Ensemble Recherche - Wolfgang Rihm: Sphäre um Sphäre - Frage (2022)

The sound objects in Wolfgang Rihm's compositions contain a flow energy that the composer senses and releases. Rihm coined the terms 'vegetative composition' and 'seismographic reaction' for this special relationship to the material. Inscription, counterfactual and overpainting are the processes that Rihm uses to create completely new pieces from earlier pieces within different series of compositions. The starting point for his work is not prefabricated building blocks, but concrete sound objects: a chord, a line, a gesture, a characteristic sound, a type of texture. 'Frage' for female voice and ensemble is characterized not only by two forms of composition that are essential for the fine arts: the line and the flat, object:like. In addition, Rihm uses methods of painting: overpainting and inscription. The work is embedded in a network of references to fine art. While in 'Frage' components with different dates of origin are reassembled and new sections are added, in 'Sphere by Sphere' a different type of processing is used for ensembles. In the form of a contrafactorial, a template is processed as brand new. This WERGO CD with two first releases was recorded with one of the most distinguished ensembles for new music, the ensemble recherche under the direction of Lucas Vis. Wolfgang Rihm dedicated his piece 'Frage' to the ensemble. Both 'Frage' and 'Sphere by Sphere' were premiered by the ensemble recherche. With the mezzo:soprano Salome Kammer a universal talent can be heard; her extreme wealth of expression and the inexhaustible vocal facets break boundaries.