Prom 28: Heiner Goebbels - Songs of Wars I Have Seen, London Sinfonietta / OAE, Rooke

[bluestateprommer]

Friday 9 August 2024
22:30
Royal Albert Hall

Heiner Goebbels: Songs of Wars I Have Seen (first performance at The Proms)

London Sinfonietta
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Chloe Rooke, conductor (Proms debut artist)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/e6qxp6

https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/proms/bbc-proms-24/prom-28/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0021k0w

[smittims]

Does anyone know anything about this composer? I'm at a loss to know what to expect. Will it be like Berio's Coro or Nono's Como una ola de fuerza e luz, or a cross between Sondheim and Bob Dylan?

[Quarky]

He seems to be more in the Stage Craft area than composers such as Berio and Nono:
. The facts prove that he fully succeeded in escaping categories: in order to try to define him, to qualify his works, even schematically, one must resort to circumlocutions. "Scenic concerts", "musical theatre", "performative installation", among other expressions used by Goebbels himself, are all approximations aimed at defining an artistic production where music, texts, theatre and visual elements merge into a whole that is irreducible to the sum of its parts.:: Pierre Rigaudiere
But I await comments from someone more knowledgeable.

[Pulcinella]

Does anyone know anything about this composer? I'm at a loss to know what to expect. Will it be like Berio's Coro or Nono's Como una ola de fuerza e luz, or a cross between Sondheim and Bob Dylan?

I have found this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edC7RFNaaTk

[Ein Heldenleben]

Does anyone know anything about this composer? I'm at a loss to know what to expect. Will it be like Berio's Coro or Nono's Como una ola de fuerza e luz, or a cross between Sondheim and Bob Dylan?

The only piece / album I’ve heard is A House Of Call. The YouTube video above doesn’t do justice to the extreme precision of his writing .
Pretty heavy duty post serialist who is an absolute master of complex orchestral textures and soundscapes. He’s not like any of the composers you mention above. Berio was a master of simplicity really …

[smittims]

Thanks, Heldenleben and others. I think many who've listened to Berio might think your comment an intended paradox!

[Serial_Apologist]

From the little I have heard of his music and ideas I want to find out more about Goebbels. Provisionally I would place him as a continuation and further elaboration of Bernt Aloys Zimmerman's unfinished quest for a renewed Gesamtkunstwerk conception incorporating approaches and gestures from free jazz, free improvisation and the more sophisticated outreaches of art rock as have been subsequently defined by figures and groups as superficially incompatible as Eisler, Carla Bley, Alex Schlippenbach, and Slapp Happy/Henry Cow. Either Goebbels could prove to be musical Modernisms' final salvation or I have got him completely wrong. For me this will be the most interesting Prom this year.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Thanks, Heldenleben and others. I think many who've listened to Berio might think your comment an intended paradox!

Well I once went to a Boulez / Berio concert and came away with that distinct impression!

[Ein Heldenleben]

From the little I have heard of his music and ideas I want to find out more about Goebbels. Provisionally I would place him as a continuation and further elaboration of Bernt Aloys Zimmerman's unfinished quest for a renewed Gesamtkunstwerk conception incorporating approaches and gestures from free jazz, free improvisation and the more sophisticated outreaches of art rock as have been subsequently defined by figures and groups as superficially incompatible as Eisler, Carla Bley, Alex Schlippenbach, and Slapp Happy/Henry Cow. Either Goebbels could prove to be musical Modernisms' final salvation or I have got him completely wrong. For me this will be the most interesting Prom this year.

He’s certainly very eclectic - uncategorisable really . The two works mentioned here in the comments seem to have little in common .

[smittims]

Thanks, S-A, that's helpful. I'm familiar with Zimmermann and admire his music, so I'll listen in to the Goebbels. My question was prompted by a desire to avoid any time-wasting in case it was another of these 'crossover' things.

[oliver sudden]

I’ve played Songs of War… —crossover it absolutely isn’t, but neither is it as confronting as, say, the Zimmermann Requiem (what is?) so I wouldn’t go in expecting something as hard-edged as that.

[bluestateprommer]

Heard this yesterday; an excellent performance indeed from all around, and a fine feather in her cap indeed for Chloe Rooke in her Proms debut. I'd never heard this work before in any format, so I approached it totally cold, so to speak. Definitely worth a listen for anyone who missed it. Nice to know that Heiner G. was in the house, and also working at the sound board, presumably.

I didn't check the RAH site for how many seats had sold prior to the concert, but my guess is that the hall was something like 95% empty, given the double-whammy of (1) a Late Night Prom and (2) a contemporary work. It would be interesting to know also how many folks did the double-header of both Friday night Proms.

[smittims]

Minority report from me, I'm afraid. I did try , but this isn't for me. I might have liked it more if it was just the music and not the talking. I know that's 'missing the point' but there ya go. I agree that the musical side of it was well performed.

[Serial_Apologist]

I made an early assumption that the somewhat minimal and oft-repeated character of the musical material making up the work was supposed to be justified by the verbal commentary. The former was largely semi-pastiche in nature, and since I was a bit too tired followjng a rather heavy day to follow the latter, I am going to have to give this Prom another listen some time.

[Quarky]

A Guardian review, 17 years old! https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/jul/14/2

The spoken text seems to be the most important element in this work, imv.