Let Me Tell You (for soprano and orchestra )

Barbara Hannigan – Let Me Tell You – Berlin, Nelsons

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let me tell you is a song cycle for soprano and orchestra by the Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen. The work was commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic with support from the Danish Arts Foundation. It is based on the eponymous 2008 novel let me tell you by the writer Paul Griffiths. Its world premiere was given by the soprano Barbara Hannigan and the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Andris Nelsons on December 20, 2013.

Background
let me tell you was Abrahamsen’s second commission for the Berlin Philharmonic, following his 1981 orchestral composition Nacht und Trompeten.[2] It was written at the request of the soprano Barbara Hannigan, to whom the work is also dedicated. As in Griffiths’s novel, the narrative follows the character Ophelia from William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet as she tells her tragic story from her own perspective. The piece was composed between 2012 and 2013.[1]

Structure
let me tell you has a duration of approximately 30 minutes and is composed in three parts comprising a total of seven songs:

Part I:

1. Let me tell you how it was
2. O but memory is not one but many
3. There was a time, I remember
Part II:

4. Let me tell you how it is
5. Now I do not mind
Part III:

6. I know you are there
7. I will go out now

Instrumentation
The work is scored for soprano solo and a large orchestra consisting of three flutes (1st doubling alto flute and piccolo 3; 2nd doubling piccolo 2; 3rd doubling piccolo 1), two oboes, cor anglais, two clarinets, bass clarinet (doubling E-flat clarinet), two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, two trombones, bass trombone, timpani, three percussionists, harp, celesta, and strings.[1]