World premiere of the work by Samy Moussa Crimson for large orchestra at the Lucerne Festival on 23 August 2015 on the occasion of the "Hommage à Pierre Boulez" day by Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra under the direction of Julien Leroy.

A few words from the composers about the work: 

On behalf of Éditions Durand, we are pleased to present to you the work of Samy Moussa in the form of Crimson, of which you can find a description here by the composer:

 “I always start a composition from the beginning. This is essential, otherwise invention is impossible. Crimson was no exception: it took 62 different overtures before finally obtaining something that I considered satisfactory. Each of these openings was a plausible option, but I was looking for something else. One might think that I have absolute control over the music that I write, but that’s not true. Music is a living matter and very often has its own will. I only knew that it had to be resolute, loud, metallic, homophonic and equivocal.

The final version of the opening contains elements of a conclusive gesture; the most striking being the cymbal crash at the very beginning and the harmonic clarity of the first chords. However, I created a wide space within these bars: the large string ensemble does not play and the lower notes are still relatively high.

These two elements explain the ending, which is in a way the opposite. This offers a resolution to the initial imbalance: the music consists mainly of the strings and then only extremely low notes. What happens in the middle is the presentation of two new ideas: 

The first, briefly introduced, is a calm passage in which the celesta dominates a dispersed orchestra; the second is fast and rhythmic music that eventually merges with the opening bars and returns to the original idea in order to develop it further."

Samy Moussa - Crimson
for big orchestra
World premiere: 23 August 2015
Festival de Lucerne
Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra 
Julien Leroy, conductor

UK premiere: June 30, 2022
Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, Royal College of Music (London)
Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra
Kevin-John Edusei, conductor
Plus d'informations...

Consult the score on ISSUU :