Lachen verlernt: Esa-Pekka Salonen - Vijay Gupta, violin

Описание: Lachen verlernt (Laughter Unlearned)
Esa-Pekka Salonen (2002)

Program note from the composer:
"The title "Lachen verlernt" (Laughing unlearnt) is a quotation from the ninth movement of Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire, "Gebet an Pierrot" (Prayer to Pierrot). The narrator declares that she has unlearnt the skill of laughing and begs Pierrot, the 'Horse-doctor to the soul', to give it back to her. I felt that this is a very moving metaphor of a performer: a serious clown trying to help the audience to connect with emotions they have lost, or believe they have lost. Lachen verlernt is essentially a Chaconne, which in this case means that there is a harmonic progression that repeats itself several times. The harmony remains the same throughout the whole piece; only the surface, the top layer of the music changes."

Recorded at All Saints Church, Pasadena - December 21, 2020
Directed by Louis Ng