The Ultraschall Festival für Neue Musik begins today. I am listening to the live broadcast of the opening concert right now. I’m going to post comments as we go along, refresh your browser from time to time. Tonight’s program features pieces by Hans Otte, Olga Neuwirth, Sebastian Claren, and Pierre Boulez. The festival program is here. There are some fascinating pieces on the program, so make sure to either go to some of the events or read our reviews here on zeitschichten.com …

Update 1: Wow, the moderation of the concert makes really no sense. I’m glad I didn’t go: lengthy interviews with the composers between the pieces are just not my case. Now Olga Neuwirt’s concerto for bassoon and orchestra. Let’s see how that goes. I remember a terrible piece by her for piano and tape at the last Salzburg festival.

Update 2: Zefiro alleggio… nell‘Infinito is the title of this piece and I must say it is awesome! Evocative string sounds disturbed by crisp bassoon attacks! A slowly moving sound tapestry, interrupted by disturbing motives that sound somehow oriental. I wish I could hear this in the hall right now and not via a crappy internet stream (ca. 93 kbps)! Stereotypical ending: crescendo on one big fat sound, then all of a sudden most intruments stop playing and there is a thin sound continuing much softer.

Update 3: Now Memorial by Hans Otte. Never heard of that guy. Apparently this is a piece that was composed for a meditation session … Otte is 80 years old … the piece begins … minimalistic, tonal … a melody evolves out of a repetitive background motive … it grows and grows … already boring by now … this is probably going to be an endless transformation of this melody … I was right… now the second movement… same idea … third movement. sounds like Stravinsky … fourth movement … IT’S ALL THE SAME!!! Fifth movement .. it’s not all the same. This sounds differently … more like a soundtrack for an American christmas movie … Isn’t this supposed to be a concert for new music? This may be composed recently, it’s not new, however….

— INTERMISSION —

Update 4: Interesting conversation during the intermission. How can New Music reach larger audiences? Rainer Pöllmann, one of the organizers stresses that this is not necessarily important. He thinks that a larger audience will result in less quality. Is that really so?

— SECOND HALF —

Update 5: Second half is about to start … It’s going to be Pierre Boulez’s Figures – Doubles – Prismes. Boulez is probably at the concert. Three days ago he conducted Mahler’s Third with the Staatskapelle at the Philharmonie, and from what I heard it was a boring performance…

Update 6: This is an impressive and powerful performance. The piece is very energetic, lots of different colors and rhythmic motives. It seems to go back and force, like a fight between two equals, and inbetween those quick changes of direction there are islands of standstill, where time and motion freeze.

Update 7: The piece is much calmer now and I sense a fragments of Mahler underneath the modernist surface… but now it’s getting forceful again… great performance…