Conservation Conversation

How to approach a new place? And what to take home from it? The rural area of Tescani in Romanian Moldavia is characterized by reverberating sounds waving between hills, farming, and plenty of dogs of course. Up the hill on the edge of the village lies a small museum in honor of the Romanian composer George Enescu. A mansion with its own little forest. But the grandeur of the past shows cracks. Humidity sneaks up the walls. Red, aristocratic patterned carpet hosts historic notes, furniture, and instruments. Mice ate the hammer felt of the piano – the piano on which Enescu finished his opera Oedipe. Today it is untouchable. Packs of visitors come in coaches, have a quick look, bath in some mellow notes, and climb their vehicle again to take off. What is conserved along the way? The piece follows, questions, deconstructs, and reconstructs the process of conservation. It starts a conversation with the ghosts of the past. Open exploration, improvisation, and coincidences play a major role in the piece as most of it is composed by movement in space on-location and not by layering tracks. It drifts intuitively between scenes, thoughts, and impressions. Essayistically, it weaves together reoccurring themes in a meandering way that invites listeners to get lost in the imagination of a place.