Italian premiere of Lera Auerbachs Eterniday

IN 2010, the work “Eterniday” (Hommage à W.A. Mozart) for large drum, celesta and strings by Lera Auerbach was premiered by the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie under the direction of Daniel Raiskin. On October 5, 2018, the work has its Italian premiere in Trieste. The Orchestra della Fondazione Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi di Trieste, conducted by the composer Lera Auerbach itself.

Lera Auerbach:
“I had completely sketched out the work in late August / early September 2009 and left my manuscript on the big Steinway grand piano in my New York studio before going on a tour. After my return in December, I wanted to finish the score. But during my absence, a devastating fire caused by a cable fire destroyed my entire apartment, including the Steinway and all the things around it. The manuscript of the new work was lost. I tried to remember my composition, but soon had to give up all hope because the creative impulse had been lost. Without my manuscript, I also lost the inner relationship to the work. So I decided to start over and write a completely different piece. The instrumentation of the work also changed. Instead of a large chamber orchestra, as originally planned, I decided now for big drum, celesta and strings.
The section leaders have extensive solos in the Concerto Grosso style – occasionally they are part of the orchestra, sometimes they are given a clear, personal statement. The resulting piece is very intimate and rich in detail, often it comes to multiple dynamic layers. The strings are mostly divided in three parts: three first violins (including the solos), three second and so on.
‘Eterniday’ is a fictitious word, composed of ‘Eternity’ and ‘Day’, which at the same time means something eternal and fragile. Since Mozart was once in Koblenz as a child, where the premiere of ‘Eterniday’ will take place, and since I have a personal experience with Mozart’s early works (I have recorded all his keyboard works written between the ages of 5 and 9 ), so it was also the young Mozart, who guided me in this composition in my compositional thinking and was almost imperceptibly present – perhaps like a guardian angel for my ‘Eterniday’. ”

05/10/2018
Trieste
Ital. premiere Lera Auerbach,
“Eterniday (Hommage a W.A. Mozart)” for bass drum, celesta and strings
(Orchestra della Fondazione Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi di Trieste, conductor: Lera
Auerbach)

© 2018 Internationale Musikverlage Hans Sikorski