Classical concerts featuring

Matthias Hermann

Matthias Hermann

“It may well be that through the systematic use of monophony I have arrived at the purest form of melody,” said Claude Vivier about his 1981 work, which he described as a return to the melodies of his past. Helmut Lachenmann presents a broad spectrum ranging from stifled sounds of indeterminate pitch and different shades of noise all the way to distinct pitches. According to Lachenmann, it represents an “offer of expressive intensity that seeks to overcome the bourgeois longing for beauty.” In Rebecca Saunders’ Piano Concerto, glissandi audaciously hurtle across the keyboard, expanding the sonic space and letting it collapse once again. Saunders worked on these gestures together with pianist Nicolas Hodges, and states: “I like exploiting the instruments’ technical possibilities and discovering the very limits of their timbral palette.”