Alchemist / NOW 3
Program
Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra
Slovenian Philharmonic Choir
SWR Vokalensemble from Stuttgart
Kahki Solomnishvili conductor
Tomoko Akasaka viola
At the beginning of the eighteenth century, alchemist Friedrich Böttger discovered the formula for making porcelain, which until then had only been produced in China. Three hundred years later, he served as the inspiration for Vito Žuraj to write a composition dedicated to the history of various creative processes. James Watt’s steam engine was an even more groundbreaking invention. Patented in 1781, it led, among other things, to the development of the steam locomotive, which gained a cult sonic depiction in the work Pacific 231 by Arthur Honegger. In contrast to Žuraj and Honegger, Giya Kancheli paid homage to spirituality with Styx, which reflects the composer’s belief that the sound of the viola can establish a connection between the world of the living and the world of the dead.