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Work Overview
Flickering Darkness is a piece about insomnia, the stresses of disturbed sleep and recurring strange noises in the night - some natural, others imagined. All encapsulated within an ominous bubble - compositionally presented through extended techniques and notably by a Dies Irae motif late in the piece.
The work speaks for the individual but conversely has a broader
emanation - from a society which hasn't quite exorcised its
racial stereotyping demons, where even a still sung children's
lullaby - namely, Elefantens vuggevise/den Lille Sorte Sambo (the
Elephant's lullaby/the little black sambo) - carries negative
racial undertones around the black slave trade. Defended at times
as just a simple lullaby or 'playful' teasing of other-skinned
people, for some citizens the haunting insomnia remains deeply
affecting. Many cultures suffer from racism, but in a country
like Denmark which prides itself on being home to the happiest
people on Earth, it can still smell a tad rotten in the state.
Work Details
Year: 2022
Instrumentation: Strings.
Duration: 12 min.
Difficulty: Advanced — extended techniques, high pitches, rhythmic complexity
Commission note: Commissioned by The Royal Danish Library.
First performance: 17 Jan 23. The Black Diamond, Copenhagen, Denmark
The composer notes the following styles, genres, influences, etc in relation to this work:
Quartet; Strings; racism; insomnia; lullaby.
Performances of this work
17 Jan 23: The Black Diamond, Copenhagen, Denmark
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