MULTIFACETED

With Ensemble Resonanz and Enno Poppe, two of the defining forces in contemporary music come together at Musica Viva. Based in Hamburg, Ensemble Resonanz has long been regarded as one of Europe’s most innovative and distinguished string ensembles. Enno Poppe, in turn, is among the most frequently performed and sought after German composers of today. At Musica Viva, he appears not only as composer but also as conductor of his own work.

At the heart of the programme lies the idea of expansion. Beginning with Johann Sebastian Bach’s solo suites, performed by Amarilis Dueñas Castán on cello and viola da gamba, the musical space gradually unfolds into ever richer dimensions. Even in Bach’s music, polyphony seems inherently present, although only a single instrument is heard.

Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte and Bryce Dessner’s Aheym each extend the tradition of the string quartet in their own distinctive way. The culmination of the programme is Enno Poppe’s Wald, a work for four string quartets in which sixteen independent voices merge into a remarkable sonic tapestry. From a single musical line grows an organism of astonishing complexity and radiant intensity. Rarely can one experience so vividly how naturally Johann Sebastian Bach’s musical ideas continue to resonate in the music of our own time.