Phantasmagoria

Phantasmagoria for Violin, Violoncello and Piano was composed by Bent Sørensen in 2007. First performance by Trio con Brio 12 Aug 2007 in Roskilde, Denmark. Programme note: My Piano Trio, &ldquo,Phantasmagoria&rdquo, is in five movements. It all began with the fifth movement, which originally was a tiny piece for cello and piano. After re-composing this little piece for piano trio, I worked, composed backwards &ndash, The fourth movement &ndash, third movement - and I finally got to the beginning of the piece. It all begins with the violin &ndash, solo &ndash, heavily muted but aggressive, and gradually the cello and the piano enter as shadows of the violin. The first movementends in a dark shadow of an aria from my opera, &ldquo,Under the Sky&rdquo,. All five movements are full of shadows of all kinds. Shadows of fragments and traces of movements appear in other movements. Music, voices, instruments appear behind each other as a play of shadows. &ldquo,Shadow play&rdquo, was the first title on my mind, but a shadow play can be more physical &ndash, the shadow can come alive &ndash, alive behind the shadows. Phantasmagoria is a shadow play in darkness, where contours of persons and music, voices and instruments - create adventures behind each other. &ldquo,Phantasmagoria&rdquo, was commissioned by Franz Schubert Society Denmark and dedicated to Trio con Brio Copenhagen. (Bent Sørensen)