Let me tell you | Hans Abrahamsen - Wise Music Classical

Commissioned by Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker with the support of Danish Arts Foundation

Orchestration
3(afl:2pic).1+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4230/timp.3perc/hp.cel/str(14.12.10.8.7)
SoloistsSoprano
Duration30 min

CategorySoloists and Orchestra
Topic
- Literature (incl. classic tales)

Composer
Hans Abrahamsen
Text Writer/Librettist
Paul Griffiths (based on Ophelia's words by Shakespeare)
LanguageEnglish

Performances
- 15th April 2025, Konzerthaus, Freiburg, Germany
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Programme Note

The orchestral song cycle let me tell you by Hans Abrahamsen, based on the novel let me tell you (2008) by Paul Griffiths, has been initiated by Barbara Hannigan. In the work, Ophelia tells her story in a first person narrative devised by Griffiths using only the 481 word vocabulary given to her in Shakespeare‘s Hamlet. He uses a constrained writing technique similar to those employed by the avant-garde Oulipo group. It is a text of delicate and fragile atmosphere and the selections for the song cycle have been a joint effort by all three artists.

This is the second commission Abrahamsen has received from Berlin Philharmonic with the support of the Danish Arts Foundation. It follows Nacht und Trompeten in 1971 which was championed by Hans Werner Henze, who was, at that time, composer in residence at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Awards
Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Large-Scale Composition 2015

Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition 2016

Gramophone Classical Music Award for Contemporary Music 2016

Nordic Council Music Prize 2016

Diapason d'Or 2016

Edison Klassiek prize 2016

Danish Radio P2 - Album of the year 2017