Alles

Many works by Sergej Newski focus on the human voice. In the interview with Michael Rebhahn, the composer remembered: “The voice was the ideal path for finding my own idiom. In the late 1990s I began to transfer expressive vocal sounds into syntactic systems that obstruct their expressivity. I set out to find the primordial element of the voice; I searched for things that were immediate, unformed and onomatopoeic. I didn't want to write expressive music so much as to develop a syntax that at once touches listeners and keeps them at arm's length.”

The works “Blindenalphabet”, “Alles” and “J'étais d'accord” were recorded by the ensemble mosaic exclusively for the present CD. The ensemble Musikfabrik interprets the composition “Arbeitsfläche” which deals with the exploration of the sound generators and the distortion of instrumental sounds. Consisting of seven pieces for six soloists and chamber choir, “Autland” is the most comprehensive and most important work of the CD. Inspired by Johannes Ockeghem's motet “Deo gratias”, Newski applies the “principle of canon to his own repertoire of material to develop seven pieces whose governing motifs are the alteration or compression of phonetic articulation, speech and song”. (Rebhahn)

co-production: Deutschlandradio Kultur / production: WDR