Rihm has produced a number of remarkable works, but Jagden und Formen is one of the very finest, and the performance by Ensemble Modern, conducted by Dominique My, does it justice in a quite outstanding way.
Andrew Clements, The Guardian

CONCLUSION: a revelation for serious and persistent listeners.
Klaus Andriessen, Wetzlarer Neue Zeitung

Dancers tumbled over each other to percussion solos, musicians were carried around like puppets, bass clarinet held erect in a fighting pose.
Eleonore Büning, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

[A] phenomenal challenge to its 24-piece orchestra. Thanks to its astonishing fecundity of invention and to the unwavering virtuosity of Ensemble Modern and their conductor, Dominique My, it felt not a second too long.
The Telegraph

The highlight: when the musicians with their instruments lie down on the floor with the dancers, continuously playing one of Rihm’s »Liegetöne« [held notes – literally »lying tones« in German]. Sound and dance have possibly never formed such a sculptural unit before.
Karl Harb, Salzburger Nachrichten

Like sacrificial offerings, they were carried aloft, and shortly before the ecstatic finale performed by one dancer, the orchestra and ballet actually merged bodily. [...] Euphorically celebrated by the audience, this experience was more than the sum of its parts.
jomi, Hamburger Abendblatt

Dancers tumbled over each other to percussion solos, musicians were carried around like puppets, bass clarinet held erect in a fighting pose.
Eleonore Büning, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

It fell to Ensemble Modern, meticulously prepared and masterful on stage, [...] to articulate the elaborated indistinctness of Rihm’s permanent presto in the most distinctive, incisive manner. Music for the chase, and such music it is!
Hans-Klaus Jungheinrich, Frankfurter Rundschau

Jagden und Formen

Ein musikalisch-choreographisches Projekt, Musik: Wolfgang Rihm

Wolfgang Rihm calls the latest version of his composition ›Jagden und Formen‹ »Zustand 2008«. It is a piece that appears to be a meandering ›work landscape‹ (Wolfgang Rihm) with differing stages, spaces and constellations. ›Jagden und Formen (Zustand 2008)‹ is also a fitting title for the choreography that Sasha Waltz based upon this work, developed in collaboration with her company Sasha Waltz & Guests and the Ensemble Modern.

Jagden & Formen - Trailer