Written By:
The Attic
Published:
February 12, 2018
This year's edition of MaerzMusik - Festival for Time Issues which will take place at several locations in Berlin from March 16 - 25th. With MaerzMusik, the Berliner Festspiele are reflecting on the “Time Wars” of our present time and invite guests to experience contemporary music in unusual formats. The 10 days featuring approximately 30 events – concerts, performances, installations, an exhibition and a discourse programme – with 5 premieres, long-term formats and portraits by Julius Eastman, Terre Thaemlitz and Ashley Fure enable encounters in listening and conversation.
The focus on the multifaceted legacy of African American Minimal musician Julius Eastman, which commenced in the last edition, will be continued this year in the festival's opening concert and in a multi-piece project at SAVVY Contemporary. A further focal point lies in the work of Japan-based, American-born transgender artist Terre Thaemlitz aka DJ Sprinkles, who produces moving music with her political philosophical approach. Four projects, among them two premieres exclusively produced for MaerzMusik, showcase the broad range of her artistic work. A further spotlight is cast on the composer Ashley Fure who presents current works for the first time in Germany on two evenings. In Zeitgeist, her compositions relate to works by composers Iannis Xenakis and Brian Ferneyhough, each of which takes a stand on political and temporal aspects of our present. The premiere of Migrants by Greek composer Georges Aperghis, who lives in Paris, raises questions about the temporality of migration, which will be continued in the scenic concert 'Salims Salon' by Hannes Seidl and other projects.
Wrapping up the festival is the fourth edition of The Long Now, which takes place from 24 March starting at 7 p.m. through to midnight of 25 March in cooperation with Berlin Atonal. The Long Now is a place for the enduring present, a space in which the sense of time can get lost. In this year's edition, the musical spectrum stretches from the avant-garde with representatives of Minimal Music and spectral music through live electronics and improvisation to Ambient and Noise. The vast space of the Kraftwerk Berlin with musicians and stages spread out on various levels gives the audience the possibility of perceiving sound as a spatial and bodily experience. The long concerts, that can last hours and were partially developed specifically for the festival, offer a unique auditory experience.
The legendary Australian trio The Necks kicks off the event in a set they composed especially for 'The Long Now' together with the 'A' Trio – four hours of quintessential live improvisation that has yet to be heard in this constellation. 'Capricorn’s Nostalgic Crickets', a rarely presented piece by French-Romanian composer Horatiu Radulescu from 1972, will be performed by seven international clarinetists in a spatial arrangement. A further rarity is Morton Feldman’s 'For Philip Guston', performed by the famous S.E.M. Ensemble, which has enjoyed recognition as the leading ensembles for experimental music in the USA since it was founded by Petr Kotig in the 1970s and was closely linked to the composer. Argentinian-born musician Lucio Capese, artist duo Timo van Luijk and Andrew Chalk in their 'Elodie' project as well as Japanese artist Tomoko Sauvage all explore electronically enhanced analogue sound spaces in their installations and performances. Soundwalk Collective will reflect on the space of the Kraftwerk Berlin in its own specific way with a live electronic set. Two well-known Ambient and Noise performers will be represented at the 'The Long Now' in the form of Brian Williams aka Lustmord and Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe aka Lichens.