Le tremblement persistant du moi-fantôme…

Le tremblement permanent du moi-fantôme ..., a commission by the French vocal ensemble Musicatreize for the programme Twelve Letters to Elise marking the Beethoven Year 2020, raises the question of who we are today and what remains of Beethoven's ideals, his belief in enlightenment, equality, justice and freedom?

What is the task of music, of art today - if it is not, according to Kant, directed at reason but rather at the 'affective involvement' of the recipient, if it aims to 'infect'? In her struggle for an answer, the composer addresses in her insistent and breathless piece the American conceptual artist and philosopher Adrian Piper as quasi-moral authority, who was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2015 for "inviting art viewers to engage in a life-long performance of personal responsibility”.