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PREVIOUS PROJECTS > Bells Concert
Josep-Maria Balanyà, composition, conducting 16 musicians playing bells
Concert for the bells of the Cathedral of Trier, Germany
“Bells for Catharsis and Peace" Premiere June 29, 2013
Josep-Maria Balanyà composed for this occasion a concept between composition and conducted improvisation. This composition asks whether a new age with peace and new human values is possible. An inner purification, by the sounds of the bells of the Trier Cathedral. The composition was played using the technique of pealing. Pealing (beiern in German) is referred to the manual striking fixed rhythms on the bells . This technique is in contrast to the traditional ringing of the bell by swinging. The melodies are generated using the clapper of the bells. The clappers will be tied with nylon ropes and will hit the lip, the thickest part of the bell. In collaboration with Llorenç Barber, Balanyà was conducting a group of 16 musicians, students of the Episcopal Angela-Merici School Trier, who played the bells by pealing. The bell tower houses 10 bells, the biggest with a weight of 8.000 kg and a clapper weighing 400 kg. The experience produced a very unusual an amazing sound that shocked the inhabitants of Trier.
Balanyà and Barber known each other for many years and have worked together in various musical projects. Balanyà had the desire to share this project with Llorenç Barber, who has given numerous concerts with bells in various countries of Europe and America.
