Despite all the dynamic changes that have marked Ensemble Recherche, one person has almost always belonged to it: Helmut Lachenmann. With a twinkle in his eye, the composer recently explained to our musicians the „tonlosoids“ he likes to use so much: sounds whose noisiness also subtly hides tones. While this idea is not in music dictionaries, it can be found in Helmut‘s new string trio Mes Adieux. He wrote it for Recherche, which had to wait exactly 29 years for its completion – yet another reason to celebrate the friendship between the ensemble and the now 86-year-old!

„His music is stringent and in conversation he can be very serious,“ our violinist Melise Mellinger says, „but he is a very generous person, very humanistic in his music – and he creates the most beautiful spoonerisms!“ This cheerful side is also evident in the Stuttgarter‘s private musical preferences. Melise recounts, „When we were rehearsing his new trio in Freiburg, he played whatever came to his mind on the piano. Suddenly the melody of ‚Marina, Marina‘ rang out, and we were both happily surprised that the other liked this Italian hit so much!“ Helmut also has a fondness for the film composer Ennio Morricone – Recherche pianist Klaus Steffes-Holländer acknowledges this with his own Morricone arrangement. On the other hand, Helmut Lachenmann‘s Trio Fluido from 1968 is strictly structuralist. The Five Variations on a Theme by Franz Schubert, which Helmut compares to a „souvenir from his youth“, are separated from the fresh Mes Adieux by no less than 66 years. We are happy about the addition to the repertoire and see eye to eye with Melise: „We rave about the piece!“

With works by 
Helmut Lachenmann, Ennio Morricone

Klaus Steffes-Holländer, Editing

Supported by the Federal Commissioner of the BKM within the framework of NEUSTART KULTUR