Michel van der Aa’s new clarinet concert
The title of Hysteresis refers to the idea that non-living systems or materials can have a sort of ‘memory’ of their past – in the way that an iron strip becomes magnetized when brought into contact with a magnetic field, and stays magnetized when that field is taken away. Combining live instruments with recordings and electronics, Hysteresis asks: can music behave similarly? And what is the nature of musical memory anyway?
Van der Aa’s first major work for clarinet, Hysteresis has been written with three players in mind. Mark van de Wiel will give the London premiere, and further performances will take place later in the year with Carl Rosman and Kari Kriikku as soloists.
The song cycle Here is a distinctive example of Van der Aa’s music-theatrical illusion. It begins with a mysterious black plexiglass box on stage with the ensemble, and use texts by the composer, instrumental music and electronics to become a study of a woman struggling to connect with the world around her.