Bit by bit, Helmut Lachenmann turns ‘unmusical’ scratching & squeaking into ‘real’ music. Mouvement (-vor der Erstarrung) starts out with hushed sounds that are seemingly unrelated, gradually transforming into a coherent tale, only to end abruptly in rigidity.

Claude Vivier creates a dream world of his own made up of sounds based on series of overtones. Et je reverrai cette ville étrange harks back to cherished melodies which, thanks to their monomaniacal repetition, create a sense of suspended animation. Rozalie Hirs also likes to work with overtones. In her new piece she seeks the point at which tonality and harmony merge into one. Kaija Saariaho makes music iridesce like a polished diamond. In her violin concerto Graal Théâtre she forges organic links of folk-music-like bourdon tones, angelic flageolet tones and abysmal devilish capers with the rarefied tingle-tangle of the percussion section.

Artists

HELMUT LACHENMANN
Mouvement
CLAUDE VIVIER
Et je reverrai cette ville étrange
ROZALIE HIRS
The honeycomb conjecture (world première) commissioned by Philharmonie Essen
KAIJA SAARIAHO
Graal Théâtre

ASKO|SCHÖNBERG
conductor Reinbert de Leeuw
violin Joseph Puglia