The new work is part of a series of commissioned works by various orchestras for concerts with François-Xavier Roth, which will be performed on the occasion of Pierre Boulez's 100th birthday with reference to Boulez's Notations. Between Five Columns will be performed twice at the Philharmonie Berlin in concerts featuring Stravinsky's Sacre du Printemps and Boulez's Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna.
In his homage to Boulez, Ondřej Adámek uses two motifs based on the first five notes of Boulez's Notation X for piano. Between Five Columns plays with the dimensions of the sound space: "The acoustics of the imaginary five columns change – sounds reflect, merge and resonate in different forms. Sometimes we hear vastness and freedom, sometimes we feel the confinement and tension of the limited space."
From 2006 to 2008, Ondřej Adámek worked as a young composer with Pierre Boulez at the Lucerne Festival Academy, where Boulez also premiered his piece Endless Steps. Scenes from this seminal encounter for Ondřej Adámek can be seen in the 2009 documentary film Inheriting the Future of Music by Günter Atteln and Angelika Stiehler (from minute 19:20).
Berliner Philharmoniker
