Nacherleben (2025)

Nacherleben — to relive — is a profound and subtle musical encounter with the paradox of memory.

Each time we relive a moment, our cognitive system re-engages with the memory, adding new layers of insight, altering details, or reinforcing the emotional charge attached to it. This process is shaped by our present self—our current beliefs, knowledge, and mood — meaning that nacherleben is never a perfect replication of the past but a reinterpretation that evolves with us, reflecting the dynamic nature of memory itself.

In Nacherleben the soloist wanders through different kinds of memories. They are staged by the orchestra like a static set design, fixed in staccato rhythms, repetition and detuned chords.

Through collective humming, lyrical kalimbas, sharp beat-like rhythms and a stuttering solo trombone we revisit past memories from Jesper’s life — a life he has been so generous to share with me and which has inspired this piece. A life, like all lives, does not come without inherent challenges and tribulations. From a young boy singing and playing organ in local townhouses in Jutland to the biggest stages in the world with the Berlin Philharmonics.

Nacherleben is an intricate play on memory and perception. It’s not a mere replay but an attempt to re-imagine something that is neither fixed nor lost, but constantly in flux. Resembling the way we perceive sound.

- Signe Lykke (2025)