Kai Schumacher, piano / Benedict Kloeckner, violoncello
FRATRES
"I could compare my music to white light, in which all colours are contained. Only a prism can separate these colours and make them visible; this prism could be the mind of the listener." (Arvo Pärt)
The Estonian composer Arvo Pärt is considered a magician of sound, a master of spirituality. He was targeted by Soviet cultural functionaries at an early stage, whether due to his initially serialised and therefore "Western decadent" compositional style or the often religious content of his works. After a creative crisis and a creative break of almost eight years, he returned to the musical scene at the end of the 1970s with a completely new style: his so-called Tintinnabuli style broke with the musical zeitgeist and did not strive for more and more complexity, but for reduction and focussing on the essentials - the true core of the music.
In "Fratres", composed in 1977 as one of the first pieces in this new style, sounds of beguiling beauty emerge from forms inspired by Renaissance music and following strict mathematical rules. Originally notated without specific instrumentation and not bound to any fixed timbres, "Fratres" develops in nine variations into a hypnotic interplay of meditation and mania and, over the years, into an iconic piece of contemporary music. Together with cellist Benedict Kloeckner, pianist and composer Kai Schumacher sets out in search of Arvo Pärt's brothers (and sisters) in spirit and invites you to a musical family reunion between minimalist structures and mystical soundscapes.
Works by: Arvo Pärt, Johann Sebastian Bach, Olivier Messiaen, Philip Glass, Valentin Silvestrov, Gavin Bryars, Christopher Cerrone, Kai Schumacher, and Sophia Jani among others.
