"Airports also have a soundtrack, a symphony of airplane engines, a couple of simple sounds that extend into a space devoid of rhythm, an Orthodox twin-engine choir, gloomy minor, infrared, in- frablack, largo, based on a single chord that bores even itself. A requiem that opens with the potent introitus of takeoff and closes with an amen descending into landing". Olga Tokarczuk. The Flights.
The piece was commissioned by the Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (WDR) for the 70th anniversary of “Musik der Zeit” concert series and dedicated to Harry Vogt.
The dense micro-polyphony of “Recordare” is constructed from 3 distinct timbre groups - winds, voices and strings, each living in separate space and time dimensions like single organisms with individual heart beating, breathing and moving tempos. Their pulsating sounds merge into the inter- actions of growing intensity, like waves of increasing length and force, gradually expanding the dy- namic scale of the piece towards the limits.
The infinite word “recorda(re)” is circling through the choir voices continuously as a mantra and has a double meaning - “to remember” and “to record”, both symbolising the radio mission.
Duration: 21' ca.
Instrumentation: 2222-222-org-4S.4A.4T.4B.-6.5.4.4.2
Premiere: 2 October 2021, WDR chamber choir, WDR symphony orchestra, cond. Enno Poppe. WDR Funkhaus Wallrafplatz, Cologne (DE)
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVXiwERS7Fc