Eivind Buene | A Posthuman Guide to the Orchestra
2nd May 2018
The title of the work refers to Britten’s educational masterpiece A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra with a posthuman twist as Britten’s human narrator is replaced by an artificial voice. The futuristic guide introduces the audience to the inner workings of a symphony orchestra, making humorous comments on contemporary concert life along the way. Towards the end of the piece, the alien artificial intelligence reflects on the meaning of music to human beings: Why do we attend concerts? What do we listen for? What is the fuss all about?
The metacognitive perspective is a trademark of Eivind Buene both as a composer and a novelist. His works often engage in critical dialogue with history, juxtaposing highly diversified material in order to shed new light on the past. Buene’s awareness of tradition and his love of intertextuality are manifest in his own curating of the concert programme: The commissioned piece is played in between movements of Brahms’ monumental Piano Concerto no. 2 and followed by Standing Stones, another work by Buene which contains samples from Brahms’ Piano Concerto no. 2 taken from various recordings of the works from the last 80 years.
Thus, vital strands of Eivind Buene’s creative and highly original thinking are woven together in this exciting concert.
May 3, 2018 at 7 pm, Oslo Concert House, Norway
Johannes Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2Eivind Buene: A Posthuman Guide to the OrchestraEivind Buene: Standing Stones
The Oslo PhilharmonicEivind Aadland, conductorJavier Perianes, piano
A Posthuman Guide to the Orchestra is a commission by the Oslo Philharmonic.
For tickets and more information please visit the Oslo Philharmonic webpage.
