Sunday 30 June 2024, 7.30pm
Programme:
- Thomas Stiegler • Inferner Park
- Matthew Shlomowitz • Explorations in Polytonality and Other Musical Wonders, Volume 2
- Galina Ustvolskaya • Sonata for Violin and Piano
Stiegler grapples with memory phenomena and instrumental corporeality in 16½ descriptions of drawings by Paul Klee. Ustvolskaya’s 1952 sonata tests both instruments and performers with its expressive extremes.
In Shlomowitz’s Explorations series he presents a collection of short pieces exploring an organising principle (e.g., polytonality), technique (e.g., hemiola), texture (e.g., organum), and form (e.g., rondo). Earnest and irreverent in equal measure, Shlomowitz aims to discover fresh possibilities in these approaches, many of which have fallen out of favour in contemporary music production.
Plus-Minus Ensemble: Mira Benjamin, violin; Mark Knoop, piano
Apsara: Tomma Wessel, Ines Rasbach, Katelijne Lanneau, recorders
Plus-Minus Ensemble is a UK based ensemble committed to commissioning new work and placing it alongside recent and landmark modern repertoire. Formed in 2003, Plus-Minus is distinguished by its interest in performative, electroacoustic and conceptual pieces, and experimental open works such as Stockhausen’s 1963 classic, from which the group takes its name. Plus-Minus is directed by Matthew Shlomowitz, Vicky Wright and Mark Knoop.
Apsara is a flexible ensemble built around the recorder, that has been exploring its own paths in new and early music since its foundation in 2000. Beyond the highly varied instruments of the recorder family, ensemble members Katelijne Lanneau, Ines Rasbach and Tomma Wessel enjoy playing giant slide flutes or toy instruments. Apsara regularly uses electronic means and joins hands with other musicians and composers. Apsara has a long-standing collaboration with composer Matthew Shlomowitz, which included co-conceiving a concert programme 'Weird Light Music' for three recorders and keyboardist Stéphane Ginsburgh, which premiered at De Bijloke in Ghent in 2023, as well as the cd release ‘Explorations in Polytonality and Other Musical Wonders’ on Carrier Records in 2024.
