The world premiere-date for Juliana Hodkinson’s brand new concerto for electric guitar, Can modify completely / in this case / not that it will make any difference will take place on November 27 and mark the presentation of biannual Carl Nielsen og Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens hæderspris honorary prize. Juliana Hodkinson will be awarded the prize alongside two other fine musicians: the composer John Frandsen and the cellist Andreas Brantelid. The concerto will be performed by guitarist Aart Strootman and the Danish National Chamber Orchestra.
As in much of Juliana Hodkinson’s music, the composer explores the traditional limits of music: everything, including the electric guitar, is being modified. ”The strings of the solo electric guitar are re-rigged and massively detuned and re-tuned, to achieve an extremely noisy and low bass register, as well as to create meandering microtonal bends and slides. The music, and even the instruments, are under modification the whole time”, the composer writes. Embedded in the score are headlines from the months when the composer was working on the piece, sonified in the music according to Morse code or converted through other compositional devices. These initiatives “create a relation between current events, their representations in media and communications, and the material aspects of a musical work”. The title comes from Hodkinson’s chamber opera, Turbulence, where the words are spoken by a pilot.
The premiere will take place on November 27, 19.30 in “Dronningesalen” at the Royal Library in Copenhagen. Each of the recipients are awarded with 600.000 DKK (appr 80,000 €).
