Rozalie Hirs: "'parallel world [breathing]' is dreamlike musical landscape"

For centuries, scientists have seen connections between music and the ordering of the universe. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra took this as the starting point for its concert at 19 October in the series Horizon. In collaboration with the University of Amsterdam, a 'polyphonic cosmos' is being realised. For this, Peter Eötvös composed the organ concerto Multiverse, Rozalie Hirs wrote 'parallel world [breathing]'. Eötvös' piece will have its Dutch premiere; Hirs' composition could already be heard at Amsterdam Science Park on 7 October and will now be heard at the afterparty.

Hirs composed 'parallel world [breathing]' commissioned by UvA's Faculty of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Computer Science. The starting point was a chamber music piece on the theme Multiverse, for five musicians of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. A piece for the composer, who has been researching the laws of sound since 1997. While composing, she combines an intuitive creative process with scientific frequency calculations. In this, she is related to so-called 'spectralists' like Tristan Murail, with whom she studied.

Dreamlike musical landscape

The new piece 'parallel world [breathing]' is the first part of the yet-to-be-completed cycle 'parallel worlds'. - Not for five, but for eight musicians. This has mainly a practical background. 'I had assumed a line-up of flute, clarinet, piano, violin and cello,' says Hirs. 'But it turned out there was no good piano on location. They asked if I would use a harp instead. Since I had by now finished quite a bit of the piano part, I decided to combine the harp with percussion. For the richness of the harmonies, I added an extra string player, a viola. Because of the heaviness of the part, it ended up being two harps; moreover, I use electronic sounds.'

The title 'parallel world [breathing]' refers to the parallel worlds of the Multiverse, a theme from string theory. Hirs: 'This first part of the cycle is built from delicate harmonies, with broken chords of vibraphone and harp. These can be understood as metaphors for wind around the world, or breath of man. The spun-out sounds carry the listener through a dreamlike musical landscape reminiscent of minimal music and spectral music. It is a meditative piece full of movement.'

Info and tickets via this link: https://www.concertgebouworkest.nl/nl/concert/multiversum