Symphony No. 5
By Leif Thomsen
Composed 1990, revised 1991
1st performance 6.12.1990 by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, on the radio. The Danish
Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. The revised version was first
performed on 1.5.1992 at the NUMUS festival in Århus by the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Elgar Howarth.
Length: 35 minutes.
Idyll
A village on a little island in the Pacific. Late one
afternoon. All the villagers are occupied with various chores: the children are doing
lessons, sitting on straw mats outside the schoolhouse; piglets run around squealing. The
women are cooking, while the men are absorbed in a discussion of various weighty problems,
not least those facing them in daily life. A idyllic scene, it would seem. And then...
Distant rumbling
There is a sudden, almost insignificant, change in the air.
All lift their heads and listen: what was that distant rumbling? What can it mean? The
older villagers still remember: that was how it began 25 years ago, when the great wave
came. In a moment everyone has taken flight. Thankfully, there is a little hill behind the
village, and everybody rushes up to the higher ground.
The Tsunami
And soon after it comes thundering in: the great tidal
wave, a tsunami, caused by an earthquake under the sea. It crashes in over the village
with great force, causing widespread destruction. Fortunately, however, no lives are lost,
and the villagers help each other to rebuild their homes.
The tidal wave in music
There is also a tidal wave, a tsunami, that rushes through
Per Nørgård's fifth symphony - not only once, but several times. It is quite clear from
the very beginning that it will come to play an important role as the symphony progresses.
Quietude
But: this image of a tidal wave as one metaphorical
approach to the 5th Symphony is of course not all-embracing; nor would the use of any
other metaphor be all-embracing. What happens is that this musical tidal wave, unlike a
real tidal wave, disappears into a BLACK HOLE OF QUIETUDE, only to be spewed out again
after a time.
What, then, is the basic element?
Perhaps we need to refine our metaphors, which are always
less than sufficient; perhaps, indeed, quietude is the basic element in the
symphony, for quietude is the creator of all music. All sound issues from here and returns
here; what we hear is borrowed sound. If this is our starting point, then the tidal wave
ceases to be so terrifying. If quietude is the origin of all music, then the tidal wave is
not pure destruction, but carries with it an element of wisdom: "No, my friends! This
has gone too far! We shall have to clear the ground before moving on!“
