New Counterpoints: “Musica do Brasil Meets ‘Save the Rainforest’” | SEP 29, 2024

L2R: Droska, Giljanović, Bogéa

Ivana Giljanović (vocals/speaking voice); Rafael Bogéa (guitar); Johannes Droska (contrabassoon)

A musik21 e. V. event with funding from the Kunststiftung NRW

Brazilian folk/art songs juxtaposed with works by Norbert Laufer, Erik Janson, Elisabeth Fußeder, Miro Dobrowolny, and Elvira Garifzyanova

Electronic music performance “turing’s ink” by DUO Wechselstrom (Renate Pittroff and Christoph Theiter)

Fantastic concert with ace performances of Brazilian folk/art songs and Neue Musik compositions that kept the audience spellbound without intermission for more than two hours. For both instruments, the contrabassoon and the guitar, most of the Neue Musik compositions made ample use of old-schoolish—as far as Neue Musik is concerned—percussive sounds not native to these instruments, with programmatic effects that perfectly matched the event’s rainforest theme. (Also, it gave the guitar a well-needed experimental boost—maybe it’s just me, but guitar music always sounds tonal to me, no matter how much it struggles for atonality).

The Neue Musik compositions were musically engaging throughout and well-worth listening to (at least) a second time for a deeper understanding; and while I’m not usually enthusiastic about programmatic music, the pieces were well-balanced with regard to their musical and topical motifs. Two minor quibbles: one composition employed texts that were a bit too bluntly educational for my taste*, and another one stretched its musical material a wee bit too far.

The folk/art songs were beautifully expressive and beautifully performed, and—unsurprisingly for Brazilian folk music—quite strong on mournfulness and melancholy (even if not as vigorously morose as fado). Nevertheless, when Rafael Bogéa said a few words after the encore, he thanked everybody for the opportunity to juxtapose these Brazilian folk music’s “joy and celebration” with the more reflective tone of the Neue Musik works—which struck me as kind of funny on the one hand, but also as highly appreciative in terms of a cultural mindset that doesn’t naturally equate joy and celebration with major schlager and schunkel keys.

There’s one point of criticism as to the event itself, however: that “Musical do Brasil Meets ‘Save the Rainforest’” and DUO Wechselstrom’s electronic music performance hadn’t been arranged as a (New Counterpoints-typical) double bill. Instead, the latter was scheduled as a mere appendix to the former and, to boot, without an intermission for the audience to stretch their legs, greet the performers and composers, or even visit the restrooms after two full hours. Thus, many people were leaving the hall right before DUO Wechselstrom’s performance started and didn’t return, which was a shame because “turing’s ink” was an absolute blast.

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*As an aside, it’s almost always a good idea to entrust an actual writer with original texts, lyrics, or libretti, for which Wagner’s Parsifal or Massenet’s Herodiade serve as strong cautionary tales.

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Images [click to embiggen]

Performers (left to right):
Droska, Giljanović, Bogéa

Performers & Composers (left to right):
Garifzyanova, Fußeder, Droska, Giljanović, Bogéa, Laufer, Dobrowolny
(Janson attendant but off-stage)