Opening Concert: Klangforum Wien

Georges Aperghis: Situations (2012/13)

Klangforum Wien
Emilio Pomárico (Musical Direction)

The Darmstadt Summer Course 2023 opens with one of the most fascinating works for ensemble from the last decade: When Georges Aperghis composed his large one-hour work Situations for Klangforum Wien and the conductor Emilio Pomàrico, he deliberately planned it for 23 soloists and not so much as a homogeneous ensemble piece. He has a long history with the musicians of Klangforum, and so the French composer conceived 23 musical portraits, met the musicians for individual conversations and rehearsals, and thus created 23 very different musical situations, which in the end combine to form a rousing musical whole.

In Situations, Aperghis is clearly concerned with the intricate relationship between the individual and the group, with the richness of facets that ensemble playing can take without “losing” the individual voice. After a kaleidoscope of colorful polyphonies and fragments that line up or overlap, as well as very different constellations of solos, duos, trios and quartets, of groupings that play and those that do not play but sing or speak a text, a large, branching movement develops in the last part, in which individual and group finally come together. Aperghis once said that when he composes, he often thinks of an acrobat who climbs or jumps from one rope to another and only finds his balance again at the very last moment. Situations could also be heard this way: as a piece in which the audience, like in a circus manege, follows the musicians of Klangforum Wien in amazement and admires how virtuosic they handle their ropes…

With the friendly support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation

Klangforum Wien performs with the kind support of Erste Bank.