“Stargaze” curator André De Ridder
(Photo by Marco Borggreve)
You think the last Berlin weekend was all about the finale of the Berlin International Film Festival, fighting for statues of bears, after-show parties and trying to catch a glimpse of some Hollywood stars? Well, not quite. The Berlinale may have been a festival for the eyes, but what is a film without a soundtrack?
The suitable soundtrack for the Berlinale glamour was supplied by a little festival that has taken place from Friday until Sunday at the famous theatre Volksbühne.
Under the name ‘stargaze presents’ a team headed by the conductor André de Ridder has pulled together a festival with a pretty challenging aim: to push the boundaries between classical music and popular music. The intention was to offer a choice mix of talented musicians both from the fields of rock and pop and with a high quality classical background.
Every evening there were three performances, the last one always was an interpretation of the ground-breaking composition In C. It was written 1964 by the minimalist composer Terry Riley, who pioneered the use of repetitive patterns and still inspires many electronic musicians.
The first one who took up the challenge was none other than NILS FRAHM. The composer and pianist has developed a very special and intimate sound by combining his piano playing with analogue synthesizers.
Together with the brass and string players of the stargaze ensemble he interpreted the piece in a cheerful and dynamic way, operating the synthesizer and the piano at the same time. Towards the end of the well working performance the musicians left their instruments and took simple sticks to drum the rhythm on the floor. The audience rewarded it with standing ovations and would not let NILS FRAHM go without giving an encore.
Pantha du Prince and The Bell Laboratory
(Photo by Katja Ruge)
Less variable but more ceremonial were THE BELL LABORATORY and PANTHA DU PRINCE at the second day. The five musicians from Norway and the German sound artist Hendrik Weber alias PANTHA DU PRINCE started their interpretation with the contemplative sound of their numerous bells, cymbals and marimbas but then the producer added his beats and made the audience leap up and dance.
Everyone went home pleased after this beautiful piece of music finished off with the musicians slowly walking into the auditorium chiming single bells.
The German electro duo MOUSE ON MARS gave the most unconventional performance behind their mixing desks and in collaboration with the American composer Tyondai Braxton. Supported by mechanical instruments called ‘Sonic Robots’ they created an electronic sound collage, really hard to describe.
Holy Other
At stargaze presents there were not only perfectly tuned instruments to enjoy but also perfectly trained voices. The British electronica producer HOLY OTHER presented some of his pieces, standing in the middle of the Berlin choir CANTUS DOMUS. The balance between the harmonizing voices of the men and women was so good, that sometimes it was hard to tell if the singing came from the people or from the surreal sound landscapes HOLY OTHER created.
CANTUS DOMUS was also singing on Saturday when the group 1000 ROBOTA from Hamburg rocked the stage. The performance was completed by brass players and string players of the stargaze ensemble.
The intelligent and sometimes sarcastic texts, sung by Anton Spielmann, called TOCOTRONIC to mind. The choir multiplied the charismatic gloomy voice of the front man or commented on the mood the band and the ensemble created.
Singer and multi-instrumentalist Shara Worden alias MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND didn’t need a choir since the voice of the trained opera singer has so many facets that it was entertainment enough, also because she was costumed like a ringmaster and showed some crazy dance numbers.
Together with a drummer, a bassist and the new music ensemble ZAFRAAN she presented both songs from her last album All Things Will Unwind and songs of her new record This is my Hand coming out this year.
Recently NBHAP interviewed Bryce Dessner whose composition was performed at ‘stargaze presents’.
(Photo by Shervin Lainez)
The short pieces that prefaced the three evenings were composed by BRYCE DESSNER, Ben Shemie and OWEN PALLETT, three man you can also find in the sphere of rock bands, namely THE NATIONAL, SUUNS and ARCADE FIRE. The compositions proved that it is possible to unite the understanding of classical contemporary music and rock and roll in one person.
Apart from one video projection the visual influence was as reduced as possible so that one could fully concentrate on the music.
The very clear and sophisticated concept of stargaze presents and the historic and beautiful location worked out very well – the Volksbühne was sold out and the audience rewarded every performance with long lasting applause.
Hopefully this has also convinced the Hauptstadtulturfonds, which financed stargaze presents, to support the festival next year as well. This family of musicians ‘bound by this desire to explore new sounds and ideas’, as André de Ridder put it in an interview with NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION, should definitely grow.
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STARGAZE PRESENTS