Letter to H. Marx by Sergej Newski is a specially commissioned work to be performed along with the winning pieces of an international call for scores by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. In collaboration with the Karl Marx Exhibitions Organisation, the ensemble is presenting a series of concerts and events under the title “Wilde Lieder Marx.Music”, celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of the revolutionary thinker. Newski’s specially-commissioned work for ensemble and baritone received its world premiere in Marx’s hometown of Trier on 1 September 2018 and was performed in Birmingham three days later. The soloist was Marcus Farnsworth.

Composer's note

Letter to H. Marx uses fragments of the famous letter of Karl Marx to his father, written on November 10, 1837. The form of the piece refers to a medieval motet: each new part of the text corresponds to a new technique and a new type of interaction between the voice and the instrumental counterpoint. At the end of the piece, narrative linear dramaturgy/deployment turns into its opposite: a sequence of paused fragments between which, as it seems, there is no connection. Thus, the formal principle of the piece can be designated as "from a straight line to a labyrinth". Gradually, a new narrative is formed from these isolated fragments, closing the composition.

—Sergej Newski

Letter to H. Marx

for baritone and 14 instruments
Bar - fl.ob.cl.bsn.hn.tpt.trb.perc.pf.2vl.vla.vc.db
Duration: 12'
WP: 01.09.2018, Trier