ghosts memory holds

for double flute and tape voice

for Silvia Berchtold

    « Remember thee!
    Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat
    In this distracted globe.
    Remember thee! »

Commissioned as part of the InSzene support programme of the Podium Gegenwart of the German Music Council.

ghosts memory holds is imagined as a long piece in four sections. It puts into perspective the sensation of transparency with the memory that leaves. The double flute, electronics, voice and the presence of the performer create a choir that projects musical perspectives like wakes stretching out into space.

    I.      des formes lointaines (distant forms)
    II.     le chemin des fleurs (the path of flowers)
    III.    ventre! (tummy, wumb!)
    IV.     retour au souffle (return to breath)

This first version portrays the third part.

//

Memory can evoke a feeling of transparency or powerlessness. We become ghosts when we don’t express our feelings or when we hide in the darkness to escape the suffering of the world. In this disguise, we no longer have any impact. We stand still. We need to be present to provoke consequences. It’s like an object in the dark that is enlightened by the sun: the light represents this entity and the resulting feeling is the shadow.

In today’s world, the artist has a role to play in proposing new perspectives, just as the cleric or the scholar did in the Middle Ages. Today, it is the artist’s responsibility to commit to the creation of new ideas. The double flute allows the performer to bring this polyphony of ideas to life. We only play ghosts. We are ghosts: the performer is the ghost of his instrument; the composer is the ghost of his piece; the artist is the ghost of the collective. It’s a relationship with memory, traces of history and reminiscence that speaks to and touches on both the personal and the universal.