The same can be said for musical creation as for friendship between people from different nations: something never to be taken for granted, that can always be improved, and dependent on the goodwill of unique personalities, such as Daniel Barenboim, co-founder of the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, a place of entertainment, training and reflection. 

When this exemplary institution was forced last March to stop welcoming audiences, artists and students, it was clear that only the doors would be closed: the need to remain open to creation and sharing remained a priority for the illustrious head of the Staatskapelle and his teams.

Four months later, from 9 July and for four days of festivals, the dream can once again become reality: alongside Daniel Barenboim and Emmanuel Pahud, various major composers of our time including Philippe Manoury, Benjamin Attahir, Christian Rivet and Luca Francesconi will witness their latest works of chamber music resonate under the oval arch of the concert hall. An event that audiences will be able to watch either with a physical proximity or from a digital distance, marking the return of musical life on stage. 

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Here are the works of Editions Durand and Ricordi that will be performed during the festival: 

Pierre Boulez - Sonatine for flute and piano

The Sonatine for flute and piano, composed in 1946, is the oldest "finished" work by Pierre Boulez, having then finished his composition studies at the Conservatoire with Olivier Messiaen. It is a tense work, with an often aggressive sound, already revealing the rhythmic liveliness and the instrumental variety always customary of the composer.

Jacques-Marie Lonchampt

Obtain the revised edition of the score by Susanne Gärtner.

 

Philippe Manoury - Soubresauts for solo flute

Soubresauts is a condensed form of Saccades for flute and orchestra. It is the music of intranquility, similar to the writings of Beckett in which ideas are catapulted one after the other, with neither beginning nor end. Everything starts in a spiral, with soubresauts[jolts]. The work was written specifically for my friend Emmanuel Pahud, one of the most wonderful musicians of our time.

 

Benjamin Attahir - Bayn Athnyn for violin (viola) and piano

Following this crisis, I felt a very strong urge to write for myself, through a modest and intimate medium, which seemed to me to correspond greatly with the reality of what we were experiencing. So when Daniel Barenboim contacted me to invite me to take part in the wonderful project on which he was working, I immediately thought of writing for the "sonata" ensemble, more precisely for the violin, which is the instrument with which I first discovered music, so to speak.

 

 

Christian Rivet - Terre d’ombres for solo flute

A songless bird leaves its now desolate sky and discovers a new land... finding in the moment the strength, the ‘silent’ and so intelligible extent of its song. 

 

Luca Francesconi -  Lichtschatten for flute and ensemble

 

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