Composed 2009; 18 minutes

Lieux retrouvés (Rediscovered Places) by acclaimed British composer Thomas Adès was premièred in Aldeburgh by Steven Isserlis, for whom it was written. The four-movement piece juxtaposes the world of nature with a frenzied cityscape. The first movement (Waters) ebbs and flows from still waters, through crystalline drops to relentlessly splashing waterfall. The second movement (Mountain), Steven Isserlis says “portrays mountaineers as well as the mountains, their footsteps crunching on the paths. The movement functions as a scherzo, with a trio section representing particularly hardy climbers, yodeling as they trudge. I was a bit worried by the dramatic end,” Isserlis continues, “concerned that a mountaineer had fallen off the mountain; but I was reassured to learn that it represented merely the defiant planting of a flag.” The slow third movement (Fields) is a meditation upon night’s stillness, while the subtitle of the finale (Cancan macabre) gives a pointer that the city of the finale’s title may well be Paris. 

— All program notes copyright © 2024 Keith Horner. Comments welcomed: khnotes@sympatico.ca