We have travelled very far to record this last DVD of the “Lachenmann Perspectives:” In March 2015, the rehearsals of “Kontrakadenz” [Contra Cadence] took place in the Casa da Música in Porto, Portugal, under the direction of Lothar Zagrosek. Sectional rehearsals had already familiarized musicians of the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto with the most important playing techniques. Together with Helmut Lachenmann, these were then further consolidated, specific noise sounds with, for instance, table tennis balls, spinning metal discs, and water-filled zinc tubs were thoroughly elaborated.
For “SCHREIBEN” [Writing], we then followed Lachenmann to San Sebastián in February 2016. There, with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Musikene under the direction of Arturo Tamayo, we had in front of the camera a student orchestra, motivated, though still not experienced with the music of Lachenmann. What the composer also explains in the interview, becomes very clear in the rehearsals: how the starting point of the piece, the idea of writing, is picked up and implemented for each instrument individually.
The rehearsals of both pieces were predominantly in English – so the films are mostly without subtitles.
(Wiebke Pöpel)