Sensuality is back!
Discoveries by the meter. Over the course of five days, the Bern Music Festival with its motto "Chain" had a huge pull effect.
One thing quickly became clear at this year's edition of the Bern Music Festival from September 3 to 7: music is sensual again! Gone are the days when sparse sound was confused with musical innovation. Even the opening concert Liquid Room No. 11: Scattered Songs in the large hall of the Reitschule was a feast for the senses. Eleven musicians, divided into ensembles around the room, focused on the song genre for three hours, with music from John Dowland (1562/63-1626) to Leonie Strecker (*1995). Right in the middle of it all: this year's composer in residence, Svetlana Maraš (*1985), who created pleasant intermezzi with electronic improvisations. The 30 or so works performed were perfectly curated by Eva Reiter, viola da gamba player of the ensemble in residence Ictus.
Fragile sounds scattered around the room
Was there just something? The piece only lasts a few seconds Cadillac for solo guitar by the gifted Swiss composer Jürg Frey (*1953). But even this brief moment shows his musical prowess. Jürg Frey was represented with several compositions on this opening evening. What a gift! With an incredible feel for quiet, fragile sounds, Frey weaves a fine architecture of breathtaking beauty. The program also included some of his songs, which were interpreted with great flexibility by the singer Mimi Doulton - one of the great discoveries of this year's festival.
Occasionally, they still exist: the sounds that are based on the ideal of the Darmstadt avant-garde of the 1950s. They were also present at the opening concert, for example in the composition Mutation by Greek composer Panayiotis Kokoras (*1974) for clarinet and electronics. Although the composition, written in 2015, was played brilliantly by clarinettist Dirk Descheemaeker, it came across a little like a clumsy attempt from a 1960s recording studio and was already ancient in its tonal language, eons older than Franz Schubert's Lied The lyre manwhich proved its indestructible freshness and topicality as the opening piece.
Jewelry
One day later, the Schlachthaus Theater Bern sparkled and shone. The Bern Music Festival is known for its extraordinary events. Under the festival motto "Chain", this year's edition also gave academia a chance to have its say. Art historian Annette Kniep unfolded a revealing panorama on the subject of showpieces spanning several millennia. In her presentation, jewelry from different periods entered into a dialogue: Up until the end of the 18th century, Bernese patrician women displayed their marriageability with dignified bijous, while men used medals to showcase their level of power. And even 300 years later, jewelry remains a means of communication. In the hip-hop scene, gold chains are visible proof of success. In short: adorning oneself is a basic human need and a universal constant.
Béla Rothenbühler contributed multi-layered texts, which were congenially set to music by the singer and performance artist Corina Schranz (*1987): sometimes minimalist, but always sensual and beautiful in sound.
Chained
Anxiety is the great theme of the Western world, depicted in the finest ramifications in writings from Søren Kierkegaard to Jacques Lacan. The performative research journey Get well soon!which took us through various rooms of the Progr in a charming and visually stunning way, unfortunately only rarely penetrated the surface in its examination of the issue and remained trapped in relatively banal clichés. Nevertheless, there were some very atmospheric musical moments during the hour-long tour, particularly in the interaction between the flute (Luca Höhmann) and cello (Richard Ander-Donath).
The Bern Music Festival aims to be more than just "L'art pour l'art". The program always conveys a political message. The festival's motto "Chain" meant that a reappraisal of slavery was an obvious choice. Under the direction of Moritz Achermann, the vocal ensemble tempo d'affetto juxtaposed music by the US composer and jazz trumpeter Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson (*1951) with Spanish Renaissance works. A subtle oscillation between colonial splendour and colonized suffering was achieved. The composer of black skin, who lives in Biel, recited very touching terms, names and invocations in various African and Caribbean languages during the concert, recalling his ancestors.
Bern Minster remains an indispensable venue during the music festival. Late in the evening, the composer in residence Svetlana Maraš presented a trance-like live performance in the choir room of the sacred building. Singer Andreas Schaerer interacted with the electronic tinkerer in a virtuoso performance of speech and song, exploring the entire spectrum of the human voice. - Oh, how sensual new music can be!
