Ernst Reijseger - The Volcano Symphony

2016 CD release.

Composer and cellist Ernst Reijseger presents his first symphonic poem, “The Volcano Symphony”, written for the great Baroque orchestra Forma Antiqua conducted by Aarón Zapico. It is unlikely that Antonio Vivaldi wished to describe the course of the year in his “Le Quattro Stagioni”, or that Richard Strauss had the intention of illustrating the mountain hike of his youth in “An Alpine Symphony”. Instead, both works focus on phases and narrations of human life. Ernst Reijseger is fascinated by the unstoppable power of flowing lava, the inferno, the quiet sea of hell, the explosion of elemental forces, and the creation of new, vigorous life.

In Inferno Part I to XI, Reijseger describes magma and its effects, this mass of molten rocks streaming out of the opening in the earth, breaking out, destroying, fertilising, and introducing the birth of new life. The Vulcano Symphony tells of death and life. Soprano Eugenia Boix embodies the voice of Pele, the goddess of the volcanoes according to Hawaiian belief. We experience a completely new sound language from a Baroque orchestra: Reijseger's composition transforms its fascinating powers of narration into an event.