Jochen Berg / Ulrich Gumpert ‘The Angels – Four Short Operas’

“Die Engel” (The Angels) by Ulrich Gumpert and Jochen Berg (1948-2009) brings a work to the stage that draws thematically of the fall of the Wall. Performed for the first time in February 1988 at the “Jazz in der Kammer” concert series at Deutsches Theater in Berlin and never performed since, “Die Engel” refers to a process of change whose real-life dynamism did not seem conceivable at the time. With bold metaphors, penetrating repetitions and musical expression born of outbreaks of vital free jazz, the decline of a petrified social system is its subject, conferring the work a thoroughly prophetic touch in the context of its creation. At the same time “Die Engel”, which will be performed concertante, throws up questions concerning world history in the form of dazzling imagery and burning sounds: a rediscovery with contemporary explosive power.

UlrichGumpert @ Wikipedia [in German]