only succeed in its mission when heard and experienced. Bent Lorentzen received the life long grant from the Danish Arts Foundation in 1982.  By Malene Wichmann August 2007

Foto: Martin Mydtskov Rønne Bent Lorentzen focuses on the communication between music and audience. For Bent Lorentzen music can only succeed in its mission when being heard and experienced. Read more about Bent Lorentzen at:   Edition Wilhelm Hansen Edition Samfundet