Ensemble Integrales: Alpenglühen disproves an Austrian identity crisis

November 26th 2008, by Tobias |

One of Germany’s leading new music groups is turning its gaze southwards. On “Alpenglühen”, the ensemble Integrales is following in the footsteps of a young generation of Austrian composers, always in search of a recognisable local school. The result of their quest is pleasantly contradictory: No, a seamless and unified Austrian identity in new music doesn’t exist. But yes, there are several singular Austrian tonal identities which share a pool of adjacent techniques and the will to go beyond the usual predefined restrictions of the contemporary composition community. Five pieces by protagonists like Wolfram Schurig, Wolfgang Suppan, Karlheinz Essl, Christof Dienz and Bernhard Gander are closely examined and performed with exploratory zest, bringing out both aspects of the projects: The similarities hidden underneath the surface and the distinct differences which are just as essential in carving out a national musical identity.

The compactness of the material on “Alpenglühen” must be considered a bonus for anyone interested in quickly obtaining a general idea of Austria’s blossoming scene. Schurig’s “A.R.C.H.E” tentatively touches upon Jazz in a dynamic dance of cascading broken clusterchords and careful solo passages. On Suppan’s “weiten und male”, the pulse is slowed down to a silently breathing, far-away texture of playful violin, gamepad and live electronics, with manipulated vocals popping up from the cracks like a bizarre jack in a box. Essl’s “More or Less”, meanwhile, realised over a majestic stretch of eight years, builds a nervous tension arch from buzzing strings and itching synthetic structures, counterpointing percussive outbursts with moments of dark reflection in a piece which heavily relies on improvisation.

Researching the essence of musical cultures worldwide has turned into a focal point for the ensemble Integrales, whose “Traces of Asia” disc on coviello classics already presented music by composers from Iran, Japan, Mongolia and Kazahstan to audiences rarely exposed to the locally spiced sounds of these countries. “Alpenglühen” reinforces this tendency, while emphasising their non-dogmatic stance: Upon closer inspection, some of the works from our direct neighbourhood may seem more alien to us than the supposedly “exotic” tunes of distant continents.

Picture by Kurt Hoerbst

Homepage: ensemble Integrales
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