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- Simon Holt
Dædalus Remembers (1995)
(Dædalus Remembers)- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Commissioned by the Cheltenham Festival with financial support provided by the Arts Council of England
- 2hn.flg/perc/hp.cim/str(0.0.3.4.2)
- cello
- 18 min
Programme Note
Daedalus Remembers is the third part in a trilogy called 3 for Icarus. Daedalus was Icarus' father and a famous craftsman. He once forged a magic sword for Peleus which had a property of making its owner victorious in battle, and he also created the labyrinth of King Minos of Crete in which the Minotaur (half bull, half man) was imprisoned. The second part of the trilogy is entited Minotaur Games after Troy games, a kind of labyrinthine dance involving cords (Ariadne’s thread?).
At one point in the myth Daedalus and Icarus are also imprisoned in the labyrinth. They escape by means of wings which Daedalus has made from feathers and wax. Sadly, despite his father’s warnings, Icarus flies too close to the sun in a fit of hubris, and the wings melt, causing him to plunge to his death. Daedalus alights safely on a beach in Sardinia, and after he has collected his thoughts remembers his son’s fall and scenes from his own past life. Have the gods paid him back for the death of his nephew Talos, whom Daedalus killed in a fit of jealousy by pushing him off the top of a temple in the Acropolis? Daedalus rants and sorrows – dark memories nag persistently.
Daedalus Remembers is scored for solo cello with flugelhorn, two horns, percussion, cimbalom, harp, three violas, four cellos and two double-basses.
© Simon Holt
At one point in the myth Daedalus and Icarus are also imprisoned in the labyrinth. They escape by means of wings which Daedalus has made from feathers and wax. Sadly, despite his father’s warnings, Icarus flies too close to the sun in a fit of hubris, and the wings melt, causing him to plunge to his death. Daedalus alights safely on a beach in Sardinia, and after he has collected his thoughts remembers his son’s fall and scenes from his own past life. Have the gods paid him back for the death of his nephew Talos, whom Daedalus killed in a fit of jealousy by pushing him off the top of a temple in the Acropolis? Daedalus rants and sorrows – dark memories nag persistently.
Daedalus Remembers is scored for solo cello with flugelhorn, two horns, percussion, cimbalom, harp, three violas, four cellos and two double-basses.
© Simon Holt
Reviews
The South Bank’s Birtwistle festival is not entirely monotheistic: this concert included the London Premiere of Daedalus Remembers, a suitably mystic work for cello and ensemble by the young Simon Holt. He wisely confined the orchestral textures to low-pitched instruments, spiced by a clanging cimbalon. This allowed the cello to soar high and free – which in Rohan de Saram’s hands, it did in a spirit of affecting anguish.
30th July 1996
The last night, then, it premiered The Cheltenham Festival commission of the final part of Simon Holt’s 3 for Icarus trilogy. Daedalus Remembers is an 18-minute concertante work for cello and chamber orchestra. Its colours are dark (no violins), and brilliantly evocative of mythical Greece. Cimbalon and flugelhorn feature importantly, the latter chosen by the composer because he wanted to convey the sound of “a weird ancient trumpet”. As Daedalus recalls the tragedies of his colourful life the music explores in anger; even the gentle harp part is at one point labelled “brutal”. Rohan de Saram was the devoted soloist on cello; this could well be a piece he makes his own. Amid the turmoil there are sweeter passages; a grave dance between cello and cimbalon and busy percussion stays in the memory.
6th July 1995