Peter Rundel

Cantus is a clarinet concerto and has a dark requiem-like air. In Ollea, Reimann has set poems by Heine. Moijca Erdmann’s light soprano voice is perfect for these works. Arietta was written for the long forgotten bass clarinet.

Michael's reise um die Erde' is the second act of the opera 'Donnerstag' [Thursday] from the 7-part, 7-day opera cycle 'Licht' by Karlheinz Stockhausen, a cosmic world theatre in which three protagonists set the tone: Michael as Prince of Angels who appears in human shape to lead mankind to God; Eva as Power of Love, of Life; Lucifer as fallen angel and adversary. To each of these three figures has been assigned a characterising melody (or formula/leitmotif). These three themes unfold through the musical action of the entire opera cycle.

'Donnerstag' is for 14 performers (3 voices, 8 instrumentalists, 3 dancers) plus a choir, an orchestra and tapes. Though not the first part of Licht to be started, it was the first opera in the cycle to be completed, being written between 1978 and 1980. Thursday is the day of the archangel Michael, and the story is centered around this character. Thursday's exoteric colour is bright blue and it's planet is Jupiter. Each opera and each act can stand alone.

In 2008, after performances in Vienna, Cologne, Venice and Dresden, the ensemble musikFabrik performed 'Michael's Reise' twice at the Théâtre Bobigny in Paris at the Festival d'Automne. The production created in collaboration with Carlus Padrissa from Catalan theatre company La Fura dels Baus was received with great enthusiasm by the audience and received great acclaim from the press and the public. This live recording of these two successful concerts is released by WERGO as part of their edition musikFabrik.

Following the world premiere of 'Mittwoch', this August, by Birmingham Opera/Graham Vick, as part of Festival 2012, interest in this mighty 29 hour project is high!

Friedrich Cerha celebrated his 85th birthday in February of this year and was the main composer at the Salzburg Biennale in March. Bruchstück geträumt. Cerha's Bagatelles for string trio is one of the most difficult pieces in the repertoire. Instants was premiered in 2010.

"Composer and teacher, Bernard Cavanna is a multi-faceted figure: self-taught, provocative, intuitive and original. Whether ironically auctioning off his own music at cut-rate prices in a market or displaying a pallid face at the rehearsal of one of his concertos, the artist always exposes himself to the camera with delicacy and a graceful sense of propriety."

Delphine de Blic

Wolfgang Mitterer’s opera Massacre, inspired by The Massacre at Paris by Christopher Marlowe, was premiered in 2003. Mitterer does not represent the entire Elizabethan play that depicts the events of the Saint Bartholomew’s Day massacre. The structure of the work draws on the savagery of the massacre via the simulation of human masses, commands, judgments and battle cries that explode throughout the majority of the eighteen sequences that make up the opera.

Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi (1905-88) is considered one of the most enigmatic musical figures in the history of 20th century music. He very famously, after suffering a breakdown in the late 1950’s, sat and played a single note on the piano for hour after hour, in an attempt, as he said, “to absorb the world and its overtones.” This is a fascinating sound world both simple and complex and at times hauntingly beautiful.