Composition Commission to Roland Moser

Sinfonietta Basel, Switzerland

This program created by Roland Moser features two of his own works followed by Ravel’s “La Valse” and György Kurtág’s STELE. “In this order!” writes the composer. “Ravel’s profound virtuosity (1919!) leads us into Kurtág’s STELE, a deeply moving piece of commemorative music. WAL is also a MEMENTO – for a heavy orchestral line-up with 5 saxophones, written between 1980 and 1983. The huge mass of instruments here is not used as a means to develop musical force but instead remains delicate, vulnerable and fragile. Forming part of the debut will be a study of the different aspects of fading, the transition of sound into memory: Première étude pour les disparitions”, a composition commission from Sinfonietta Basel that will be supported by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. A key focus of interest for the composer of this project is the end of tones, sounds and parts of sounds. “Active pauses” become rhythmic figures, melodies even – like, for instance, at the end of Schumann’s Papillons, the fading of the seven-voice accord.

In order to direct the interest of the audience towards the idea of fading – with its own reverberation – the beginnings also required a different kind of focus. Here is not the place to indicate a range of other options but to make it possible to experience “disparitions” on a very different level. And these are sure to be more numerous that you might initially expect. For this reason, the idea is to be played out with various different line-ups.  

December 7, 2013
Stadtcasino Basel, Switzerland

Further Information:
www.baselsinfonietta.ch