Lisinski Concert Hall (small hall), April 14 (Thursday) at 22:00h
Programme _ 01. Burkhard Schlothauer: John Cage: Nine _ 02. Karlheinz Stückhausen: Aus den Sieben Tagen _ 03. SONGS
Reinhold Friedl: artistic director, piano / Burkhard Schlothauer: violin / Anton Lukoszevieze: cello / Uli Phillipp: double bass / Marc Weiser: electronics, soprano / Frank Gratkowski: clarinet, saxophone / Hilary Jefferey: trombone / Hild Sofie Tafjord: french horn / Christian Lillinger: percussion
Martin Wurmnest: sound / Andreas Harder: light
Burkhard Schlothauer: John Cage: Nine
zeitkratzer have played Cage on many occasions and in 2010 they have released a critically acclaimed CD “zeitkratzer [old school] John Cage”. Allthough John Cage had never composed a piece for nine instruments, Burkhard Schlothauer had an idea to arrange Seven² for zeiktratzer – one of those beautiful late Numberpieces of Cage. Cage had composed his Numberpieces using aleatoric technique, applied on specific parameters. The compositional process was mainly guided by the selection of a possible compositional material, which was then structured by chance operations. Afterwards it was an easy task to transcribe this material into musical score. Schlothauer as a musicologist has been intensively researching Numberpieces and in almost all of them he was able to find the initial point, ie. the material structured by chance operations and the its aleatoric distributions. A reverse method was made possible that way: though Cage is dead, his compositional machine can again be put to work. Burkhard Schlothauer did exactly this and he has written a new score by Cage – Nine – for zeitkratzer. The authorship has been left unclear: while the usage of Cage’s methods makes it unmistakenably a work by Cage, Schlothauer has written it down and produced the score.
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Aus den Sieben Tagen
“Aus den Sieben Tagen” was written by Karlheinz Stockhausen in 1972, immediately after his return from California. The only determined part of the piece are textual instructions – pitch, rhythm and other elements are not fixed. The composer gives instead rather plain instructions: “play the vibration of the universe” or “play your own vibration”. Being obviously a sound-piece it occupies a singular position in Stockhausen’s œuvre. Vibration means that during a single piece just a few notes or sounds can be played, but with a huge importance given to them by the musicians. A minimalist music of highest subjectivity is thus being created, where the best possible outcome is the moment when musicians identify themselves with specific sounds. Though it took them a long time, finally this piece will be premiered by zeitkratzer.
SONGS
At first glance, it is surprising that zeitkratzer do SONGS. Are they not a New Music Ensemble, or are they a bunch of noise-makers? And now: songs? A project that was kicked off by a fashion-show several years ago where zeitkratzer played the music and Marc Weiser (a.k.a. rechenzentrum) sang. Weiser was at the time already known for his Mark Markowitch project, singing in fake-languages his fake-songs in Berlin-pubs… A nice farewell from Pop – back to authentic Lied, in between orchestral intensity and minimalist soundscapes. SONGS!
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zeitkratzer was founded in 1999. Its concept of a European soloists ensemble is unique worldwide. The nine musicians, the light and the sound engineer live in different European cities from Vienna via Amsterdam to London and meet for working phases at Berlin. Here, new projects are developed – in recent years as a steady guest of the Volksbühne Berlin.
zeitkratzer finances itself through free projects and international concerts and thus is independant of institutional investors. This freedom allowed idiosyncratic and pathbreaking programs that made zeitkratzer internationally recognized. The repertoire comprises works and projects by and with such different musicians as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Lou Reed, Carsten Nicolai, John Cage, Keiji Haino, Jim O’Rourke, James Tenney, Helmut Oehring, La Monte Young, Merzbow, Alvin Lucier, … as well as many interdisciplinary cooperations.
zeitkratzer has realized all those projects with different musicians and artists without ever worrying about preserving the “purity” of new music. Music, especially so-called new music, thrives on continuous contamination. The idea of „pure taste“ as an independent aesthetic category was revealed by Pierre Bourdieu to be a medium of social distinction. “Thus, pure taste is based on nothing else but a rejection or rather disgust for the objects that ‘force us to enjoy’, such as disgust for such crude, vulgar taste that is also appealing in this forced enjoyment.“ (Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction)
zeitkratzer benefits from its musicians, their advanced and unique playing techniques, their acquaintance with electronics and technologies, their hybrid experience backgrounds: new or improvised music, experimental Rock and Pop, Noise, Ambient, Folk Music, … Meanwhile, the awards range from the German Jazz Award (Frank Gratkowski) via a fellowship at the Kings College Cambridge (Anton Lukoszevieze) to a composition commission by the French state (Reinhold Friedl).
Tours brought zeitkratzer to many European countries, zeitkratzer regularly performs at renowned festivals from Madrid, Rome or London to Vienna, Budapest and Berlin. Meanwhile there is more than ten record releases, many important European broadcasting stations have recorded and broadcasted their concerts. With zeitkratzer RECORDS there now exists an own record label.
Supported by Goethe Institut Kroatien