Departures in Music

On September 30, Ensemble Modern opens its subscription series at Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, which is part of Musikfest Frankfurt. The centrepiece of the concert, which begins at 8 pm, is the world premiere of the work “Riss” by Mark Andre, which focuses on the festival’s theme, “Beethoven’s Opus 131”. It stands for departure and innovation, and thus the other works of the evening also cross borders and redefined almost all parameters of music at the time they were written: sound, the role of musicians, the process of listening. In John Cage’s “Piano Concert” the pianist (Hermann Kretzschmar performs) is free to determine the sequence of the 63 pages. In Bruno Maderna’s “Juilliard Serenade”, the conductor (Lucas Vis) chooses among sound modules which are combined with pre-taped sounds.