Nicolai Worsaae: Wesenheit ab wesenheit

Featuring

Signe Asmussen
Nicolai Worsaae
Figura Ensemble

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Composer Nicolai Worsaae aims to create a musical universe that expresses what it is like to be in solitary confinement, using Jörg Meyer's poems and a limited palette of sounds.

Compositional Technique

Nicolai Worsaae's music often uses 'concrete instrumental music,' which are musical suggestions of real-world sounds rather than direct imitations, making the music richer.

Recording & Production

This album is a world premiere recording of Nicolai Worsaae's works, featuring Signe Asmussen and FIGURA Ensemble.

Composition History

The works on this album are inspired by the Isolation Poems of Jörg Meyer, an East German prisoner who wrote them during nine months of solitary confinement in 1979.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Nicolai Worsaae's music on this album is a criticism of solitary confinement and also subtly incorporates political themes, such as excerpts from The Communist Manifesto.

Compositional Technique

The album incorporates everyday sounds like an egg-timer, a bicycle wheel, and a radiator, directly referencing Jörg Meyer's life in solitary confinement.

Composer Biography

Nicolai Worsaae's father, Jørgen Worsaae, was a prison chaplain who conversed with Jörg Meyer, a prisoner whose isolation poems inspired this album's music.