“You can love it or hate it. That is always better than being untouched. There are parts that are incredibly dark, but they are followed by music of great beauty. Beauty and sadness go together, they are part of life. In times of grief and pain you need that beauty. In ‘Delirium’ there is a beautiful chord that works like dopamine, you experience euphoria without […]

The Ukrainian composer Maxim Shalygin calls the cycle Similar his life’s work. He wrote part 4 Delirium on behalf of the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam. In each part of this cycle, Shalygin tries out the timbres of identical instruments. In the previous movements Lacrimosa seven violins, Todos los fuegos el fuego eight saxophones, Severade nine cellos and in Delirium four pianos. The pianists Tomoko Mukaiyama, Laura Sandee, Gerard Bouwhuis and Antonii Baryshevskyi enchant the audience in this composition with unheard nuances of sound and emotion. The piano has a very precise touch, but by constantly shifting rhythms, Shalygin disrupts the feeling of a clear pulse. In this way he creates a compelling musical flow that seems to float freely in space. “My idea is to gradually bring the listener into a state of weightlessness.” Each part of this cycle is written for virtuoso musicians who can express the most complex and refined colors of the score. Each new chapter pushes the boundaries of playing the instruments used. During the concert, the listener can gradually get used to the language of a new sound world, and the meditative experience is stimulated. Delirium illustrates great confusion. A condition in which vivid ideas and memories arise, causing a misorientation of time and space. In the musical labyrinth of Delirium, the values ​​of space also fade. When the piece begins, the listener is immersed in a room in which bells are ringing, the initiation of the meditative experience. The bell sound becomes a bridge between the busy life outside the hall doors and the intimacy of the concert hall. The four pianists play tonal and polytonal sounds in a special chord structure. The alternation of loud and soft creates tension and a special dynamic. Fascinating and surprising.