about Night Machine • This is the way for contemporary music to gain access to larger audiences without loosing ambition: Catching rhythms, an irresistible drive, here and there a seemingly familiar melody to hold on to for a moment for the listening soul to blossom. And yet one should by no means imagine the sounds of Søren Nils Eichberg's orchestral piece "Night Machine", which was premiered in the second of the two final concerts of the International Ensemble Modern Academy, as merely naïve or square. In his composition the composer, born in 1973 in Stuttgart, endeavoured into a musical pendant to the "stream of consciousness" of James Joyce: Structure and atmospheres blend into each other, switch in hart cuts, emerge in a new context or appear in layers. And then the whole thing suddenly sounds like medieval troubadour music. Quotations? - "I call that counterfeit", Eichberg grins. "I know that you should always disguise theses things with critical reserve in Germany. But I live in Denmark, and there things aren't so obstinate." |
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- Elisabeth Risch in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
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• But then it's time for Sören Nils Eichberg's brand-new "Night Machine", and under the baton of the composer it starts off instantaneously in all its sound-power. Eichberg won the renowned Queen Elisabeth competition in Brussels in 2001 and lives and works in Berlin. He writes an absolutely independent, sometimes crashingly vivacious music, which however also is able to draw on folkloristic melodies. Certainly these are shredded by the "Night Machine" somewhat too extensively, but throughout with effect. Meanwhile the word is to wait. Even notoriously young composers get older. For now being, Eichberg joyfully takes his time with that. |
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- Klaus Geitel in Berliner Morgenpost
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about the Cello Concerto • In its first studio concert, the Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Christoph Poppen presented a commissioned work, which has the potential to make the step from premiere into the repertoire. The concerto in three movements by Søren Nils Eichbergs is a kaleidoscope of orchestral sound colours in a perfection of form. The interchange of breathtaking tone cascades and passages of lyrical sensibility gave Claudio Bohórquez, to whom the work is dedicated, all space required to manifest his name as a cellist in the class of exception. |
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- SAD in Saarbrücker Zeitung
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about Symphony No. 1 - stürzten wir uns ins Feuer • Søren Nils Eichberg's first symphony is the harsh vision of an apocalypse inflamed by mankind itself. He titled it "Stürzten wir uns ins Feuer" to evoke the image of all humans in self-glorification throwing themselves into the devastating flames. The music immediately catches the listener with short motives of four to six notes and distinct rhythms in interchanging sections. The whole orchestra is on fire, and although the volume is furious, the sound never gets tiring. Eichberg's instrumentation is clear and full of fantasy. Now and then softer segments create a quieter and wistful sensation in the otherwise persistent and brutal course of events. Hard and sharp crosscuts bear reminiscence of film music - a symphony of images. |
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- Ole Lauritzen in Fyens Stiftstidende
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about Cantus • With Cantus, Søren Nils Eichberg creates a beautiful and direct work with an immediately comprehensible form. There is simplicity but never boredom in the clear structure of the work, consisting of effectfully justapositioned blocks. Contemporary composers do not necessarily have to compose for the desktop drawer. |
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- Danish Music Journal
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about Scherben • Danish-German composer Sören Eichberg is one of the most interesting characters of his generation. With his violin concerto "qilaatersorneq" the Cologne resident Eichberg won the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels and he since profits from his rising demand on the music market as composer, pianist and conductor. Expectedly the "Scherben" are difficult (and thus nothing for "afternoon pianists") but they do not set up inextricable demands. In their stylistic and formal variety, the "Scherben" in fact do seem fragmentary and they resemble a representative catalogue of modern piano composing. Seemingly mathematic rhythm etudes alternate with jazzy chorales, impressionist "plateaus" or dramatic clusters of trills. And the music? Colourful and effectual with a affinity towards the gloomy-melancholic [...] So one wants to describe the work of Sören Nils Eichberg. He masters his craft naturally. |
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- Sheet music review in PianoNEWS
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• [...] The 12 candidates had to prove their maturity in a work of our time. And the young Dane Soren Nils Eichberg, living in Cologne, was an excellent choice. A work, offering extremely prolific interpretations and technically very challenging. The jury along with the competitors showed their enthusiasm about the wealth of facets and sound that Eichberg had set into these short and expressive pieces. |
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- Carsten Dürer in PianoNEWS
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about Qilaatersorneq • The first notes of « Qilaatersorneq » place us in the middle of a volcanic eruption, a savage éclat - but superbly mastered - ringing like the wild scream of a warrior... On the first view the score of Soren Nils Eichberg, a sort of «danse macabre shamanique» , appeared to be a symphonic poem with solo violin. In the course of the repetitions the supplications left the scenery to introspection: The incantation force was swept away by powerfully lyrical take-offs or was transformed into an irresistible dancing frenzy ... |
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- Michel Debrocqe and Serge Martin in Le Soir
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• "Qilaatersorneq" by Soren Nils Eichberg revealed it's rough and mysterious substance and this latent violence ... An extremely physical piece, carrying in its complex rhythms and upholding with its impressive percussion the tale of an initial adventure of the Inuit.. a great work with beautiful harmonies... |
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- Martine Dumont-Mergeay in La Libre Belgique
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• Many participants expressed their enthusiasm about the compulsory piece by Soren Nils Eichberg. It showed to be a colourful, exciting composition attractive for both the young violinists and the National Orchestra of Belgium conducted by Gilbert Varga. |
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- Haagsche Courant
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• Eichberg's composition pulsated with vitality and joy. |
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- Heather Kurzbauer in The Strad
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• sound-colourful fantasy of the young Dane Søren Nils Eichberg |
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- Süddeutsche Zeitung
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• Michael Luig was also leading a stubborn journey to Greenland. [...] Now his [Eichberg's] award-winning violin concerto "Qilaatersorneq" received great applause also at home in the concert hall of the Music Academy. The memorable work is inspired by a drum ritual of the native inhabitants of Greenland. Furious and intensive. |
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- Kölner Stadtanzeiger
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• The competition work by the young German, Søren Nils Eichberg, a "Shaman Dance", sounded competent and rich. |
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- Эксперт Северо-Запад
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• …Eichberg's "shamanism" revealed a living feeling of timbre and fantasy… |
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- Невское время
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about Hærværk • But another piece was to mark the climax of the concert: "Haervaerk" (as they call vandalism in Danish), a 10-minute fire-piece by Sören Nils Eichberg. He places himself at the piano, and thus at the head of the 10-man ensemble, to perform his supposed shock-piece with interpretatoric all-might. It sounds instantly like buildings collapsing. But it does not stay there. In stead, Eichberg builds up something: a highly personal piece with no obligations to any common compositional doctrine. Again and again the ensemble has to withstand the musical harassments from the piano, but it will not resign. It lets the piano rage for itself. This "Vandalism" that Eichberg invokes shows to secretly be an arrangement among friends, who all understand to pull together. And Eichberg (33) quite untimidly leads the way. |
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- Klaus Geitel in Berliner Morgenpost
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• The brightest impressions came from two concertino's [Eichberg's "hærværk" and Janacek's "Concertino"] played in great cooperation with the Reval Ensemble. Søren Nils Eichberg's work appeared fresh and logic as performed by Valdma, under the baton of the composer, with rich imagination. |
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- Lilian Semper in Muusika
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about Geistliche Dämmerung • Poetically gentle, yet oddly disturbing. That was how I experienced Søren Nils Eichberg's piece "Geistliche Dämmerung". Inventive instrumental combinations with striking sounds, plenty of ideas in an organically flourishing form. |
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- Jydske Vestkysten
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