The Dreamers - A Gothic Tale for Horn Trio by Niels Marthinsen. Programme note: The Dreamers for horn violin and piano is the sixth of a series of seven compositions named after Karen Blixen's collection of short stories Seven Gothic Tales. My musical gothic tales are written for very different ensembles - THE SUPPER AT ELSINORE is a saxophone quartet THE OLD CHEVALIER is for bass trombone and piano THE MONKEY is a chamber orchestra work - but they all share musical material in a criss-cross of contextual references reminiscent of Blixen's narrative complexity: Themes and motivs from one pieceappear in others in new and surprising shapes and combinations. Karen Blixen's THE DREAMERS has the most complex narrative structure of all her seven gothic tales. The story is made up of three tales with different narrators but with the same principal caracter in various disguises all three imbedded within a fourth tale that serves as a framework for the entire short story.The main story line unravels the life of a famous opera diva who looses her voice during a terrible fire. Before this her life was perpetual bliss and the tragedy drives her into assuming different personality guises in order to escape reality.Toward the end she is confronted with her true identity and dies.THE DREAMERS isn't 'about' anything. The music is inspired by the artistic content of Blixen's short story - it's emotionalism dramatic construction atmosphere period and settings - but unfolds in time and musical space in ways that are completely independent of the story's narrative progression...except one might say that the three players try their best to either catch or escape each other and that when they finally meet it happens abruptly even tragically - and only barely provides a little consolation.

For Female Voice Alto-Flute and Double Bass. Published 1985. First performance: Sermoneta (Pontino Festival Italy) 1985 Michiko Hirayama (voice) Roberto Fabbriciani (fl) Mark Dresser (db).

Phantasmagoria for Violin Violoncello and Piano was composed by Bent Sørensen in 2007. First performance by Trio con Brio 12 Aug 2007 in Roskilde Denmark.Programme note:My Piano Trio “Phantasmagoria” is in five movements. It all began with the fifth movement which originally was a tiny piece for cello and piano. After re-composing this little piece for piano trio I worked composed backwards – The fourth movement – third movement - and I finally got to the beginning of the piece. It all begins with the violin – solo – heavily muted but aggressive and gradually the cello andthe piano enter as shadows of the violin. The first movement ends in a dark shadow of an aria from my opera “Under the Sky”. All five movements are full of shadows of all kinds. Shadows of fragments and traces of movements appear in other movements. Music voices instruments appear behind each other as a play of shadows. “Shadow play” was the first title on my mind but a shadow play can be more physical – the shadow can come alive – alive behind the shadows. Phantasmagoria is a shadow play in darkness where contours of persons and music voices and instruments - create adventures behind each other. “Phantasmagoria” was commissioned by Franz Schubert Society Denmark and dedicated to Trio con Brio Copenhagen. (Bent Sørensen)