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Interview with composer Alexandru Murariu

Monday, 20 January 2025 , ora 11.38
 

Mr. Alexandru Murariu, you've been given the "George Enescu" prize for musical creation at the Romanian Academy Awards in 2022. What does this prize mean to you?

On the first hand, it's a great honour for me, an acknowledgment from the people in this field, because I know that this prize is an outcome of a nominalization from a professional institution, and I've been designated by the Union of Composers and Musicologists from Romania. It's by far the greatest and the most meaningful distinction I've been awarded throughout these years being a composer and I'm very glad.


How would you describe Espace VIII, the work that brought you this award?

This work is created for a small ensemble and it's the final one in a cycle of compositions, being preceded by other seven pieces under this pseudonym. It explores the idea of spatiality and spatialization in music, more exactly, music that doesn't always come from the front of the audience, it may come from the back. There are certain interprets who can be placed in different points, let's say, that are a surprise for the audience. This was the idea of the whole cycle and of this particular work, which had its premiere in the fall of 2022.

Can you tell us more about this premiere?

This happened during a project called "Duo Residence", when we had two guests from Cluj, Cristian Spataru as conductor and another composer who was part of another events. The piece was very well received by the public, it was played by the "Couleurs" ensemble, which I had formed two years prior this event.


According to you, how is contemporary music received?

I believe that it may not be the most commercial type of music and it doesn't sell that well, but we're a great number of artisans and promoters of this music and I'm one of them. In this sense, I've started this contemporary music ensemble, "Couleurs", as well as an NGO with which we've been writing projects and promoting this type of music together for about four years. I watch the ascension of this cultural space and believe that it's a developed one. People in this space go out to welcome the audience in certain concert halls or only in the context of specific festivals, so contemporary music is no longer played only in these kinds of events, but it is served to the public in more contexts, a thing that cannot help but raise the receptivity of the public. When it comes to events, we never go out in front of the public with a regular concert, but a story, maybe a preceding conference or an open discussion with the audience, which might be hosted by certain members of the ensemble… So, we try to create a context as favorable as we can for the public which, at least in the beginning, is open to this music and, if this music is looked at as it should, both the audience and the understanding of this kind of music will definitely grow. I think that this is the biggest problem when it comes to contemporary music or art, namely that it is not always put in the context.

As far as future plans are concerned, I'm planning on having a number of concerts for this ensemble that I've started, playing exclusively George Enescu's pieces. We wish to approach rather difficult works that are less interpreted. As far as personal plans are concerned, I'm glad to have a request from the Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra for a choral-symphonic piece, which will be interpreted next year. It's going to take a lot of work and I can say that I'm still looking for ideas in this sense.

Interview by Ana Sireteanu
Translated by Cristina-Andreea Dobre,
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II
Corrected by Silvia Petrescu