bare en stillhet som kaster meg ut i universet av ensomhet

Håkon Berge

Requiem – "Bare en stillhet som kaster meg ut i universet av ensomhet".

With Oslo Cathedral Choir

Conductor: Vivianne Sydnes

The title of Håkon Berge’s 2006 work, which can be translated to Only a silence that casts me into the universe of loneliness, reflects its profound and mournful nature. The composer himself has described it as a requiem—a hymn dedicated to the memory of 13-year-old Palestinian girl Iman Darweesh al Hams, who was shot and killed by an Israeli officer in 2004. The highly controversial trial that followed made headlines in Israel, ultimately resulting in the officer’s acquittal. Berge’s work centres on the deep human tragedy at the heart of the event—the senseless killing of an innocent child caught in the midst of a military operation in Gaza. A recording of the girl’s father provides a powerful and emotional testimony to how an ordinary life—and the lives of those left behind—were shattered by the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Complementing Berge’s requiem is a Renaissance motet composed in 1583–84 by the Flemish composer Philippe de Monte (1521–1603). Super Flumina Babylonis is an eight-part choral setting of Psalm 137: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept.” The piece expresses the sorrow and loneliness of the Jewish people in exile, serving as a stark contrast to today’s reality, where the Promised Land itself has become an occupying power.

This concert is part of the centennial celebration of NKF (The Norwegian Society of Composers).