Eismeer
Concerto for Saxophone-Quartet, Vibraphone and Orchestra
VISION OF THE WORK
Eismeer – Sea of Ice
Concerto for saxophone quartet, vibraphone and orchestra
Concertante poem in three movements based on the painting ‘The Sea of Ice’ by Caspar David Friedrich for saxophone quartet, vibraphone and strings
Commissioned by the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald on the occasion of the Caspar David Friedrich anniversary in 2024
1 – Winter Journey
2 – 1824
3 – Failed Hope
What does Caspar David Friedrich sound like? That is the question the city of Greifswald asked itself on the painter’s 250th birthday. While Christian Jost was studying his paintings, his gaze lingered on one particular work: The Sea of Ice.
“That was the first one where I thought: That’s it! Just right, with its coldness, which can also be evoked by a metallic saxophone sound. As an opera composer, I am captivated by the drama of the picture. What a story there must have been surrounding the shattered shipwreck! A great tragedy precedes the depiction, and since I am interested in translating imagination into sound, that is exactly what I want to convey.” (Christian Jost)
Premiere 26 July 2024, St. Nikolai Cathedral in Greifswald
Signum Saxophone Quartet, Zurich Chamber Orchestra – Conductor: Christian Jost