PREMIERE Musical Northern Lights in Benjamin Staern's The Eternal
Slow chord columns in brown, yellow, orange and turquoise with purple, pink and blue overtones. This is how Staern describes his new work, to be premiered by the Norrlandsoperans Symphony Orchestra on January 15.
Interview with Benjamin Staern at norrlandsoperan.se
What is your new orchestral piece about?
– Det eviga (The Eternal) revolves around a state rather than a story – where time is experienced as stillness, presence and being.
If you could describe your work The Eternal as a color palette – which colors would dominate and why?
– The colors appear as slow chord columns: brown, yellow, orange and turquoise as the base, with purple, pink and blue shades as overtones. Together they form a sound world that feels both grounded and floating, like the northern lights.
Is there any place in the world where you feel the music in Det Eviga would sound the best?
– In a room with great reverberation or under a wide Nordic sky, where the silence is palpable and where the sounds are allowed to move freely in the room.
When you think of the word “eternity” – what sound or tone first pops into your head?
– A slowly pulsating sound field in turquoise and blue-violet hues – a tone without a clear beginning or end.
If Leif Segerstam could hear The Eternal today – what do you think he would say to you?
– I think that Leif Segerstam would recall what he himself formulated so aptly: “Music is NOT what sounds, but music is WHY it sounds, sounds the way it sounds WHEN it sounds.” And that he would recognize this approach in the work's stillness and concentration.
Is there any personal experience or memory that makes themes like the passage of time and the immortality of art feel especially close to you?
– Over time, awareness of the transience of life has grown, while belief in art's ability to carry something timeless has deepened.
When you're not creating music, what do you like to spend your time doing?
I like to seek silence even then – through reading, walking and reflection, where ideas take shape slowly.
Benjamin Staern about the musical piece with world premiere - Norrlandsoperan