Freude

Freude is premiered at the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra’s season opening concert, conducted by Jan Willem de Vriend. The work marks the beginning of Ørjan Matre’s two-year residency as the orchestra’s composer.

I have chosen to use the same orchestration as Beethoven – but without the vocal soloists. Whereas Beethoven set the entire text of Schiller’s ode to joy, human fellowship, and freedom, I use only the first word: Freude. The piece was written during a time marked by unrest and uncertainty. My Freude is therefore not a cry of jubilation, but a distant and open question. The wind and brass instruments play a single, unsettling chord – the fate-laden opening of Beethoven’s fourth movement.