History and the present meet in a large-scale evening concert by Ensemble KNM Berlin and the vocal ensemble Cantando Admont from Vienna. The programme is part of the Ensemble’s three-part project »reading music – the season«, which explores the reciprocal relationships between music and (written) language.
For »Back and Forth« at Radialsystem, works from both the distant past and the most recent present, as well as from multiple cultures, will be in dialogue with each other – with four world premieres among them.
For the first concert of the evening, composers Cao Thanh Lan, Juliana Hodkinson, Lin Fang-Yi and Ana María Rodríguez were inspired by Nina Simone’s song »Four Women«, which they encounter in different ways through their biographies and experiences. Additionally, the musicians of KNM interpret the book »Folkloric Dances of Mexico« not just as a traditional alphabet of (dance) steps but as a hypnotic performance: »LA OFRENDA« by Tania Candiani and Rogelio Sosa turns a choreographic score of traditional Mexican Huichol dance into an improvisational structure for string quartet, ukulele and maracas.
The second part of the evening mediates between the ars subtilior – a 14th-century art form which countered war, plague and religious conflicts with highly elaborate sound manuscripts – and the music of today: Beat Furrer, master of expressive contemplation and dramatic moments, transforms succinct aphorisms into a captivating sound cosmos. In collaboration with Cantando Admont and conductor Cordula Bürgi, several important works by Beat Furrer will be performed. A highlight is his work »Akusmata« for eight voices and ensemble, which he devoted specifically to the vocal ensemble.
The series »reading music – the season« dedicates itself to the relationship between music and (written) language in three parts. »Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written.« This sentence by Henry David Thoreau is not just a radical demand on readers and a call for a new relationship between author and audience.
It also brings the element of time into the reception of a work. Here is where music comes into play: Isn’t the slow, interpretative reading of texts, signs and symbols an intrinsic power of music and its protagonists? Can’t the notation of music be understood as compressed time and condensed space? Following the opening at Berghain in June 2024, this double concert at Radialsystem is the second station of »reading music – the season«.
