Jens Astrup writes:

"Writing songs for soprano and guitar is a bit of a dream for me. The intimacy and the possibility for fine nuances and phrasing that is present here speaks deeply to me.

The lyrics I have chosen are by Inger Christensen; from "it", The Action, Symmetries; 8 poems with Christensen's usual juxtaposition of something spiritual into something very physical; of the almost physical presence and creative power of the airy words. Here in a symmetrical form, where the splitting and separation of the elements that occurs along the way exposes the common human nakedness and pain that is both a source of anxiety, but at the same time our only true possibility for open togetherness.

The eight poems, which are strophic, build up a symmetry overall, but even within each individual poem, symmetry is a recurring theme. Both are described in the musical form.

The strange bodily separations are shown with interrupted rhythms, the anxiety and the stuckness with static or insistent repetitions and unpredictable leaps.

The redemption at the end, where it is shown that we as humans must look at life/being together in a new way and that language has physical creative power, is depicted with a warm, feminine and tonal tonal language."

Photo from the premiere on Feb. 4, 2024 – Anna Wierød, Jens Astrup, Jakob Bangsø. Augustenborg Slotskirke, Denmark.