Playlist: Slow and Still

Vilhelm Hammershøi, Landscape from Virum Near Frederiksdal, Summer, 1888. Stillness: Hammershøi and American Minimalism.

There are remarkable comparisons which emerge upon reflection between Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864–1916) and his fellow Dane, composer Carl Nielsen (1865–1931). Like Hammershøi’s paintings, Nielsen’s musical works possess an avant-garde quality that has been recognized only in recent years, considered in Daniel Grimley’s 2011 book Carl Nielsen and the Idea of Modernism, and showcased in concerts that pair Nielsen’s works with those of contemporary composers. There’s a sense of early Modernism and proto-Minimalism in Nielsen’s music that many contemporary composers have cited as influential. What’s more, Nielsen’s wife Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen was a sculptor and associated with the artists’ association Den Frie Udstilling (The Free Exhibition) of which Hammershøi was also a member.

The shared sense of interiority between Hammershøi’s paintings and Nielsen’s musical works is best heard through the most intimate form of musical performance — chamber music. A tradition that stems from in-home salon-style performances, chamber music is depicted in the presence of musical instruments in many of Hammershøi’s interiors.

Here, chamber works by Carl Nielsen sound remarkably fresh alongside works by contemporary Danish composer Per Nørgård and contemporary American composers including Laurie Anderson, Steve Reich, Meredith Monk, Nico Muhly, La Monte Young, and more. The incorporation of audible rhythmic grids shared between all the featured composers — a characteristic attribute of musical Minimalism — draws parallels with much of the interplay seen between the artworks in the exhibition.

 

 

Stillness: Hammershøi and American Minimalism is on view through 17 May at Phillips New York and runs alongside the preview of Phillips’ marquee Modern & Contemporary Art auctions.

 

Works Featured

1. Per Nørgård, I Ching: The Gentle, the Penetrating, 1982. Performed by Gert Sorensen, percussion.
2. Carl Nielsen, Nu lyser løv I lunde, 1917–1921. Arranged by Johannes Jørgensen, performed by the Danish String Quartet, DR PigeKoret, and Phillip Faber.
3. Steve Reich, Mallet Quartet: II. Slow, 2009. Performed by Third Coast Percussion
4. Carl Nielsen, String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 13, FS 4: II. Andante amoroso, 1889. Performed by the Danish String Quartet.
5. Nico Muhly, A Hudson Cycle, 2005. Performed by Michael Noble, piano.
6. Meredith Monk, Spring Variation, 2011. Performed by Meredith Monk.
7. Jason Treuting, Amid the Noise: I. June, 2011. Performed by Sō Percussion.
8. Carl Nielsen, String Quartet in F Major, Op. 44, FS 36: II. Adagio con sentiment religioso, 1906. Performed by the Danish String Quartet
9. Laurie Anderson and the Kronos Quartet, Landfall: III. The Water Rises, 2018. Performed by Laurie Anderson, Kronos Quartet, and Scott Fraser.
10. La Monte Young, Composition 1960: No. 7, 1960. Performed by Cláudio de Pina, organ.
11. Carl Nielsen, Helios Overture, Op. 17, 1903. Performed by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor.
12. Carl Nielsen, Tit er jeg glad og et brudestykke, 1917–1921. Arranged by Johannes Jørgensen, performed by the Danish String Quartet, DR PigeKoret, and Phillip Faber.

 

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