Listening to old music with different ears and placing new music in relation to it: That is the aim of Bryce Dessner and David Chalmin.
Is it a coincidence or a calculation that "Electric Fields" is all about women? The question goes to our Creative Chair Bryce Dessner. Neither, he says: "It's skill." People often only think of male composers and shy away from taking a closer look at female composers. Yet there are some who have left a significant legacy. Including the three who are the subject of this concert. And then there are the three performers, the pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque and the singer Barbara Hannigan – for him the "queens" of classical musicians. "They are full of energy, dynamic and intelligent," continues Dessner. The three, for whom he conceived the "Electric Fields" project together with David Chalmin, are "simply brilliant": important and powerful artists who have made a difference in their lives.
The idea for the project came from Barbara Hannigan. She chose the works of Hildegard von Bingen. This universal scholar, who lived as an abbess in a German monastery in the 12th century, fascinates her. An amazing woman who had mystical visions throughout her life, wrote about celestial systems and theories of infinite connection - and also composed. In combination with the early baroque works of Barbara Strozzi and Francesca Caccini, this project was born.
Bryce Dessner and David Chalmin traverse the centuries with the help of inspiration from old songs, melodies and texts. They add their own contemporary perspective and catapult early music into the present with modern instrumentation. A journey, tonal and melodic, expressive and unique, as Bryce Dessner says: "We bring the old into the modern, creating new soundscapes that do justice to both styles – for me, this is a poetic development."
"Electric Fields" is an immersive and multimedia concert in which the music is framed by live videos, light projections and electronic effects that react to the artists. Live electronic musician David Chalmin will lay layers of sound over Bryce Dessner's music.
In recent months, Bryce Dessner has already performed in a variety of roles. This project now shows yet another new facet of his work. "He is the perfect creative chair when it comes to exploring the breadth of classical music and confronting it with other styles or eras," says Marc Barwisch, Head of Artistic Operations. That's what makes this project so exciting, because it also appeals to a different audience.
The work commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic was premiered in November 2022, recorded at the Elbphilharmonie last April and will now be performed twice at the Tonhalle Zurich over a weekend in April 2024.
