SCHATTENKLÄNGE

The last piece to be heard at the festival’s closing concert is György Kurtág’s Lebenslauf, in which we can hear two basset horns and two pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart from each other. All the other pieces to be played this evening are related to that composition, as they are for one or two clarinets, or two pianos tuned a quarter- tone apart from each other.
The endless continuum of pitches audible to human ear has, throughout the ages and in different cultures, been divided into smaller units and in many different ways. In western culture we normally find a tuning system that divides an octave into twelve equal semitones, symbolized by the way in which a piano is tuned. In contrast, however, a harmonic theory appeared during the first half of the 19th century in both Germany and Syria which divided these intervals into smaller sections, and since the beginning of the last century there have been a number of composers who have based their pieces on this 24-tone octave. This concert brings together pieces composed for two conventional pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart from each other, so that the tones in between the conventional semitones become available on the second piano. The evening will also feature a number of solo and duo clarinet works, including a Kagel piece featuring shadow play, and Lachemann’s milestone in instrumental technique and musical aesthetics Dal Niente (From nothing), highlighting important new compositions in the
repertoire for the instrument.