Presence: Chamber Music

Modern music that can be whistled. Well, why not? This was the question Esa-Pekka Salonen asked himself during his composition studies, together with others from his generation who wanted to give the avant-garde a vigorous breath of fresh air – even if it meant receiving sincere applause from the audience. “European avant-garde,” we should add, because this opposing wind, with which Salonen aligned himself, mostly came from America. Salonen's Memoria owes a great deal to American minimal music, so we have decided to feature this short piece alongside one of the all-time classics: Riley's In C, a work that was instrumental in giving birth to this new genre, the only popular style that emerged from the 20^th century musical avant-garde.