Levitation

for two clarinets, string orchestra and accordion

Commissioned by Canary Islands Music Festival

Description

First Performance: 7 February 2008, Las Palmas
Finnish Radio Symph. Orch.
Conductor: Sakari Oramo
Sabine Mayer, Wolfgang Mayer

 

I remember an experience that made an unforgettable impression on me: at a Chinese opera performance I saw an artist balance a chicken feather on the tip of his nose and then made it move up in the air with very light, barely noticeable breaths. He made it dance, turn seemingly without weight, rise and fall until it finally came to rest on the tip of his nose again.

When I was working on Levitation I had this image in mind– objects dancing in the air free from the gyves of gravity, like in Marc Chagall’s paintings.

Nothing reaches the floor –  to remain in the picture, in this composition; perhaps only once, a single time in the 2nd movement, when an accordion melody slowly sinks from high to low.

Just as elements can form bonds in chemistry, so are sound,images created in Levitation by mixing the „colours” of the two clarinets, the accordion and the string ensemble: the piece begins with a scene set in the street in an enormous storm:  telephone boxes and traffic signs are uprooted by the wind; it is followed by a dream state, which often recurs in my works: My feet rose from the ground, hover about a metre above it. I certainly wasn’t flying but hovering over the landscape in a vertical posture.  Then came gondolas floating over the water in lagoons and then the slowly rising body of a puppet, the “resurrection” of the fairy-tale character Petrushka

This is the chemistry of music.

 

/Peter Eötvös – 23 October, 2007/

Performances

25 Apr, 2024
Székesfehérvár, Hungary

Eötvös: Levitation
Conductor: Rémi Durupt
Alba Regia Szimfonikus Zenekar
Székesfehérvár, Szent István Terem
2 May, 2021
Budapest, Hungary

Eötvös: Levitation

Petra Stump-Linshalm, Heinz-Peter Linshalm
Conductor: Ajtony Csaba
MIKAMO Central European Chamber Orchestra

Budapest Music Center

23 Nov, 2019
Karlsruhe, Germany

Eötvös: Levitation, Speaking drums

Eötvös: Levitation
Eötvös: Speaking drums
Concert: 23 November, Karlsruhe, Germany

11 Jan, 2019
Dresden, Germany

Eötvös: Now, Miss! für violine und Violoncello, Hommage a Domenico Scarlatti, Psy, Dances of the Brush-Footed Butterfly, a Call, Para Paloma, Thunder, Cadenza, Levitation, Kosmos

Festspielhaus Hellerau
Soloist of Sachsischen Staatskapelle Dresden

5 May, 2017
Frankfurt, Germany

Eötvös: Levitation

HR Orchestra, Frankfurt
conductor: Gregory Vajda

15 Nov, 2013
Saarbrücken, Germany

Eötvös: Levitation

Deutsche Radio Philharmonie
Conductor: Zsolt Nagy
Funkhaus Halberg

5 Jul, 2012
Wiesbaden, Germany

Eötvös: Konzert für zwei Klaviere, Levitation

Rheingau Music Festival

Bartók: Tanzsuite
Eötvös: Konzert für zwei Klaviere
Eötvös: Levitation
Bartók: Musik für Saiteninstr., Schlg., Celesta

Cond: Peter Eötvös
SWR Symphonieorchester Stuttgart
Kurhaus

22 Jun, 2012
Stuttgart, Germany

Eötvös: Konzert für zwei Klaviere, Levitation

Bartók: Tanzsuite
Eötvös: Konzert für zwei Klaviere
Eötvös: Levitation
Bartók: Musik für Saiteninstr., Schlg., Celesta

Cond: Peter Eötvös
SWR Orchestra

21 Jun, 2012
Stuttgart, Germany

Eötvös: Konzert für zwei Klaviere, Levitation

Bartók: Tanzsuite
Eötvös: Konzert für zwei Klaviere
Eötvös: Levitation
Bartók: Musik für Saiteninstr., Schlg., Celesta

Cond: Peter Eötvös
SWR Orchestra

14 May, 2011
London, UK

Eötvös portrait concert

BBC London

Paris-Dakar
Octet Plus
Derwischtanz
Sonata per sei
Psalm 151
Guildhall Ensemble, cond. Richard Baker

zeroPoints
Psychokosmos (Miklos Lukács, cimbalom)
Levitation (Richard Hosford, John Bradbury clarinets)
IMA (BBCSC + BBC Singers)
BBC Symphony Orchestra, cond. Peter Eötvös

Films:
"The Seventh Door" - portrait film
"Three sisters" - opera film

Barbican Center

15 Nov, 2009
Paris, France

Eötvös: IMA, Seven, Levitation, Snatches of a conversation

Composer portrait

Eötvös: IMA, Seven, Levitation
Zappa: 3 Orch. pieces
Bartók: Choirs

Cond: Peter Eötvös
Orch. Philharmonic Radio France

14 Nov, 2009
Paris, France

Eötvös: IMA, Seven, Levitation, Snatches of a conversation

Composer portrait

Eötvös: IMA, Seven, Levitation, Snatches of a conversation
Zappa: 3 Orch. pieces
Bartók: Choirs

Cond: Peter Eötvös
Orch. Philharmonic Radio France

13 Nov, 2009
Paris, France

Eötvös: IMA, Seven, Levitation, Snatches of a conversation

Composer portrait

Eötvös: IMA, Seven, Levitation
Zappa: 3 Orch. pieces
Bartók: Choirs

Cond: Peter Eötvös
Orch. Philharmonic Radio France

24 Sep, 2009
Berlin, Germany

Eötvös: Levitation

Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin

Cond: Marc Albrectht
Sabine Meyer, Wolfgang Meyer, clarinet

11 Jul, 2009
Szombathely, Hugary

Eötvös: Levitation

Savaria Symph. Orch.
International Bartók Festival

20 Mar, 2009
Caen, France

Eötvös: Levitation, Seven, Steine

Composer in residence

Orchestre de Caen
Cond: Mark Foster
Akiko Suwanai, violin

 

3 Nov, 2008
Geneve, Switzerland

Eötvös: Levitation

Suisse Romande Orch.

Conductor: Susanna Malkki

17 Apr, 2008
Marseille, France

Eötvös: Levitation

GMEM Festival Les Musiques

17-26 April

14 Feb, 2008
Las Palmas, Spain

Eötvös: Levitation

Gran Canaria Festival

Finnish Radio Orch.
Conductor: Peter Eötvös

13 Feb, 2008
Las Palmas, Spain

Eötvös: Levitation

Gran Canaria Festival

Finnish Radio Orch.
Conductor: Peter Eötvös

8 Feb, 2008
Tenerife, Spain

Eötvös: Levitation

Finnish Radio Orch.
Conductor: S. Oramo

7 Feb, 2008
Las Palmas, Spain

Eötvös: Levitation

first performance

Finnish Radio Orch.
Conductor: S. Oramo

Details

Genre:
Duration:
20 minutes
Date:
2007

Publisher information

Orchestration     

TITLE Dur. Soloists & choir fl ob cl bcl bn   hn tpt tbn tba   perc pf hp   vn1 vn2 va vc db Other Tech
Levitation
Concerto
20'2cl00000 0000 000 86442acc

Clarinet solo 1 in Bb
Clarinet solo 2 in A
Accordion
8 Violins I
6 Violins II
4 Violas
4 Violoncellos
2 Double basses

Sound

Recordings