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Chaya Czernowin’s Gradual Edge Debuts in Denmark; Matrix Festival Residency at Warsaw Autumn

Aug. 30, 2012

Chaya Czernowin’s <em>Gradual Edge</em> Debuts in Denmark; Matrix Festival Residency at Warsaw Autumn

Two anticipated performances this September kick off a year of several featured events for Schott composer Chaya Czernowin. Her newest work, Gradual Edge, premieres on September 17 by its dedicatees, organist Poul Skjølstrup Larsen and cellist Christina Meißner. Additionally, Czernowin will be in residence at the Matrix Festival of the Studio Germany, taking place at the Warsaw Autumn Contemporary Music Festival from September 21 to 29.

Gradual Edge, for organ and cello duo, was commissioned by the Queen of Denmark and the Kierkegaard Institute. Its premiere performance takes place at the Haderslev Domsogn in Denmark. Following this performance, Larsen and Meißner perform the work in 24 subsequent performances spanning three continents throughout the season. Czernowin gives the following as an introduction to this work:

Many years ago I saw a sculpture of Anish Kapoor: in this sculpture there were two huge halved orbs hanging from two sides of the room. The halved orbs were dark purple blue, which was so dark that the end of the orbs (their inside) was not visible. They seemed, instead, like endless openings. The piece Gradual Edge is an attempt to trace, as if through touch, and follow the imaginary passage on this half orb, attempting to figure out, through touch, the transition from substance to the endless cavities inside an increasing darkness.

During Czernowin’s residence at the Warsaw Autumn Festival, her work Ina, for solo bass flute and six recorded flutes, receives a performance by the renowned Roberto Fabbriciani. On this work, Czernowin states:

The idea of the composite instrument can be traced back to the works I wrote for pre-recorded and live soloists beginning around 1988. In Ina and other pieces of this time, a singular instrument is unbraided into disparate voices. At the time, this suggested an exploration into the drama of the singular persona (and thus the singular performer) confronted with the many divergent voices within. Ina unequivocally retains a certain narrative and dramatic conception in its play between the soloist and his or her internal environment.

Ina takes the festival stage on September 22 at the Witold Lutosławski Polish Radio Concert Studio. The program also features works by Luigi Nono, Mark Andre, and Jamilia Jazylbekova.

More information on Chaya Czernowin and her works Gradual Edge and Ina can be found at www.schott-music.com. 

To learn more on the Warsaw Autumn Contemporary Music Festival visit www.warszawska-jesien.art.

Chaya Czernowin
Gradual Edge (2012)
for organ and violoncello
13’

Ina (1988)
for bass flute and six recorded flutes
12’

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