A new orchestral commission by Julian Anderson launched the 2005 Cheltenham Festival on 1 July.
Eden lasts 10 minutes and is the latest and final fruit to be borne out of his 4-year relationship with the City of Birmingham SO as their Composer-in-Association. The work is subtitled “Homage to Brancusi” and takes its inspiration from the work of the celebrated Romanian sculptor, Constantin Brancusi (1876-1975). Anderson writes that Brancusi’s “simplicity of line and formal clarity have been a constant source of fascination for me.”
“The short work uses two tunings: standard equal temperament and another one using non-tempered harmonics from the overtone series (e.g. the flat Bflat and Fsharp on a C fundamental). Hockets - melodies shared between different instruments - are employed throughout, and this melodic sharing was inspired by Brancusi’s sculpture “The Kiss” showing a couple locked together in ecstatic union. The sculpture also gave the piece its mood.”
New Festival Artistic Director, Martyn Brabbins, directs the performance with the CBSO in the Town Hall. It will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 at 7.30pm (BST) (www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/).
The Brancusi sculpture can be viewed here.