Event

"If I had a second life, I would study mathematics and physics to understand how the world is constructed and, above all, where it comes from – indeed, why it exists at all. These questions are, at the same time, philosophical questions. For this five-movement work, I took texts from astronomy textbooks and rewrote them. In each of the first four movements, a duo consisting of a singer and an instrument (flute, clarinet, percussion, cello) takes center stage, accompanied by the others in a recitative-like manner. The final and longest movement is performed by all eight musicians. The (generally spoken) texts have these thematic cores: background noise; black hole; wormhole; ekpyrosis; inflation." (Composer Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf)

SCHOLA HEIDELBERG and the ensemble aisthesis, under the direction of Walter Nußbaum, performed the piece last summer under COVID-19 conditions and subsequently recorded it at the ZKM in Karlsruhe.