Me Quitte – symphonic version

Premiered at KLANG – Copenhagen Avantgarde Music Festival, May 2014, by SCENATET and DR UnderholdningsOrkestret / The Danish National Chamber Orchestra.

Requited love is one of the most powerful ideals in our culture. Not only is there a Christian-religious reminiscence; the joys of love are also the backbone of the understanding of life in pop culture. The reality, however, is in many ways a different one: Love is not always the source of joyous release. On the contrary, it is just as much the root of human unhappiness and humiliation: It is selfish, unromantic, destructive, cruel. Unrequited love is perhaps even the very essence of love – and not its aberration.

The devil sees everything inside-out: In Hell, the good is turned into evil, in the distortion of the magic mirror, beautiful seems horrible. In Me Quitte this is parafrased and interpreted directly: Jacques Brel’s chanson Ne Me Quitte Pas (don’t leave me) resounds like a mirrored, distorted echo through all 10 songs.

Originally Me Quitte was envisaged in the intimate chamber-setup, but for Rønsholdt it has long been a dream also to place it in a large format.
In the symphonic version Me Quitte turns the tradition of crooners like Sinatra and Brel, in front of an orchestra or big band, upside down undermining its vitality and potency.

Photos: Alexander Banck-Petersen