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Bath Festival Orchestra's "Sonic Odyssey" Features the Music of Gustav Mahler, Anna Meredith, and Arvo Pärt

Dec. 20, 2023

On December 16, the Bath Festival Orchestra and Spitalfields Music presented a "sonic odyssey on Earth and beyond [where] mystic minimalism meets transcendental melody." Violinist Maren Bosma led an 18-piece instrumental ensemble and two singers in performances of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, Anna Meredith's Moon, and Arvo Pärt's Fratres. 

A detailed history behind the composition of Mahler's masterwork, inspired by the translated "Chinese Flute" poetry of Hans Bethge, may be found here. 

The electronics for Anna Meredith's Moon were performed by the composer herself alongside live visuals by her sister, Eleanor Meredith. The work, for amplified chamber orchestra and electronics, was premiered in 2013 by Sinfonia Viva.

Composed in 1977 for a variable group of cellos (4, 8, or 12), Pärt's Fratres was dedicated to the cello section of the Berlin Philharmonic and premiered at the 1982 Berliner Festspiel. Pärt subsequently revised Fratres creating a version for violin, string orchestra, and percussion.

Written in Pärt's own Tintinnabuli style, Fratres allows many different settings because it is not bound to a specific timbre. Pärt notes, “The highest virtue of music, for me, lies outside of its mere sound. The particular timbre of an instrument is part of the music, but it is not the most important element. If it were, I would be surrendering to the essence of the music. Music must exist of itself … two, three notes … the essence must be there, independent of the instruments.”


Fratres/Arvo Pärt/Anne Akiko Meyers, violin and Akira Eguchi, piano

To learn more about Gustav Mahler and Arvo Pärt, visit universaledition.com.
To learn more about Anna Meredith, visit fabermusic.com.

Gustav Mahler
Das Lied von der Erde (1908)
1.1.1.1-1.0.0.0-2perc-harm-pno-str(1.1.1.1.1)
60'

Anna Meredith
Moon (2013)
2(I.pic).1.1(bcl).0-0.1(flhn).0.0-1perc: vib/claves/SD/4 tom-t-str-live electronics
14'

Arvo Pärt
Fratres (1977/1992)
version for violin, string orchestra, and percussion
11'

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