Gubaidulina’s recent compositions Sotto Voce and Pilgrims are good examples of her distinct sense of sound and sound combinations. The guitars in Sotto Voce play with intense expressionism: mysterious, but at the same time crystal clear. Gubaidulina combines them with the lower string instruments and gives each voice the same abundance of virtuosity and poetry.

About Pilgrims Gubaidulina has said that it uses variations in a way that is based on the passacaglia. She sees the musicians as pilgrims in a sonic procession. The descending and ascending eights at the beginning of the piece represent the pilgrims’ footsteps.

Sonic experimentation plays an important role in both pieces, as does the tension between musical freedom and improvisation versus strict notation and recording.

Flanked by these two pieces of the Russian composer is the world premiere of a brand-new composition by young Danish composer Lauge Dideriksen (1995). Dideriksen began his education in Aarhus, Denmark, and currently studies at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague. He is also a talented violinist and previously worked with improvisers such as bassist Wilbert de Joode, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and percussionist Han Bennink.