Belta poi che (2017)

for soprano, theorbo, harpsichord and electronics

commissioned and premiered by Duo Serenissima and Wesley Chen in Bergen, november 2017

“Similarly effective was Martin Hirsti-Kvam’s Belta poi che for soprano, theorbo, harpsichord and electronics. The piece started with notes on notes – modernism in action. However, there followed a touching journey to a purer, brighter, more radiant place, throwing the beginning of the piece into sharp relief in an intelligent, even moving, way.”

James Black, Seismograf

About the work:

Belta poi che (2017) finds its inspiration in a few lines from a madrigal by the renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo. In addition to the baroque instruments, the musicians also play a couple of cassette players - a sounding and visual metaphor of the composition technique in the work. Gesualdo’s lines are mechanically chopped up, rewound, fast-forwarded and paused, while the percussive sound world of the cassette players’ mechanics turns in to a stark contrast to the lyrical lines.