Ars Musica 2012

Since the early days of Christianity, special services have been dedicated to the dead. And the requiem makes its appearance as long ago as the Middle Ages. With his Et Lux, Wolfgang Rihm is therefore composing in a long tradition, even if this work is more of a refl ection on the requiem genre than it is a traditional mass for the dead. Rihm does not put the whole of the text to music. Instead, he makes his own, personal selection – an exercise Brahms, Delius and Britten did before him. In his arrangement for vocal quartet and string quartet, Rihm puts the emphasis on the Eternal Light, but not without also making the shadow of death tangible. The result is as disturbing as it is comforting, with daring harmonies, bathed in a tender, phonic texture. Just the thing for the Huelgas Ensemble and their perfect musical counterpart the Minguet Quartett.

- STUDIO 4 -

Bozar, Ars Musica, Flagey