By Beethoven 1806 / Simon Steen-Andersen 2024
For actor, pianist, orchestra, video, electronics and light.
Duration: ca. 30 min.
Premiere: WDR Funkhaus in Cologne 2024, commissioned by WDR and MITO Festival
Program note:
When either of us is dead and gone, the survivor will be tickled to death to hear the other’s tones again ... Whatever you say this evening may be listened to by people 10,000 years hence.
C. B. LEWIS / Mr. Browser's Tribulations (1901)
In a distant future where music and concerts are no longer known, archeologists unearth a tape machine along with several tape reels, one of which contains a live recording of Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto. To better understand the nature of the sounds preserved on these mostly deteriorated tapes, they connect the tape machine to a "reverse echolocation" chamber. This technology allows them to visualize and explore the space where these mysterious acoustic signals were originally recorded...
(Concert photos: Alessandro Bosio)