RIAS Kammerchor / Ensemble musikFabrik

Some processes are unpredictable; yet experimental music has become very predictable indeed. I am not interested in the old contrast between avant-garde and retreat. I am a classic example of someone who has done things that were not mainstream during avant-garde times. I have always resisted following style standards. Works that are written without anarchy, without violations against entrenched stylistic rules, are more or less unenjoyable.
Mauricio Kagel

Mauricio Kagel was one of the most unconventional compository phenomena of the 20th century: an original thinker whose complex musical oeuvre resisted any pigeonholing whatsoever. With his often irresistible humour Kagel, who died five years ago, pioneered a fascinatingly individual path through the music of the Modern period. Under the theme of “Marches, Rhymes, Weddings”, this concert erects several striking signposts, with compositions by two other individualists of the Modern period in addition to selected works by Kagel: cheeky “Children’s Rhymes” by Leoš Janáček and Stravinsky’s ballet music “Les Noces”, which newly interprets Russian folk music in a radical way.

In addition to vocals and percussion, Stravinsky also wanted to employ machines, mechanical pianos, pianolas: the sound was to be “completely homogenous, completely impersonal and completely mechanical”. He composed the first two scenes with this ensemble in mind but had to change his plans on account of the Pleyel instruments’ insufficient mechanics and objections from Sergej Diaghilew. Dutch composer Theo Verbey completed Stravinsky’s already advanced plans in 2007. At Musikfest Berlin, this version of “Les Noces” for soloists, choir, harmonium, percussion and live pianola will be presented to the public for the first time, with James Wood conducting RIAS Kammerchor and Ensemble musikFabrik.