WNMD 2025
Piano Marathon / Maratona de piano
02-06-2025 · 17h00, 18h00, 19h00
Centro Cultural de Belém – Pequeno Auditório
Lisbon
Elsa Silva · piano
WNMD 2025 · CONCERT 8
02-06-2025 · 17h00
Centro Cultural de Belém – Pequeno Auditório
Lisbon
Bilheteira · Ticket Office
Elsa Silva · piano
BENCE KUTRIK (Hungary, 1976)
Chorale Machine (2022), 4’
ISCM Hungarian Section
GLENDA KEAM (New Zeland, 1960)
Mind Springs (2017), 10’
JORGE PEIXINHO (Portugal, 1940–1995)
Harmónicos (1967), 16’
LUCIANO BERIO (Italy, 1925–2003)
Sequenza IV (1965–1966), 11’
NGUYEN HONG ANH (Vietnam, 2005) YCA
Quiet Moment (2023), 11’
ISCM Vietnam Contemporary Music Centre
YCA · ISCM Young Composers Award candidate
José Pedro Ribeiro · piano
WNMD 2025 · CONCERT 9
02-06-2025 · 18h00
Centro Cultural de Belém – Pequeno Auditório
Lisbon
Bilheteira · Ticket Office
José Pedro Ribeiro · piano
CÂNDIDO LIMA (Portugal, 1939)
Paráfrase sobre "Lettera Amorosa" de Claudio Monteverdi (2024), 14’ WP
CARMEN CÂRNECI (Romania, 1957)
Hesper(í)a (2016), 9’
ISCM Arfa
HUGO RIBEIRO (Portugal, 1983)
[new work] (2024–2025), 10’ WP
PIERRE BOULEZ (France, 1925-2016)
12 Notations (1945), 10’
WP · world premiere
Mrika Sefa · piano
WNMD 2025 · CONCERT 10
02-06-2025 · 19h00
Centro Cultural de Belém – Pequeno Auditório
Lisbon
Bilheteira · Ticket Office
Mrika Sefa · piano
BRUNO GABIRRO (Portugal, 1973)
3 Miniaturas , 7’
CARLOS MARECOS (Portugal, 1963)
A Casa do Cravo (2019), 12’
LUIGI NONO (Italy, 1924–1990)
... sofferte onde serene … (1976), 14’
SILVIA BORZELLI (Italy, 1978)
A Self-portrait (2022), 12’
ISCM Netherlands Section
PROGRAMME NOTES
BENCE KUTRIK (Hungary, 1976)
Chorale Machine (2022), for piano
ISCM Hungarian Section
— The piece was created in multiple phases; originally, I started working on it in 2017 with the idea of a Hommage à Ligeti piece. The original version remained in the drawer for years, and then, in 2022, composers were asked to write reflections on selected Liszt pieces for a concert. I chose The Grey Clouds for two reasons: firstly, this is not a typical Liszt piece but a late, somewhat more transcendent work; secondly, I believe the musical image depicts a calm-before-storm atmosphere, where the clouds are gathering, but the storm has not yet struck. This could also be a portrayal of the present era. The original title of my piece was Prelude; however, after the premiere, it was given the final title, Chorale Machine, referring to the musical material and contemporary life, which, like a machine, continuously generates the problems of today’s “grey clouds”.
GLENDA KEAM (New Zeland, 1960)
Mind Springs (2017), for piano
— The initial images that preceded the composition of this work were of water springing and bubbling from the ground, and New Zealand’s geysers with their accompanying babbling flow of mineral-laden water that over time build sinter structures and pathways. Also, a boiling kettle (for a cup of tea – a necessity in the compositional process). But as the piece took form it became clear this was not made of bold, grand explosions but rather a more contemplative series of leaps that were inward-looking. The work leaps (springs) between sections that are harmonically unified but texturally and gesturally quite disparate, with interruptions from some rather demanding birds, sections that motor along, and thick chordal sections like a small forest of shadowy statues. There are a few musical statues in this diverse landscape: Olivier Messiaen, Gabriel Fauré, Keith Jarrett, Robert Wyatt, Jenny McLeod and Gillian Whitehead may perhaps be seen standing in the shadows, but probably most prominent are the distorted echoes of the most statuesque composer of western traditions to date, J.S. Bach.
JORGE PEIXINHO (Portugal, 1940–1995)
Harmónicos (1967), 16’
— [Programme notes available soon]
LUCIANO BERIO (Italy, 1925–2003)
Sequenza IV (1965–1966), 11’
— [Programme notes available soon]
NGUYEN HONG ANH (Vietnam, 2005) YCA
Quiet Moment (2023), for piano
ISCM Vietnam Contemporary Music Centre
— Quiet Moment depicts the emotional fluctuations of a wandering soul. It encompasses dreamy and ethereal elements, contemplations, reflections, etc., with the character’s illusions immersed in his own moments of silence. Using various pentatonic scales and their numerous variations, Quiet Moment makes everything sink into its silence.
CÂNDIDO LIMA (Portugal, 1939)
Paráfrase sobre "Lettera Amorosa" de Claudio Monteverdi (2024), 14’ WP
— [Programme notes available soon]
CARMEN CÂRNECI (Romania, 1957)
Hesper(í)a (2016), for piano
ISCM Arfa
— There is, in HESPER(Í)A – waters, lights (2016), a continuous flow – a sonic metaphor of a path leading towards an Eden space: the garden guarded by the four nymphs-daughters of Atlas, Hespería being one of them. This flow is created by the alert and always surprising rhythm. Also characteristic of the piece is the theme of graceful playing (giocoso), which mainly uses the high register of the instrument and Baroque-like ornamentation: grace notes, trills, and tremolo. HESPER(Í)A – waters, lights is narrative and evocative at the same time, still the primary character of the work is an exuberant one.
HUGO RIBEIRO (Portugal, 1983)
[new work] (2024–2025), 10’ WP
— [Programme notes available soon]
PIERRE BOULEZ (France, 1925-2016)
12 Notations (1945), 10’
— [Programme notes available soon]
BRUNO GABIRRO (Portugal, 1973)
3 Miniaturas , 7’
— [Programme notes available soon]
CARLOS MARECOS (Portugal, 1963)
A Casa do Cravo (2019), 12’
— [Programme notes available soon]
LUIGI NONO (Italy, 1924–1990)
….. sofferte onde serene … (1976), 14’
— [Programme notes available soon]
SILVIA BORZELLI (Italy, 1978)
A Self-portrait (with Anatsui in the background) (2022), for prepared piano
ISCM Netherlands Section
— A Self-portrait was commissioned by Amici della musica di Firenze, Bologna Modern, and Gabriele Carcano, who asked me to write a piece about Africa and the music of Ligeti and Debussy. Titled as a homage to Ligeti's work and his Self-Portrait with Reich and Riley (with Chopin in the background), it also honours El Anatsui, a Ghanaian sculptor known above all for his majestic sculptures/ tapestries made with recycled materials such as printing plates and liquor bottle caps, crushed and connected together with meticulousness and geometric vision. The bottle caps come from superalcoholics used by Europeans as currency, symbolizing a means of submission during an era of slavery and colonization. Textures/ patterns, cells repeating and juxtaposing, similar and changing in profile and dynamics, refer to the textures of Anatsui but also to rhythms, mechanisms of Ligetian proximity, profiles/ waves of a distorted Debussyan nature evoking mbola’s timbre. All these references are woven throughout, ultimately forming a self-portrait.