Label: Intuition
Katalog Nr. INT 34621
Release: 27.09.2024
UPC: 750447346215
Format: 2LP / Digital
Vertrieb: edel Kultur
LC: 08399

Composer: Nicholas Hodges
Album Artists: Claron McFadden, La Verne Williams, Gary Boyce, Zeger Vandersteene,
Henk Lauwers, Marcello Rosca, Flemish Radio Choir, Makiko Goto, The
Gondwana Orchestra, Nicholas Lens

Side A

01: Deliciae Meae
02: Sumus Vicinae 4:57
03: Flamma Flamma 3:17
04: Complorate Filiae 4:13

Side B
05: Ave Ignis 4:42
06: Tegite Specula 6:06
07: Vale Frater 4:12
08: Amice Mi 4:39

Side C
09: Hic Iacet I 5:41
10: In Corpore 4:58
11: Hic Iacet II 9:07

Side D
12: Corpus Inimici 5:27
13: Agnus Purus 5:55
14: Ardeat Ignis 7:18

Celebration Edition 2024 / Re-edited and Re-Mastered to mark the 30st aniversary of the original release in 1994

Nicholas Lens is a Belgian composer of contemporary music, particularly known for his operas. He wrote the music drama Flamma Flamma- The Fire Requiem as one of his earliest works in 1993. This brandnew re-release of Flamma Flamma is a celebration edition by the label Intuition Music to mark the 30st aniversary with a remastered and re-edited version of the original album worldwide released in 1994. This 2024 edition will appear on CD but as well for the first time on double vinyl. The composer himself artistically supervised the re-mastering and re-editing.

The score of Flamma Flamma has been used numerous times for the most diverse art events (firework performances among others) and hundreds of dance and ballet creations all over the world. Flamma Flamma for instance was performed live at the opening of the Adelaide Festival in Australia with more than thousand performers for an audience of  thirty thousand people. The tenth track of the album Flamma Flamma (album and track title) was also known as a videoclip (quite rare for a classical release in that period).

‘To me, the one thing that makes life bearable is the knowledge that it will come to an end, because accepting this is the only way to unconditionally and freely enjoy life. It has taken me many long journeys, both physically and mentally, to reach this obvious insight,’ Nicholas Lens wrote, back in 1993.

Nicholas Lens himself gained international fame after the Flamma Flammarelease and has become since then a worldwide recognised and established contemporary opera composer, for instance the opera Shell Shock (Royal Opera La Monnaie and Paris) and L.I.T.A.N.I.E.S (Deutsche Grammphon) with Nick Cave, and also for instance Slow Man, At the Gate and Elizabeth Costello with Nobel Prize winner John M. Coetzee etc. At the time Lens composed the work as the first part of the trilogy The Accacha Chronicles as a ritual, strongly influenced by the magic powers of non-European cultures. Lens: “As the natural quality of primitive death ceremonials often sharply contrasts with the overorganized and therefore spiritually weakened ceremonials of the Western world, Flamma Flamma portrays death as being a natural part of the cosmic life process.”

The work has been described as a work beyond conventions.

• Time magazine — (Catherine Kotschoubey) — wrote at the time: “This year’s hit is by Belgium’s Nicholas Lens. His work Flamma Flamma is among those compositions of contemporary classic music breaking down the established divisions. With its visceral strength and sustained emotional drive, his work has won a loyal audience and critical favour.”
•  “The mixture of Nicholas Lens’ compositions works more successfully than any contemporary composition I have heard in a long time.“ (Fred Flaxman) -Compact Discoveries-Jefferson monthly USA

Tracks such as „Sumus Vicinae“, „Corpus Inimici“ or the title track „Flamma Flamma“ have even made it as cult classics to some alternative dance floors from Paris to NY and Tokyo. Written for chamber orchestra, mixed choir, and six soloists, the score uses unusual  instrumentation like a Japanese koto and as well three natural voices. During the time of creating the score, Lens – still in this tonal period – was heavily influenced by adventurous traveling, ethnic voices, left overs of popmusic structures, and all of this mixed and combined with a dramatic contemporary operatic and unconventional feel that gave the work an most particular unique style that at the time not could be compared to anything else.

The plot seems a mixture of mythology, philosophy and fantasy: Flammarius, the god of fire, comes to earth with his entourage. To entertain the illustrious company, he comes up with something very special: The immortals are to slip into the skin of mortals in order to experience feelings such as pain, jealousy and fear of death first-hand. They are delighted and Flammarius lights a cigar with satisfaction. He throws the match to the ground, where it – not yet extinguished – ignites a fire the likes of which no mortal has ever experienced before.

After its original release on CD in 1994 Flamma Flamma rose in all kind of charts and quickly went from being a secret insider tip to a huge bestseller, with even as said a videoclip showing on MTV but as well on Arte. However, this standard work has been out of print for years and Intuition Music has now set itself the task of making this first and most important part of his trilogy available to the public again. „Flamma Flamma“ has been described as a pure dance of the gods, unsurpassed in splendour and perfection. Wether Lens did like it or not, multiple times it was written that it can easily stand up to comparisons with Orff’s „Carmina Burana“. As well the gothic world – the romantic gothic as the trash gothic – embraced the work on long Flamma Flamma theme weekends in castles all over Europe. There was this famous quote of death metal fans saying: ‚We adore it, and you want to know something: my grandmother likes it too.‘

Nicholas Lens began his triology „The Accacha Chronicles“ (Flamma Flamma / Terra Terra / Amor Aeternus) with the first part Flamma Flamma as a search for harmony between conflicting elements in nature and the human kind. The fusion of non-European musical cultures with Western classical music  in Flamma Flamma and its two sequels  has been described appreciated as highly unique. And finaly, unlike almost any other requiem, Flamma Flamma – The Fire Requiem not only deals with grief and pain, but portrays death as being a natural part of the cosmic life process.

Nicholas Lens: ‚The Fire Requiem was, and still is a quest for harmony between contrasting elements: the highly-skilled classical vocal soloists as opposed to the raw, unpolished natural voices; the natural bridge-building between diametrically opposed styles and eras; the acceptance of the blending of rich, old, but weary European culture with the strength and often surprising freshness of totally opposite cultures. Flamma Flamma emphasizes the purely human emotions at the cosmic transition, independent -and therefore respectful-of all known philosophies.’