Projects

Disputatious, sensitive and subtle
the Festival for New Music "Intersonanzen"

Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten, May 9th 2011 - Gerold Paul

Unlike prior centuries, modern times create different successions of notes and sounds, less
harmonies, although lots of atonal music. Anyway, dissonances define every day of the Iron Century
we live in. The Festival for New Music "Intersonanzen" tries to demonstrate such movements, now
also including Russian and Hungarian parts during its 11th edition.

During the current and following weekend, the festival takes place under the motto "disputatious,
sensitive and subtle" at three venues. Of course, the festival is also supposed to be "Brandenburg- style",
not only including renowned contemporary composers, but also students from the film academy HFF who
provided the dubbing of Walter Ruttmann's classic "Berlin - the symphony of the big city" (1927) on Saturday at
the film museum. With the "Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble" (directed by Alexei Vinogradov), a high-end
ensemble of New Music was won - unforgettable like many things the "Brandenburgische Verein Neue Musik"
offered as host during the 20th year of its existence.

Already, the Friday opening with the Hermann Keller Quartet at Nikolaisaal-Foyer was top of the line. Even though
the on-site piano was not allowed to be prepared, the maestro's hands performed magic for eyes and ears on the
keys and piano chords. An entrance with water drums, gradually being completed by Antje Messerschmidt (violin),
Jürgen Kupke (clarinet) and Uli Weber (trumpet) – all of them highly virtuoso artists. At the beginning and the
end stood wild, hard-to-tame improvisations, easily offering all the varieties possible in new art music. In between,
a ludicrous "Hymne" (hymn) and the very complex piece "ganz einfach" (very simple). Some passages were at the
edge of modern jazz or already passing it. So much discipline, skills, joy of playing a of course
fantasy - the crowd had to end up in a state of ecstasy.