- Bent Sørensen
Evening Land (2017)
- Edition Wilhelm Hansen Copenhagen (World)
- 2(2pic).2(ca).2.2+cbn/4230/timp.perc(1)/str
- 13 min
- 21st February 2025, Verizon Hall Kimmel Center for the Performing ARts, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America
- 22nd February 2025, Verizon Hall Kimmel Center for the Performing ARts, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America
Programme Note
A picture, a vision: I am 6-7 years old, I’m standing in my childhood home in a small town on Zealand (Denmark). I am looking out of the window, and there is a very special evening light over the fields – far away there are trees and a cow. It is as if the world is infinite.
I have forgotten so much from my childhood, but for some reason this vision has kept coming back to me. The vision returned many years later, as I was looking out over New York from a high balcony. The vision from more than 50 years ago – the vision of quiet – mixed with the new vision of flashes of light and bustling activity. I had found the title – “Evening Land” and the music came out of the title – of the two visions.
The work begins so softly, as quiet as possible, and the softness remains behind the bustling and flashing music that turns up later in the piece. Towards the end a little solo for oboe emerges. It is a greeting to my dear father-in-law, the oboist Frederik Gislinge, who – while I was composing Evening Land – fell seriously ill. I guess I hoped the solo would help him heal. Unfortunately that did not happen and to our great sorrow he died before he could hear the solo and the whole work – Evening Land.
Thus Evening Land encountered another evening – the evening of life – a finality.
I have forgotten so much from my childhood, but for some reason this vision has kept coming back to me. The vision returned many years later, as I was looking out over New York from a high balcony. The vision from more than 50 years ago – the vision of quiet – mixed with the new vision of flashes of light and bustling activity. I had found the title – “Evening Land” and the music came out of the title – of the two visions.
The work begins so softly, as quiet as possible, and the softness remains behind the bustling and flashing music that turns up later in the piece. Towards the end a little solo for oboe emerges. It is a greeting to my dear father-in-law, the oboist Frederik Gislinge, who – while I was composing Evening Land – fell seriously ill. I guess I hoped the solo would help him heal. Unfortunately that did not happen and to our great sorrow he died before he could hear the solo and the whole work – Evening Land.
Thus Evening Land encountered another evening – the evening of life – a finality.
Scores
Score preview
Reviews
[...] Tonal sounds dissolve into a misty haze, shifting in coloration while always retaining their radiance. This music conveys a profound melancholy, even sadness, that grips the listener directly and deeply, at their very core.[...]
15th January 2025
"[...]Så var der mere antydning over Sørensens lille perle. En historie om drøm og forskydning blev fortalt med få midler, hvor den ensomme violinist fra indledningen fik et par venner rundt i orkestret, så musikken kunne bygge sig op med flere og flere indsatser, indtil den vemodige sang havde forandret sig totalt.
Det melankolske fald i violinstemmen – sukket – var nu skarpe, abrupte vendinger. Det venlige blev aggressivt. Den forunderlige aftenluft fra Midtsjælland var kommet til New York og havde fået et ganske andet udtryk. Han er blevet 60 i år, Sørensen, og man må sige, at han har fundet en ny åre i sin kunst. Hvor tonerne tidligere altid blev bøjet på den ene eller anden måde – selv klokker blev nedsænket i baljer for at bøje tonen – fortæller han i dag sine historier direkte og uden slør. Med overraskende virkning."
Det melankolske fald i violinstemmen – sukket – var nu skarpe, abrupte vendinger. Det venlige blev aggressivt. Den forunderlige aftenluft fra Midtsjælland var kommet til New York og havde fået et ganske andet udtryk. Han er blevet 60 i år, Sørensen, og man må sige, at han har fundet en ny åre i sin kunst. Hvor tonerne tidligere altid blev bøjet på den ene eller anden måde – selv klokker blev nedsænket i baljer for at bøje tonen – fortæller han i dag sine historier direkte og uden slør. Med overraskende virkning."
1st September 2018
More Info
- Danish National Symphony Orchestra on tour with Bent Sørensen
- 7th January 2025
- Bent Sørensen's 'Evening Land' is on the program of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra's 100 year celebratory tour