Bent Sørensen’s Sounds Like You as a Phenomenon of Contemporary Musical Theater
Abstract
The article focuses on the processes of renewal of the musical and theatrical genres taking place at the beginning of the 21st century. The object of the study is formed by a composition for orchestra, chorus, actors and audience participation, Sounds Like You (2009) written by Danish composer Bent Sørensen in collaboration with librettist Peter Asmussen commissioned by the Danish Broadcasting Company. In the article attention is focused on the genre and the compositional-dramaturgic laws of this work the musical material of which is based on Sorensen’s earlier orchestral piece Exit Music (2007). In the content of Sounds Like You the author distinguishes two lines of narration — the lyrical, related to the history of the relationship of love between man and woman, and the philosophical, reflecting the composer’s contemplations about the past, the flow of time, the role of music and its impact on human beings. Both lines are united by the common theme of departure and disappearance. The article emphasizes the specificity of the composition’s synthesis of genre, which combines music for symphony orchestra, instrumental theater and dramatic performance, and also accentuates Sørensen’s desire to find opportunities for an immersive type of impact on the listener. The author of the article also analyzes the features of the musical language of Sounds Like You, combining sonorics and elements of tonality, and discloses the stylistic allusions of the basic thematic material, which form an independent semantic layer of the composition. At the end of the article, the author arrives at the conclusion that Sounds Like You reflects the general trends in the development of contemporary musical theater; nonetheless, Sørensen offers a purely individual solution for these trends.
Keywords: Danish music, Bent Sørensen, Sounds Lake You, Exit Music, contemporary musical theater
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.56620/2782-3598.2023.1.062-076
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