Synne Skouen: Solo Violin (Binaural recording). Geir Inge Lotsberg, Violin

Synne Skouen: “Une soirée d’été…”  for solo violin.
Recording fro Sofienberg kirke in Oslo 14. December 2021.

”Une soirée d´été..” (”One summer evening..”) is the very first sentence in Duras´ novel ”Les Yeux bleus Cheveux noirs” (”Blue Eyes, Black Hair”), and ”..à travers les paroles” (”..in through the words”) is the very last.

“Une soirée d’été…”, subtitled “Meditation sur Marguerite D.”, was composed on commission for the Oslo Chamber Music Festival in 1991, when I was engaged as the festival’s official composer. The title comes from the very first line of an odd little book written by French author Marguerite Duras. The debut performance of the violin solo was planned for just such “a summer evening”, and I was, and continue to be, intrigued by Duras’s ability to create visual images. Some people say that listening to the radio inspires us to imagine the best pictures, but I think that reading Duras is even more inspiring! There is not much else to say about my little musical work.