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WHERE I´VE NEVER BEEN BEVORE
The composer Helmut Lachenmann
87 Minutes, Digibeta, 16:9
Year of production: 2007
Directed by: Bettina Ehrhardt
Produced by: bce film
Versions: German
“How can one be a composer today,” Helmut Lachenmann asks, “without
exploiting the
garden variety of traditions?” How can beauty and the true expression of art be
possible in
the world of today’s entertainment? Helmut Lachenmann is one of today's most
moving
composers, a musician who is radically questioning his own methods of
composition and the
materials he uses for creating his sound. His scores demand the highest
concentration and
performance techniques from the musicians – and he simultaneously is challenging
the
listener: “If art is to be more than entertainment, then it has to develop new
ways of looking,
thinking and… listening.”
Bettina Ehrhardt's portrait of Helmut Lachenmann shows the artist at work. It
features
musicians like the Ensemble Modern and the Ensemble Intercontemporain, who have
become very familiar with Lachenmann’s work over a long period of time – and
others, who
have rediscovered Lachenmann’s music with its intricate playing techniques. A
visit in the
musician's hideaway, his secluded home high above the Lago Maggiore, gives one a
glimpse to where this artist draws his creative energy – from the quiet of
nature, from
solitude.
“How do I get into new areas“, Lachenmann asks, “where I've never been before?”
Composing is an adventure, with Helmut Lachenmann.
Yukiko Sugawara, Ensemble Modern (cond, Bradley Lubman), Ensemble Modern
Orchestra (cond.
Markus Stenz), Ensemble Intercontemporain (cond. Heinz Holliger), Lucerne
Festival Academy
Orchestra (cond. Matthias Hermann), Lotus String Quartet, Jack Quartet , Betty
Freeman, Ulrich
Mosch, Wolfgang Rihm, Mark Sattler
For licensing and more information please contact:
Björn Jensen
email: jensen(at)gingerfoot.de
© by bce film and Schwenk Film for WDR and DRS, 2007
