The Unanswered Question
Modern America - an evening with mad composer personalities from the American continent
Charles Ives (1874 – 1954)
The Unanswered Question
Trumpet Evgeny Ruzin
Conlon Nancarrow (1912 – 1997)
Study for Player Piano Nr. 7*
Elliott Carter (1908 – 2012)
Concertino for Bass Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra
Bass clarinet Filipa Margarida Sacramento Nunes
Conlon Nancarrow
Study for Player Piano Nr. 21*
George Crumb (1929 – 2022)
Night of the Four Moons
Alto Dominika Stefanska
Flute Etni Molletones Mendoza
Banjo Gunter Schneider
Electric cello Claudius Herrman
Intermission
John Cage (1912 – 1992)
Third Construction for 4 Percussion Players
Percussions Didier Chevalier, Dominic Herrmann, Dessislava Kepenerova, Hans-Peter Achberger
Conlon Nancarrow (1912 – 1997)
Study for Player Piano Nr. 3a*
John Adams (geb. 1947)
Chamber Symphony (1993)
*Swiss premiere
The player piano is kindly provided by Evelyn and André Ginesta. The instrument is operated by Markus Fuchs.
Duration 2 H. 10 Min. incl. intermission after approx. 1 H.
Good to know
The Unanswered Question
Abstract
The Unanswered Question
Whether the North American continent is the mythically extolled land of unlimited possibilities may well be disputed today, for a variety of reasons – but in the art music of the 20th century, America produced a whole series of refreshingly free-thinking and obliquely innovative composers far removed from European stylistic dogmas. In this year's Opera-nova-Project we take the title of Roman Haubenstock-Ramati's music theater «Amerika» as an opportunity to perform a concert with the ingenious madmen of American musical modernism - from the unconcerned musical experimenter Charles Ives to the anarchic musical innovator John Cage, from the European-reflective Elliott Carter to the exotic sounds of George Crumb and the Californian minimalism of John Adams. Also included are the hilariously complex and wittily rattling Studies for players piano, which maverick Mexican-American Conlon Nancarrow punched into his musical rollers.
Teaser «The Unanswered Question»
An absolute rarity: the «Studies for players piano» are performed in concert by a self-playing piano.