Event info

Inger Christensen’s collection of poems Alphabet reinterpreted as sound works by composer Hannah Schneider. The event begins at 19:30 and everyone is welcome while there is room.

Inger Christensen’s best-known poetry collection, Alphabet (1981), is presented in a completely new form, namely as a sound piece by the composer Hannah Schneider, who, together with Danish musicians and Icelandic poets, praises and reinterprets Inger Christensen’s work.

Alphabet is characterized by a deep musicality and a great recognition of the forces of nature and man’s longing. The poems examine what exists in the world; man, nature, apricot trees, atomic bombs, ferns, concrete, cicadas, nerves and cells. Reading Inger Christensen’s poems can be a dizzying movement because they let the reader experience the world in a completely new, surprising way. Alphabet is performed in The Nordic House in a cross-aesthetic multi-part version consisting of both Danish and Icelandic voices and sound clips from Inger Christensen herself (DR’s archives). This is accompanied by sound interpretations of some of Denmark’s and Iceland’s best musicians.

Inger Christensen (1935-2009) is one of Denmark’s most recognized poets in the Nordic countries as well as internationally. She is especially known for her contemporary, visionary, stylistically formidable and sensuous poetry. As a system poet, she also uses in Alphabet a system that gives her the freedom to write anything.

Performers: Hannah Schneider (song, synths og electronics), Nicolaj Kornerup (piano, electronics), Cæsille Balling (violin) Live Johansson (cello), Anna Rømer (guitar), Hallur Jónsson, Babak Vakili (rapper), Sjón (poet) and Gerður Kristný (poet).

Inger Christensen’s poems in Danish will be shown on the wall behind the performers.