David Philip Hefti

Prima nocte

'Prima nocte', Music for the first nocturnal vigil for chamber orchestra, is the first of four compositions to refer to the Roman vigils. This work utilises quartertone harmonies and revolves around the topics of dusk, night, spheres, dreams, sleeplessness and hallucination. As the guiding principle behind the work, there thus emerge shifting sound surfaces – now static, now in motion – that push both rhythm and melody into the background. The composer always hears this microtonal music in the semi-conscious state between sleep and sleeplessness.