Luciano Berio’s “Sequenza V for Trombone” (1966)—already performed in December 2025 at the same venue, but this time in remembrance of the trombonist Andreas Roth, who recently passed away—was as engagingly, entertainingly, and flawlessly performed as the last time, again by Matsuura Yoshiki. (This time, however, without makeup.)
Equally entertaining, with a special choreography along eight music stands, is the piece “Ground for Two Bassoons” (undated, probably fresh) by Diethelm Zuckmantel. Along a succinct drone motif, its late-Renaissance/early Baroque vibes are highly enjoyable.
Krzysztof Meyer’s “Quintet for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, French Horn, and Bassoon” (2025) isn’t quite to my taste. Its decidedly “classical” Neue Musik approach neither invents the wheel nor doesn’t want to, and Meyer stressed—in the preceding conversation with Uwe Sommer-Sorgente—that it’s meant first and foremost as a piece “for the pleasure of making music.”
Karin Haußmann’s “Four Movements for Accordion, Cello, and Ensemble” (2020) on the other hand, is spell-binding—with a terrifically deployed dynamic range; engaging interplay between the soloists, the soloists and the ensemble, and individual instruments from the ensemble; and four distinct movements that come together for a coherent whole.
Except for Berio, who died in 2003, all composers were in attendance. The musical performances were, as always, impeccable. For Haußmann’s piece, the notabu.ensemble neue musik was conducted by Thomas Brezinka.
Na hör’n Sie mal IV
Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Trautvetter-Brückner-Saal, February 25, 2026