Three songs with poetry by Paul Celan, sung simultaneously. Kristaps Pētersons (2015)

Three songs with poetry by Paul Celan, performed simultaneously for six voices and nine prepared pianos.

I Allerseelen – All Souls’ Day
II Es war Erde in ihnen – There Was Earth in Them
III Ich kann Dich noch sehn – I Can Still See You

Performers:
Ieva Parša – mezzo-soprano
Armands Siliņš – baritone
Juris Žvikovs – 1st piano part in the third song, as well as vocal lines of the 2nd piano part in the first and second songs
Kristaps Pētersons –  the remaining piano parts
Ralfs Šmīdbergs – vocal lines of the 3rd piano part

Poetry can be perceived most precisely when read with the eyes, if nothing disturbs its sound from being received by the inner ear. Usually one is disappointed upon hearing it recited. One is also often disappointed when hearing how poetry is used in song. In general, disappointment is a common outcome. One thing is clear – poetry is a self-sufficient art form that needs nothing added to it. I know all this, and therefore the question naturally arises – how do I dare to use the works of one of the 20th century’s nearly greatest poets? Someone will surely punish me for it. And yet. Once one utters “Ich kann Dich noch sehn,” within the space created by the poetry one can hear both a woman’s and a man’s voice, as well as the piano. From afar, Schubert sounds – as an impossibility. But today both Schubert and Celan are very far from us. They can perhaps only be summoned through 15 channels – 9 pianos and 3 pairs of voices…
At best, I might have been a page-turner for Schubert (and let’s not even talk about Celan). What I am doing now has only one justification – Celan’s art was created in the shadow of a dreadful era, in which the art of Schubert, Schumann, Beethoven, Wagner, in some sick minds and in a sick way, had initiated the thought of Auschwitz. And that, if we abstract away from German culture, unfortunately may prove to be relevant.
/Kristaps Pētersons

Paul Celan (1920–1970) is one of the most notable German poets of the 20th century, laureate of the Georg Büchner Prize.
The thread of Paul Celan’s poetry is not easily grasped; his poetry demands immersion in various symbols and reminiscences, but especially in the author’s use of language. Celan dismantles the boundaries of conventional word meanings, creating his own language in which word and silence, sound and meaning form multilayered systems of relationships. To a reader who once asked how to understand his poetry, Paul Celan is said to have replied: “Read! Keep reading, and understanding will come by itself!”
Questions surrounding his work have preoccupied not only countless literary scholars but also philosophers such as Jacques Derrida, Maurice Blanchot, and Hans-Georg Gadamer, each dedicating a book to its contemplation.
/Jana Vērdiņa