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Georg Friedrich Haas' 7 Klangräume Presented by Argento Ensemble

Sep. 24, 2012

Georg Friedrich Haas' <em>7 Klangräume</em> Presented by Argento Ensemble

One might be surprised to find Mozart’s Requiem Mass in D minor, one of the most enigmatic and scrutinized pieces of classical music literature, on an American new music ensemble program. However, that is precisely the case this month as New York’s Argento Ensemble perform fragments of the Requiem as integral components of Georg Friedrich Haas’ 7 Klangräume (7 Soundspaces). A unique and highly inventive work by the modern day Austrian composer, 7 Klangräume frames the unfinished fragments of Mozart’s posthumous work with “sound spaces” that serve to bridge the Requiem fragments left in Mozart’s hand.

Argento explains that, as a likewise treasured composer in Austria, Haas was given complete access to all of Mozart’s manuscripts and succeeded in isolating all fragments that were left exclusively in Mozart’s hand of the Requiem. Haas’ 7 Klangräume connects these fragments, that are without completions or orchestrations by any of Mozart’s students, through a series of stirring interludes set to texts from Mozart's letters written in 1791. The texts emphasize the state of duress, both personal and professional, that the composer was experiencing at the time of composing the Requiem. The “soundspaces” then serve both as transitions between the Requiem fragments and as chilling illustrations of what Mozart was enduring towards the end of his life. Argento presents 7 Klangräume on October 27 at St. Bart’s Episcopal Church in Manhattan, conducted by Michel Galante. 

Learn more on the concert at www.argentomusic.org.

Visit www.universaledition.com for more on the life and work of Georg Friedrich Haas.

Georg Friedrich Haas
7 Klangräume (2005)
for SATB chorus and orchestra
0.0.0.2-0.2.2.btbn.0-2basset hn-perc-org-str
28’

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