Petr Cígler: Siren 2020
Premiere: 5th August 2020, CAS IOCB
Kamila Moťková & Anna Škreptáčová – oboe, Lukáš Moťka & Stanislav Penk – trombone, Lukáš Brabec – percussions, Peter Vrábel – conductor
I have been listening to the siren test since I was a child. Unlike my grandparents, I never experienced air raids during the war, so the siren sound always held more acoustic charm than evoking something terrible. In my piece, the siren represents the heart of the action, the sonic axis on which various microtonal chords are gradually placed. When it stops, the players gradually open a different sonic space and venture into new musical landscapes.
Petr Cígler (*1978) is not just an excellent composer but also a leading scientist, who heads his own team at the Czech Academy of Sciences. He never formally studied composition, instead developing this craft directly through collaborations with performers and festivals. He is interested in the organisation of sounds, their manipulation, and acoustic phenomena. His music has been performed at concerts and festivals in the Czech Republic (Prague Spring, Ostrava Days, New Opera Days Ostrava, Exposition of New Music), England (Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival), Germany, Switzerland, and the USA. In 2020 a profile CD of his was published, as part of the Composer Portraits Edition, by the Czech Music Information Centre.
