A young composer who turned 30 in April and is one of Portugal's most active voices in contemporary music - Pedro Lima is In Focus on the MIC.PT in September.
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Musical Category Chamber music (+ than 8 instruments)
Instrumentation (general) 14 players
Premiere
Date 2007/Jun/15
Performer(s)
Manson Ensemble
Baldur Brönnimann (conductor)
Organization/Event Spitalfields Festival
Venue Schoreditch Church
Town London
Country United Kingdom
Program Notes
When I was 18, studying composition in Lisbon, I attended a lecture about the music of Janácek. The lecturer recommended the book Betrayed Testaments by Kundera in order to go through the music of the composer. I was, at that time, writing a piece for flute and piano. I left Lisbon for a couple of days taking the book mentioned with me and some blank paper on which to compose the piece.
Since then, Kundera has always been with me. Fortunately all his books are translated to Portuguese, which has allowed me to read everything he has written so far. His books have not only been the main source of inspiration for my music (in an indirect way), but also of vital importance to my development as a person.
Thus, this piece is finally my humble homage to this great novelist of the twentieth century. Letter for Kundera is not a piece where I try to describe in music the philosophy of the writer. It is, above all, a way of thank him for his words using the best way I know to express what I feel.
Hugo Ribeiro February ‘07