Concert
Contemplations into the Radical Others: Music for the Left Ear
Ensemble Musikfabrik / Lucia Dlugoszewski / Mazyar Kashian / Bethan Morgan-Williams
Lucia Dlugoszewski, score of Music for Left Ear in A Small Room, No. 3 © Library of Congress
“Contemplations into the Radical Others” was co-initiated by Ensemble Musikfabrik, who are dedicating a comprehensive programme to the composer in the second part of the research project. Four interpretations of her works for dance are complemented by two commissioned works that respond to Dlugoszewski’s interdisciplinary approach.
As with last year, “Contemplations into the Radical Others” sets productive accents in its examination of Lucia Dlugoszewski’s work. The second part of the project, devised in collaboration with Ensemble Musikfabrik, will open with a lecture and a concert showcasing a few of her works. Performances of “Amor Elusive Empty August” (1980), “Cantilever II” (1988), “Black Lake” (1988) and “Dazzle on a Knife’s Edge” (1968), which were created through her collaboration with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, will be complemented by two newly commissioned works: Bethan Morgan-Williams and Mazyar Kashian whom have already worked separately with Ensemble Musikfabrik and have written new pieces inspired by Dlugoszewski for this programme. Their works create an interdisciplinary dialogue that mediates between generations and beyond conventions. This evening presents Dlugoszewski’s music without dance accompaniment, creating an entry point into the composers key compositional concepts that appeared throughout the years in her works.
“Contemplations into the Radical Others” is a research project on Lucia Dlugoszewski launched by MaerzMusik with Ensemble Musikfabrik, the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, Katherine Duke and Agnese Toniutti. After kicking off last year, the endeavour continues with a deeper exploration of the life and work of the composer, who died in 2000. Dlugoszewski, who was also active as a poet, studied with Edgard Varèse, Grete Sultan and John Cage in the late 1940s, impressed Arnold Schönberg with her piano playing and sought ways to create new sounds in her work on the prepared piano. She also designed over a hundred instruments, some of which have been reconstructed for “Contemplations into the Radical Others” by Musikfabrik member Thomas Meixner. Dlugoszewski’s exploration of the seemingly mundane as well as the radically different focussed on the immediacy of music. Not only did she work behind the scenes as a composer for the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, she often performed poetically on stage next to the dancers. In collaboration with the Cologne-based Ensemble Musikfabrik, her work is brought to the fore with the same style in which she originally conceived it: as an expression of the freedom of sound, which in turn is meant to offer the audience moments of freedom. The ensemble is now presenting some of its pieces for the first time in Europe after painstakingly reconstructing the scores from existing recordings. In addition to a concert evening with Musikfabrik, three commissioned works in response to Dlugoszewski and a comprehensive laboratory that will thoroughly examine and discuss her music, sound and philosophy, the second part of “Contemplations into the Radical Others”, features performances by pianist Toniutti and choreographers Duke and Edivaldo Ernesto with members of the Erick Hawkins Dance Company along with Berlin-based dancers. Three commissioned works by Bethan Morgan-Williams, Mazyar Kashian and Elena Rykova will also be performed as part of the project, offering an artistic response to Dlugoszewski.
Programme
Bethan Morgan-Williams (*1992)
Gormod (UA 2024)
Composition commissioned by MaerzMusik and funded by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.
Lucia Dlugoszewski (1925 – 2000)
Amor Elusive Empty August (1971/1979)
for wind quintet
Dazzle on a Knife’s Edge (1968)
for ensemble
Black Lake (1969-1970)
for ensemble
Mazyar Kashian (*1991)
Roshanai (UA 2024)
for brass quintet
Composition commissioned by MaerzMusik and funded by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.
Lucia Dlugoszewski (1925 – 2000)
Cantilever II (1988)
for ensemble
Ensemble Musikfabrik
Gregor A. Mayrhofer – conductor
Funded by
“Contemplations into the Radical Others” is a long-term project of MaerzMusik in cooperation with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Agnese Toniutti and many others.
With many thanks for the kind support provided by the Library of Congress.