For Lisa Streich, the sky above us represents a constant in relation to the brittle realities of life. With Himmel, she paints a plethora of tonal colours with spectral chords, which allow the fluctuation between rupture and continuity to become palpable. In Andělské schody (Angel Steps), Martin Smolka's childhood memories of a path through the landscape popularly known as "angel steps" are echoed in his precise art of orchestration as a microtonal journey with a plurality of compositional ideas.
The concert also centers on composers who share a close relationship with the Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM): Fuhong Shi's Mandala no. 2 contemplates eternity and infinity – inspired by the words of William Blake. Guoping Jia is a professor of composition at the CCOM and studied with Helmut Lachenmann. In Ripples in Spacetime, he derives the core sonic gestures from signals in deep space and fuses the sound of traditional Chinese instruments with Western orchestration. Wenchen Qin (professor of composition and vice president of the CCOM) also follows this approach with a new arrangement of his piece Poetry of the Land dedicated to Klangforum Wien, through which he reveals the poetic landscapes of the poet Natuo. Invisible Streams from the Sky by Ziao Li examines the potential destructive forces of technological acceleration, which not only affect earthly nature, but also cosmic exploration.
Photo: © CCOM