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US Premiere of Georg Friedrich Haas's dark dreams with Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic

Oct. 09, 2014

US Premiere of Georg Friedrich Haas's <em>dark dreams</em> with Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic

October is an active month for Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas. October 6 marked the US premiere of his large orchestral piece dark dreams with the Berlin Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall under the direction of Simon Rattle, who conducted its world premiere in Berlin in February of this year. Haas’s spirit of “klangmusik”—the attraction of sounds—and his use of microtonality is present in this work, but dark dreams also exhibits distinctly melodic and expressive passages as well:

[Klangmusik] is definitely something which characterizes my personal style – the development of the sound contains the main information. That said, there is something special that happens in this piece: towards the end, a very clear melodic structure suddenly appears. After 17 minutes, the bassoon starts playing a solo melody. After the lengthy development of the sound prior to this, this linearity appears as an alien element – an expressive alien element.

On October 21, Kammermusik Basel hosts the JACK Quartet in the world premiere performance of his String Quartet No. 8, commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Basel. The work receives a repeat performance on November 11 by the Arditti String Quartet as part of the Wien Modern festival.

Earlier this month, Jeffrey Means led the ensemble Sound Icon in a performance of La Profondeur, scored for 13 low instruments, presented by the Boston University Center for New Music. Utilizing, among other instruments, the kontraforte, contrabass clarinet, and accordion, the piece exploits the lowest register of the ensemble, which Haas characterizes as "at once a foundation and an abyss." Coming up, Vancouver New Music Festival features a performance of Haas’s Sextett with the Ethos Collective on October 17. On October 30, Ensemble Dal Niente presents in vain at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. This monumental work for 24 musicians is performed without stage lighting, and at times in complete darkness.

For more information on Georg Friedrich Haas, visit www.universaledition.com.

Georg Friedrich Haas
dark dreams (2013)
for orchestra
3.3.3.4-4.3.3.1-timp.2perc-2hp-str(16.14.12.10.8)
23’

String Quartet No. 8 (2014)
for string quartet
22’

La Profondeur (2009)
for 13 players
bcl.cbcl.kontraforte(bsn).barsax-hn.tbn-2perc-pno.acc-2vc.db
14’

Sextett (1992/1996)
for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, and violoncello
15’

in vain (2000)
for 24 instruments
2.1.2.1.sax-2.0.2.0-2perc-hp.acc.pno-3vn.2va.2vc.db
70’

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