EnsembleKollektiv Berlin

The air rushes through the large organ pipe and produces far more than just a single note. Lisa Streich describes her instrument the organ as a noisily breathing monster whose tender side is only revealed in close proximity. The composer was born in Sweden, grew up near Hamburg and studied organ and composition: Helmut Lachenmann was actually one of her mentors. Today she is considered one of the most sought-after composers of our time. She attempts to approach the nature of the piano in her ensemble work “OFELIA”, plumbing the inner depths of the instrument with prepared objects which reveal both the pain and beauty of the unintentional. In “ORCHESTRA OF BLACK BUTTERFLIES”, the experiment is performed in reverse order: two prepared concert grands join forces with a large range of percussion instruments to produce an “orchestral world of memory”.

It is said that Leonardo da Vinci always carried his notebook with him. In “‘… zwei Gefühle …’, Musik mit Leonardo”, Helmut Lachenmann took the artist’s text “Quest for knowledge” and disassembled it down to its smallest semantic elements. Two narrators recite da Vinci’s words, complementing each other like a single collective conscience. Text and music are transformed into the image of a rugged Mediterranean landscape through which Leonardo da Vinci’s searcher wanders. The image of a wanderer is directly related to Lachenmann’s friend and mentor Luigi Nono who died in Venice in 1990. Helmut Lachenmann composed this work in Nono’s empty holiday home on Sardinia.