Orchestre de chambre de Paris
Thomas Hengelbrock direction
Patricia Auchterlonie voice
The Orchestre de chambre de Paris celebrates Beethoven with the premiere of a new work by the composer Simon Wills.
Dates
Wills Antigone, symphony for orchestra and voice (world premiere for the 200th anniversary of Beethoven’s death)
Beethoven Symphony No. 4 Op. 60
About
Beethoven was haunted by the idea of a hero – or heroine – standing up to tyranny singlehandedly. Antigone, who chooses to die rather than break the rules to which even the gods are subject, is a case in point. But Simon Wills’s new symphony does not tell the story of Antigone. Her descent into “the dust without love” raises the question which is at the heart of the work: “But what happens next?” Life goes on. The intrinsically dramatic symphony form offers a means of expressing this journey from darkness to light. The human voice – which emerges from the orchestra but is still separate from it – is a disembodied instrument here, dancing but not condemned. Antigone by Wills, which was written specially for the bicentenary of Beethoven’s death, is a natural counterpoint to Symphony No. 4. Composed four years after the sombre Heiligenstadt Testament, in which Beethoven refered to his progressive hearing loss and his desire to end his life, it marks a return to an atmosphere brimming with charm and vitality.
Production Orchestre de chambre de Paris