NOSPR/Afkham/Apkalna/Towards the Light

Before the concert, at 6.30 p.m., we invite you to the chamber hall for a meeting with editor Jakub Puchalski, who will discuss the works performed that evening. Entrance to the lecture is free, to participate in the lecture is entitled to show a subscription card or a ticket to the concert. The lecture will also be broadcast live on YouTube.

Everything is sinking in the twilight. The contour of the color palette indicates that it is stately, but in this light you can not see any bright paints on it. The hearing is still not used to the dark, and on top of that, it gets colder and harsher. The relief seems to be coming, but the fluctuating dense orchestral fabric does not allow us to reach for it. And when the music finally dies down, it is impossible to forget that one more shadow looms over D'un soir sombre — this is one of the last scores of the prematurely deceased Lili Boulanger.

While there is not much room for breath in D'un soir sombre, Sebastian Fagerlund's organ concerto “Ad spiram” is based on the breath. Hardly any instrument is as suitable for this as organs. The composer breathes a new spirit into them and, as he writes, constantly rushes “towards the vortex”, he brings the music out of the shadows and brings it to life consistently.

As Kaiji Saariaho's ethereal Lumière et pesanteur begins, we are at yet another point in the color wheel. This time everything sinks into luminosity — different, how different the reflections of light on different planes can be. The music flickers and is full of light crystalline reflections. It is a plane, and at the same time it tangles and flies outside of gravity.

This path behind the recovery of light is crowned by a work that nearly two centuries ago summed it up in its own way. To understand this, it is necessary, contrary to Robert Schumann's wishes, to look at the original titles of parts of his symphony. Next they are: The coming of spring, Evening, Fun, Spring in full swing. Is it not a similar story, but given in the fashion of its era?

Piotr Mika (“The Musical Movement”)

Duration of the concert (including the break): approx. 100 minutes

*Commissioned by Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Dresdner Philharmonie

More concerts as part of the S1 symphonic concert series.

Performers: NOSPR; Iveta Apkalna — organ

Program: Lili Boulanger — D'un soir sombre; Sebastian Fagerlund — Organ Concert Ad Spiram (Polish premiere, co-commissioned by NOSPR) *; Kaija Saariaho — Lumière et pesanteur; Robert Schumann — Symphony No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 38