# Pont de la mer (2015)
**Morceau de concert pour cor solo et orchestre**
*Concert Piece for Solo Horn and Orchestra*

**Benjamin Staern (b. 1978)**

## Work Commentary

*Pont de la mer* (Bridge of the Sea) is a concert piece for solo horn and orchestra, composed in 2015 by Benjamin Staern. Commissioned by the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, the work is dedicated to the orchestra's then principal horn player, Einar Öhman, and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra. It received its world première on 30 April 2016 at Malmö Live Concert Hall, with Einar Öhman as soloist and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marc Soustrot.

Rather than following the often virtuosic and dramatically confrontational course of a traditional instrumental concerto, *Pont de la mer* is predominantly slow, meditative and richly nuanced in its exploration of orchestral colour. The horn emerges not primarily as a heroic solo instrument, but as the bearer of a lyrical, almost vocal expression. Its melodic lines may be perceived as a wordless song, whilst the orchestra creates an ever-changing landscape of resonances, colours and distant echoes.

### Poetic Inspiration and Musical Concept

An important source of inspiration is Charles Baudelaire's poem *L'Albatros*, from his collection *Les Fleurs du mal* (1857). In the poem, the albatross becomes a symbol of the artist's vulnerability and longing for freedom. The majestic bird, capable of soaring effortlessly above the vast expanse of the ocean, loses its dignity when forced onto the deck of a ship. The contrast between boundless space and earthly confinement invites an existential interpretation of humanity's relationship with freedom, solitude and belonging.

Staern transforms this poetic imagery into an instrumental sound drama without explicit narrative or text. The sea becomes an image of infinity and perpetual change, whilst the bridge may be understood as a symbolic connection between different worlds, states of being and perspectives.

In his programme note for the première, the composer described the music as a slow and meditative piece in which the listener imagines a bridge overlooking the sea and the horizon. From this image, different visions emerge, rather like a poem without words. The music is therefore not intended as a literal depiction of a seascape, but as an artistic exploration of its spatial, sensory and emotional dimensions.

### Orchestral Colour and Musical Dramaturgy

The work is characterised by an impressionistically inflected musical language in which transformations of timbre and the relationship between sound and space assume fundamental importance. The orchestral writing is relatively transparent, allowing considerable scope for the horn's natural resonance, melodic expressiveness and capacity to suggest both intimacy and distance.

The instrument's distinctive qualities play a central role. The horn combines a warm, singing tone with an ability to evoke distant calls, natural sounds and echoes. These characteristics are employed not merely as orchestral effects, but as essential elements of the work's poetic conception.

The solo horn moves through an orchestral landscape whose shifting timbres may suggest changing patterns of light upon water. Through the interplay of melodic movement, harmonic tension, instrumental colour and gradual changes in textural density, the music develops through transformation rather than conventional thematic confrontation.

Its meditative character does not, however, imply an absence of drama. Tension arises through subtle shifts between presence and distance, between the individual voice of the soloist and the surrounding orchestral sound world.

### Space as a Musical Dimension

One of the work's most distinctive features is the use of two additional obbligato horn parts, which fulfil an independent dramatic and spatial function.

These horn players begin performing offstage before entering the concert hall. Through motivic repetitions and exchanges with the solo horn, the different sound sources are gradually brought into dialogue, until the two musicians eventually join the orchestra.

Towards the end, this process is reversed. The two obbligato horn players leave the orchestra together with the soloist, creating an exchange of calls and responses between the three horns. Meanwhile, the orchestra continues with a subdued, increasingly distant musical texture, until the sound gradually dissolves and disappears.

This spatial arrangement transforms the concert hall itself into an active component of the composition. Musical movement takes place not only through time, but also through physical space. The changing distances between the performers alter the character of the sound, creating a sense of perspective, movement and disappearance.

The final movement through the performance space may be interpreted as a musical counterpart to the uncertain boundary of the horizon, where the visible gives way to the invisible and audible sound gradually loses its contours.

### Aesthetic and Expressive Character

*Pont de la mer* exemplifies Benjamin Staern's interest in the interaction between musical dramaturgy, orchestral colour and extra-musical imagery. His sound–colour synaesthesia forms an important part of his artistic identity, and the work's richly coloured yet restrained orchestration may be considered in the light of this particular sensitivity to changes in timbre.

The composition also belongs to a broader tradition of poetically inspired orchestral music, in which images of nature and literary associations are transformed into autonomous musical structures. At the same time, Staern introduces a tangible spatial dimension through the horn players' movements and the acoustic dialogue between the stage and the surrounding concert hall.

In this respect, the work combines elements of French orchestral impressionism with a contemporary interest in musical spatialisation and theatrical presentation.

The traditional concerto form is consequently reinterpreted. Instead of emphasising opposition between soloist and orchestra, Staern creates a continuous poetic trajectory in which the individual voice gradually becomes part of a larger sonic environment.

Ultimately, *Pont de la mer* may be understood as a meditation on distance, longing and connection. The music evokes a state in which something initially perceived as remote briefly draws near, only to disappear once more beyond the horizon.

### World Première and Critical Reception

*Pont de la mer* received its world première on 30 April 2016 at Malmö Live Concert Hall, in a programme that also included Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto.

Reviewing the concert in *Sydsvenskan* on 1 May 2016, critic and musician Matti Edén highlighted the work's atmospheric qualities, associating its maritime imagery with the luminous and enigmatic paintings of the English artist J. M. W. Turner.

Edén particularly noted Staern's restrained approach to orchestration and described the solo horn as a singer without words, engaged in dialogue with a commenting orchestra.

### Work Details

- **Title:** *Pont de la mer*
- **Subtitle:** *Morceau de concert pour cor solo et orchestre*
- **English designation:** Concert Piece for Solo Horn and Orchestra
- **Composer:** Benjamin Staern (b. 1978)
- **Year of composition:** 2015
- **Instrumentation:** Solo horn and orchestra, including two additional obbligato horn parts with spatial placement
- **Duration:** Approximately 12 minutes
- **Commissioned by:** Malmö Symphony Orchestra
- **Dedicated to:** Einar Öhman and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra
- **World première:** 30 April 2016, Malmö Live Concert Hall, Malmö, Sweden
- **Soloist:** Einar Öhman, horn
- **Orchestra:** Malmö Symphony Orchestra
- **Conductor:** Marc Soustrot
- **Publisher:** Gehrmans Musikförlag

**Full score:** Gehrmans Musikförlag, GE 12805
**Solo part:** GE 12806
**Study score:** GE 12807