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- Bernd Franke
Wild Land
(for nonett and string orchestra)- Henry Litolff’s Verlag GmbH & Co. KG (World)
- fl,ob,cl,bn,hn,vn,va,vc,db + str
- Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass
- 16 min
- 13th April 2025, Starnberger Musiktage, Starnberg, Germany
Programme Note
My composition WILD LAND was commissioned and inspired by Prof Rudens Turku and made possible by the generous support of Mrs Ursula Heinsberg.
The title WILD LAND was inspired by the book and photo book of the same name by the photographer couple Beverly and Peter Pickford from South Africa. I met them both in South Africa in February 2020; the Pickfords live near Paternoster in the Cape region. In four years, Beverly and Peter Pickford travelled to seven continents, photographing and searching exclusively for untouched landscapes, wilderness, nature not yet destroyed by man. I have been interested in their work since this encounter, especially the photo book WILD LAND, but also the thinking and actions that are reflected in and behind this project.
From this preoccupation and through my own relationship with nature, I found inspiration for a composition for nonet and string orchestra.
The three-movement work is extremely virtuosic and repeatedly plays with the smallest motif or interval cells; the minor third is a central interval.
The Bach chorale ‘Es ist genug’ is quoted in the final section of the coda in the third movement.
Bernd Franke 2025