Tres Momentos (2017)
(for string orchestra)

Germany’s Sven Helbig rounds out the night’s first half with his piece ‘Tres Momentos’. Opening with the approaching rumble of thunder and rain, three violins dart and soar, as if weaving a tear-stained quilt. The mood changes when a death-rattling drum quickens the pace and the strings turn panicked and stabby, a theme only reinforced by the blaring blood red static visuals on the big screen. In a brilliantly shocking moment, all of the players stop playing but the music continues. Anyone who has seen the Club Silencio scene in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive might have had a terrifying flashback. What have we been watching then? Of course, the band have been looped and layered by Helbig’s synthesiser, the wizard not just no longer hiding behind the curtain, but standing proud front and centre. The sound decays in its natural half-life, descending into hissing white noise before the final thunderclap brings it to a sudden climax. It’s a playful, inventive, and contemporary set.