This Other Eden

This Other Eden for oboe and piano by Charlotte Bray.

This work was composed in 2020 and first performed on 22 January 2021 at Elbphilharmonie Hambury by Cristian Gómez Godoy (oboe) and Mario Häring (piano).

Commissioned by L'Auditori Barcelona and Palau de la Music Catalana and the European Concert Hall Organization in the framework of ECHO Rising Stars.

Programme Notes

This Other Eden is comprised of three movements, the second and third connected without pause.

Opening in unison, the oboe and piano sing and ring out like bells tolling. Darkly defiant, the voices are strong-willed and resistant. Fear, contained within a (supposed) protective wall is illustrated musically by a pendulous piano accopaniment, draped around a melancholic yet expressive oboe line. Later, a solo passage for the oboe holds a longing, yearning quality, before the tolling returns to end the section.

The second movement is flighty and fragile. Has freedom been granted or wrested away? Like birds in the air, the music here flutters around freely.

Now, intense and gritty, the third movement captures a sense of resigned disbelief: the dissonant discourse of a nation. Separate voices make statements and pose questions, with no answers to be found. The music is left hanging, high in the air.

• Charlotte Bray

Duration: 9 minutes