The Earth Speaks And Spring Will Barely Remember Us

Who would care if humanity were to become extinct? Certainly not the birds and the trees. Spring would hardly notice….

The Earth Speaks is a breathtaking musical journey about the origins and demise of the earth. William Knight’s Genesis brings the earth to life, after which Brumel’s monumental Earthquake Mass reflects the capriciousness of man and its impact on nature, and Vasks’ Plainscapes depicts an ideal world in harmony. Can we and the earth still be saved? Knight’s Apocalypse gives food for thought. Ultimately, it is Bach who celebrates the first morning and leads the way to the seemingly inevitable Apocalypse. Or do I hear a bird singing…

The mass is also the perfect example of how a major disaster can unfold on a small scale. The ink used in the more than five-hundred-year-old score is being destroyed by bacteria at an excruciatingly slow pace. The Earthquake Mass is split up by the magical Plainscapes by Pēteris Vasks. Here we hear a world where man and nature are one. A world in which man does not dominate. Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden, so scheide nicht von mir… Apocalypse! Bach’s most beautiful chorale, his holy house, sung as a litany for the world, slowly torn apart until there is only chaos. This is Apocalypse, a composition by William Knight, which ultimately ends in a flatline…

Or do I hear the birds whistling again?

Program:

Antoine Brumel – Missa Et ecce terra motus

Pēteris Vasks – Plainscapes

William Knight – Genesis & Apocalyps (world premiere)