Bouwhuis, van Zeeland, Bächli, Schneider, Radermacher, Werder

A total of twelve pianistic hands will bring to life the acoustic encounter between two important contemporary composers on the second Saturday afternoon of MaerzMusik. What unites them is a compositional approach grounded in exceptional theoretical knowledge. For both, theoretical thought and compositional practice are closely intertwined.

From the Dutch composer Cornelis de Bondt – unfortunately still little known in Germany – his piece ‘De namen de Goden’ for four hands and live electronics will be performed. From the American composer James Tenney, the programme features ‘Bridge’ for two pianos tuned microtonally, each played with four hands. The live electronics in the first piece and the microtonal tuning in the second move away from the aurally familiar sound world of traditional equal temperament produced mechanically by the keyboard. While both composers do reference the father of well-tempered keyboard literature and the harmonic foundations of tonal language, their results – their harmonic inflections – are markedly different.

In de Bondt’s work, the roughness of the piano sounds, which are further processed, is determined in part by electronic processors operated by the pianists, with a temporal precision that borders on the uncontrollable. In Tenney’s piece, the harmonic expansion results from a direct intervention in the tuning of the instruments themselves. Thus, in addition to the twelve exceptional pianistic hands, the audience can expect to see three concert grand pianos on stage for this musical encounter.