Black holes from the Romantic era

Dissatisfied with the sprawling symphonies of composers like Mahler and Bruckner, Arnold Schönberg and Anton Webern embarked on a quest for a new path in music at the dawn of the 20th century. Dismissed in their day, the orchestral works of Schönberg and Webern can now be understood as ground-breaking implosions of the musical language of their time. Over a century later, these black holes from the Romantic era continue to sound shockingly relevant. They serve as a canvas upon which contemporary composers like Poppe and Furrer brilliantly build further. According to The New York Times, Klangforum Wien knows how to ‘reinvigorate the thrill of a concert with contemporary music’. With this programme, they return to the wellspring of much contemporary music: the Second Viennese School. By performing recent works by Beat Furrer and Enno Poppe, the Viennese ensemble also showcases some of the lasting influences of the revolution ignited by Schönberg and Webern. According to De Groene Amsterdammer, Poppe’s Salz ends in a ‘cacophonic frenzy, where all subcultures from fifty years ago converge in a screaming climax’.