Recollections- day 2

Friday January 18th: Late start for most. We were fortunate enough to sit in on the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin rehearsing Chaya Czernowin's The Quiet, a short and- as we discussed with Chaya after the rehearsal, strikingly direct work consisting of various panels of soft sounds, overlapping in various ways and at various points, gradually becoming increasingly dense and more insistent as harsher noises and pitched sonorities were introduced, working itself into a sequence of forceful gestures before abruptly ending. A browsable copy of the score for The Quiet is available from the publisher's website.




First concert of the trip that evening took place in the beautiful if freezing cold St Elisabeth-Kirche. Responses to the programme were mixed- particular highlights for myself included the daringly proportioned piano solo in the middle of Pascal Dusapin's Trio Rombach for violin, cello and piano and a striking piano quartet by Christophe Bertrand, a recently deceased composer (only 29 years old at the time of his death) whose music was well represented throughout this years festival, which spun delicate textures out of simply deployed descending scales. While I found the other pieces on the concert distinctly less interesting, the ensemble- Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin- were thrilling to watch and listen to.

Location:Stresemannstraße,Berlin,Germany