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Affekt

For choirs and orchestra

 

2016 - 2017

Written to texts by Mårten Westö

 

Duration

45 min

 

Instrumentation

3333 4331 12 1, str, chf, chm, 2chx

Commissioned by

Helsingfors sång- och musikförbund (HSMF) for its 100th anniversary

Premiered by

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and
17 choirs of HSMF
Conducted by Leif Segerstam
20.10.2017
Music Centre Helsinki, Finland

Notes

Affekt explores memories, emotional states (“affects”), and the experiences caused by parting and separation. The piece reflects the perspectives of both sides: their conflicting memories and the difficulty of letting go. The two sides enter into a fragmentary dialogue, shifting in tone and direction as time moves forward. 

 

Affekt is a process, but a shattered one: what matters are the shifting states of mind, the music reflecting their unpredictability, their contrasts, and the fragmented nature of memory itself.

 

While the subject matter turns inward, the massive ensemble extends outward. Despite its vast proportions - 17 choirs, 250 singers in total, and a large orchestra - Affekt is about something intimate and human. At its core lies the attempt to capture moments, memories, and their distinct moods: the affects that linger within us.

Listen

Excerpt from the 9th movement (En tidig stundof Affekt (2019), performed by Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and 17 choirs of HSMF, conducted by Leif Segerstam

22.10.2017 Music Centre, Helsinki, Finland

Video footage of the rehearsals of Affekt and interview in Swedish by Huvudstadsbladet:

Reviews

"Hilli clearly has something big and exciting going on: a movement towards, as it seems, unexplored domains that tickle curiosity vigorously"

HBL, 21.10.2017

"Both the treatment of the orchestra and the synthesis of styles appeared to be astonishingly original. "

HBL, 21.10.2017

"Hilli blends together influences from here and there in an unprejudiced manner and the aesthetics are neither distinctly modernist nor traditional"

HBL, 21.10.2017

AffektSebastianHilli.png

Sheet Music

Schott Music

Schott Music GmbH & Co. KG
Weihergarten 5
55116 Mainz
info@schott-music.com
+49 6131 246-0

Past performances

20.10.2017

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the 17 choirs of HSMF 

Conducted by Leif Segerstam
Music Centre
Helsinki, Finland

© 2025 Sebastian Hilli

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