On Monday 4 November La Noche Oscura del Alma, written for Cappella Amsterdam, conducted by Daniel Reuss, and Johannes Moser, will premiere during the Cello Biënnale Amsterdam.
"Taking inspiration from the other piece on the program; Sonnengesang by Gubaidulina, with a text by the 13th-century Italian mystic, poet, and monk Saint Francis of Assisi, I found a beautiful poem by the 16th-century Spanish mystic, poet and monk St. John of the Cross: La noche oscura del alma. Both texts are spiritual in nature and I thought the Sonnengesang (or Canticle of the Sun) on the one hand and Noche oscura del alma (or Dark night of the soul) on the other, would create coherence as well as contrast in the concert. Also (more importantly) I simply fell in love with this beautiful mystic and old Spanish poem, which is a spiritual journey and a sensual love song at the same time. It is rumoured to have been written while San Juan himself was going through a very difficult time, as he was being held captive in a tiny dark cell and frequently tortured. With La noche oscura del alma as the main text, I decided to look for more poems around the theme of the dark night of the soul, but written in different languages and times. I found two more poems: in French Sonnet XIV by Louise Labé (sixteenth-century poet from Lyon) and Russian Ночь / Night by Pushkin. I thought the idea of these different voices, in different languages, in separate times and places, making observations and whispering about the same eternal yet mysterious subject of the soul, of love and of death could make for a beautiful piece. Herein I envision the role of the cello as a kind of symbol for the soul. That which has no words, but sings nonetheless and strings everything together."
The concert will be broadcast live on NPO Klassiek.
After the premier, La Noche Oscura del Alma will be performed two more times, this time with Pieter Wispelwey as soloist. On Friday 8 November it will be performed in Den Bosch during November Music and Saturday 9 November in Alkmaar.
Photo by Juliette Geradts