Isolde & Tristan / Dreamdancers

Visions and illusions, dreams and hallucinations were the inspiration for Enjott Schneider’s surreal sound images: the current CD recording collects two double concertos by the Munich composer, both of which use unconventional combinations of solo instruments to make poetic contradictions audible.

In “Isolde & Tristan” (2014), Erhu virtuoso Jiemin Yan as a fairy tale princess and cellist Wen-Sinn Yang as her hero and counterpart Richard Wagner interact in a far Eastern context. The fluid Asian timbre of the traditional Chinese instrument merges with the chromaticism of Late-Romantic Western music; original quotations from Wagner meet slow waltzes and Irish diatonic melodies.

“Dreamdancers” (2016) explores the surreal worlds of the night. Sergei Nakariakov on Flugelhorn and Otto Sauter on Piccolo Trumpet play together in a collage-like manner characterized by leaps in time and superimposed tempos. They combine spectacular staccato technique with dizzying high notes to create a weightless dream full of feeling and beyond all reason.