He was a friend of Reinbert de Leeuw and Asko|Schönberg and shared artistic links with them. Reinbert directed a number of CD recordings of the composer’s works. The work presented this evening is partly to celebrate Reinbert’s birthday.

Kagel’s music is fresh, fantastical and full of humour. An example is his cycle Die Stücke der Windrose, where each wind direction has its own colour base. Kagel was born in Argentina, south of the Equator. He always said that this reversed his views on wind directions, compared to those we have as Northern Europeans. It generates unexpected colours: the North, for instance, is surprisingly sultry, while the West struck him as exotic. The cycle was written for a line-up of 5 string players, piano, harmonium, clarinet and percussion. The percussion varies from one wind direction to another, using an extensive range of unusual instruments.