Composition Commission issued to Ernstalbrecht Stiebler – MaximalMinimal

Ensemble Werktag, Zürich, Switzerland

MaximalMinimal is Ensemble Werktag’s third project and is this time dedicated to the composers Martin Lorenz (CH), Ernstalbrecht Stiebler (D) and Peter Ablinger (A). The project comprises performances in various cities across Switzerland. MaximalMinimal sees Ensemble Werktag interested in musical minimalism going beyond what can merely be described as “Minimal Music”. As part of the project Martin Lorenz and Ernstalbrecht Stiebler will each write a new composition for Ensemble Werktag while Peter Ablinger will be represented with the good half-hour piece “Läuterung des Eisens” dating from 1995. Belonging to three different generations, in their works the composers Lorenz, Stiebler and Ablinger display a strong reduction in the tonal-musical medium, yet they each do this in their very own individual way. The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation will be supporting the composition commission issued to Ernstalbrecht Stiebler whose interest in fine tonal sound changes, friction and frequencies is reminiscent of “modern” composers like Morton Feldman and Giacinto Scelsi as aesthetic points of orientation. Stiebler’s minimalism is expressed in sparse line-ups, lingering notes and long silences. The three compositions of MaximalMinimal create stark contrasts – between volume and silence, between compression and emptying. The bridging link is the composers’ shared interest in focalizing reduced tonal events and individualistic audio spaces. 

May 30 – June 28, 2014
Gewürzmühle Zug, Progr Bern, Elaine Basel, Theater am Gleis Winterthur, St. Jakob Zürich, Switzerland 

Further Information:
www.zhdk.ch