Bent Sørensen's Ständchen is a new piece for Schubertian octet and feet on gravel. It is dedicated to the German Scharoun Ensemble, which will premiere the piece 21 January 2007 at the Ultraschall Festival in Berlin. The Scharoun Ensemble consists of musicians from the Berlin Philharmonic, and Bent Sørensen's new piece is written for their combination of instruments: clarinet, bassoon, French horn, and string quintet. The attention is thereby also drawn to Schubert's famous octet written for this special instrumentation.
In Bent Sørensen's piece Ständchen the sound of feet moving on gravel, hands being rubbed together and humming are used as sources of musical sound on an equal footing with the established instruments. These highly distinctive musical resources must however not be viewed as ‘effects’. All the sounds, whether they are produced by authorized or unauthorized instruments, merge into a classical form and become a serenade of small movements.
Ständchen is commissioned by the Sharoun Ensemble with support by the American patron of culture Eleanor Eisenmenger. The piece will be premiered in the chamber music hall of the Berlin Philharmonia 21 January 2007 at 8 p.m.
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