For the soundtrack to the film A Clockwork Orange, Wendy Carlos transformed Henry Purcell’s Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary into a futuristic soundscape using a synthesiser. This transition from one world to another serves as the acoustic compass for the company La Tempête in this Insomniaque concert. Time and again, the music moves between periods and imaginations several centuries apart.

Throughout this evening, what resonates century after century is the attempt to approach the enigma of human existence with the utmost simplicity of expression. A thought by Ludwig Wittgenstein, which Steve Reich reflects upon in Proverb, serves as a symbol of this: ‘For a single thought is enough to fill a whole life’. Reich’s Proverb draws inspiration from the early Western polyphonies of the Notre-Dame school, embodied by Pérotin’s Viderunt omnes. In Pérotin’s work, what unfolds in the liturgical language of the Catholic world stems from a sense of wonder at the mysteries of existence: one might call this spirituality.

Nearly eight centuries later, composers continue to create space for this sense of wonder and seek a spiritual experience that transcends religious affiliations. In the 20^th century, Morton Feldman plays with silence as an expressive and mysterious medium, whilst Giacinto Scelsi, inspired by Eastern traditions, explores sound experiences verging on trance. In the 21^st century, Fredrik Zeller, with PeroPop Sederunt, merges Pérotin’s musical thinking with the pop sounds of electric guitars. With Morgen-meditation, for three singers and the deep tone of the bass clarinet, Per Nørgård creates a space for meditative contemplation in the face of the miracle of dawn.

Long before dawn breaks, DJs Arandel and Camille Rhonat will explore, in the third chapter of this night, the musical philosophy of early music through synthetic sounds — in the style of Wendy Carlos. Their concert pays tribute to this openly transgender composer, a pioneer of electronic music, and to her experiments with the Moog synthesiser.