Sternenlicht

A programme about space, sound and artistic attitude – with four different perspectives on contemporary composition.

In «A space to exist», a composition commissioned by the Ensemble Phoenix Basel, Eleni Ralli places the accordion at the centre not only musically, but also spatially. The instrument moves between three spatially distributed groups, searching for its own place. It is about hearing in space, about proximity and distance, presence and absence, and about what it takes to exist.

Younghi Pagh-Paan's work «Im Sternenlicht» (In the Starlight) takes its starting point in an old Japanese poem about retreating from the world. In a poetic musical language, the composer offers an answer to the question of where one flees when the «woes of life» catch up with one even in solitude. Her music is at once delicate, determined and spiritual, manifesting itself in a sound meditation between heaven and earth.

Klaus Lang does not understand music as language or an expression of personal emotion, but rather as a free, acoustic object. His compositions reject any instrumental function. Sound is not used, but rather explored as pure, audible time. Music emerges as a radical form of presence: silent, concentrated, without message – and, precisely because of this, moving.

With his «Clarinet Quintet No. 1», Isang Yun enters a new phase in his creative work: more lyrical, clearer, more structured. The clarinet takes on the leading role as the voice of change, inspired by the Chinese principle of Yang. Yun lets it wander through the musical space in search of an «infinite melody» – as a symbol of breath, liberation and spiritual expansiveness.

With

Ensemble Phoenix Basel; Jürg Henneberger (Musical Director)

Program

Eleni Ralli (*1984): «A space to exist» (2026, world premiere, Mission EPhB) for accordion and ensemble

Younghi Pagh-Paan (*1945): «Im Sternenlicht» for sextet (2019)

Klaus Lang (*1971): «weiße farben» (2016) for 8 instruments

Isang Yun (1917–1995): «Klarinettenquintett Nr. 1» (1984) for clarinet and string quartet

Info

7 p.m. Concert introduction with Jürg Henneberger

Duration

60 minutes, no break

Links

→ ensemble-phoenix.ch