Lachenmann: Mouvement (– vor der Erstarrung); “... zwei Gefühle...”, Musik mit Leonardo; Consolations I & II

I hadn’t heard Mouvement (– vor der Erstarrung) – Movement (– before paralysis) – for over ten years, and my memory was of a string of disconnected noises, desperately trying to cohere, and finally turning into a whirling tarantella. In fact, the tarantella comes as the climax three-quarters of the way through, and there’s much more continuity in rhythm and harmony than I remember, though the fractured nature of the music, with a good sprinkling of pitchless and distorted sounds, still predominates in the outer sections.

Our rating

5

Published: January 20, 2012 at 1:20 pm

COMPOSERS: Lachenmann
LABELS: Kairos
WORKS: Mouvement (– vor der Erstarrung); “... zwei Gefühle...”, Musik mit Leonardo; Consolations I & II
PERFORMER: Klangforum Wien/Hans Zender
CATALOGUE NO: 0012202 KAI

I hadn’t heard Mouvement (– vor der Erstarrung) – Movement (– before paralysis) – for over ten years, and my memory was of a string of disconnected noises, desperately trying to cohere, and finally turning into a whirling tarantella. In fact, the tarantella comes as the climax three-quarters of the way through, and there’s much more continuity in rhythm and harmony than I remember, though the fractured nature of the music, with a good sprinkling of pitchless and distorted sounds, still predominates in the outer sections. But Lachenmann has a sure touch in choosing the right sound, compelling the ear to follow his musical journey. “... zwei Gefühle...” is less effective – it was a mistake to lose contrast by giving Leonardo’s text to one speaker when it should be divided between two, and the fragmentation of the words too quickly becomes predictable. In the two Consolations, the words are also split up, but the virtuoso choral work holds the attention much more effectively, and the range of sounds that the voices produce is so wide that you barely notice that the percussion quartet which plays in the first of the Consolations doesn’t in the second. Three hits and a near miss. Martin Cotton

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