Immerse yourself in the fascinating sound world of the 20th and 21st centuries, where composers continually build bridges between voice, sound, text, and cultures. In this programme by the Contemporary Music Ensemble of KCB, conducted by Bart Bouckaert, the focus is not on linear narrative, but rather on the weaving of connections: between word and sound, between tradition and experiment, between Western and non-Western sonic worlds.
Programme Notes
With Le Marteau sans maître (1953–1955), Pierre Boulez created one of the landmark works of post-war modernism. Set to poetry by René Char, the piece unfolds in nine movements in which voice and ensemble never meet in a fixed, predictable way. Four movements are vocal, five instrumental, yet rather than alternating, they interlock as layers within a single web. The alto voice appears in shifting guises: at times lyrical and melodically intertwined with flute, guitar, and viola; at other moments more spoken, with rhythmic articulation supported by percussion. The result is a musical language in which colour, timbre, and rhythm outweigh traditional melodic development. Boulez’s striking instrumentation - featuring vibraphone, xylorimba, guitar, and extensive percussion - does not refer to the European orchestral tradition, but rather evokes sonic worlds associated with Africa and Asia. Without imitating them, he opens a space in which “West” and “non-West” intersect. The work thus becomes not only a technical milestone of serialism, but also an exploration of a more universal mode of listening.
In Secret Kiss (2018) by Peter Eötvös, attention shifts towards silence, gesture, and suggestion. This melodrama for five instruments and narrator is based on a scene from Alessandro Baricco’s Silk, in which a brief, almost unspoken moment between two characters opens up an entire emotional universe. Eötvös translates this into a fragile musical dramaturgy in which the instruments function less as accompaniment than as carriers of character. Low woodwinds, muted strings, and percussive gestures create an atmosphere of restrained tension. As in much of his work, Eötvös engages with the idea of ritual: small actions acquire an almost sacred weight, as if music itself becomes a form of silent communication. The result is a work that does not so much tell a story as it suggests one.
