# Lachenmann also composed some great great music!



## Guest (Dec 22, 2018)

Lachenmann's music was probably my gateway into a lot of contemporary music. There's something I've found in his music which is utterly _musical_ about the way he discovers and uses all kinds of instrumental sounds to really give his music a sense of depth and motion. A few weeks ago I met Lachenmann at a concert of his music in Munich which began with one of his most famous works, Mouvement. I've always been fascinated by his ability to create a musical experience for the listener that extends the klangfarbenmelodic orchestration of Webern to encompass a greater variety of articulations, decays, bursts and swells of colour so inextricably linked to register and pitch that the potential for evoking emotion (or even simply how engaging the music might sound) is heightened. His music sounds like an escape from the rigidity of high modernism as represented by works from the 50s and 60s by Babbitt, Boulez, Stockhausen et al and instead replaces it with an innocent, open-minded, non-judgemental exploration of the sounds of musical instruments. To me, his music is refreshing, and even works of his from more than 30 years ago still sound fresh!

I'm curious to know if there are others who have also enjoyed Lachenmann's music for a similar reason or if there are other aspects of his music that you particularly enjoy.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

his music is a like an ASMR video transcribed into complicated notes


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## Guest (Dec 22, 2018)

Jacck said:


> his music is a like an ASMR video transcribed into complicated notes


I think there's a truth to this, especially with Guero.... :lol:


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

I know hardly anything about Lachenmann, but will be watching this thread with interest.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

For its charm, humor, lightness, colors, sense of space, suspense, and unpredictability:


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## Red Terror (Dec 10, 2018)

Lachenmann’s work is great. However, I don’t find it nearly as interesting as Kurtág’s.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

There’s a really interesting, somewhat negative, review of Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern by « Autonomeus » on Amazon.com, it’s a work I would like to know better, but the absence of a video recording of a production with English subtitles is a problem. 

The music by Laachenmann I have explored the most is the three quartets, especially the second, Reigen Seliger Geister.

I’m very sympathetic to Lachenmann’s political approach, I like Nono and Holliger even more than Lachenmann, but this may be a question of familiarity with the music as much as anything else.


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## Andolink (Oct 29, 2012)

I've been a huge fan of Lachenmann for a couple of decades. There are too many of his works that I love to start listing them. 

His influence on the younger generations of innovative composers is deep and wide.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

It's strange. I do know and like (or more) quite a few of his works but I feel that I have barely gotten to grips with him. He composed a lot and I am wandering in the desert without a guide! I'm listening to Accanto and loving it! Next I'll listen to Nun and probably Notturno and I know I will love them, too. Lachenmann is not hard work: he is perhaps a lot "easier" than Boulez because his method seems much more direct.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Larkenfield said:


> For its charm, humor, lightness, colors, sense of space, suspense, and unpredictability:


I happened to click and listen to this first thing this morning, with no expectations, and enjoyed it.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Lachenmann? Oh, great, someone else I'll be criticized for listening to. Oh, well, I may as well jump in. I'll try the Allegro Sostenuto.


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## Lisztian (Oct 10, 2011)

Larkenfield said:


> For its charm, humor, lightness, colors, sense of space, suspense, and unpredictability:


Very fun and colourful piece. Thanks!


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2018)

I'm always surprised at how _old_ this piece of music is. There are many orchestral/chamber orchestral pieces composed in the last year or two which take after this style of orchestration:


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Here's Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern -- no subtitles I'm afraid. I have the same problem with Berio's Outis, Nono's Prometeo, Holliger's Scardanelli Zyklus and Pousseur's Dichterliebersreigentraum -- just saying in case anyone can help.






Anyway, IMO Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern is a great piece of Christmas music, it should get us thinking about the real meaning of Christmas.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Mandryka said:


> I'm very sympathetic to Lachenmann's political approach, I like Nono and Holliger even more than Lachenmann, but this may be a question of familiarity with the music as much as anything else.


Interesting comparisons and although I probably know more Lachenmann than Nono (and certainly more than I know of Holliger) I think I may agree ... but I am not sure how to describe why. I think it is something to do with Lachenmann's directness and the way he seems to be saying "this is how I hear it" but somehow without the passion or the edge?

But then I think that is unfair on Lachenmann, as the piece posted by Larkenfield demonstrates and for all the qualities that he hears in it. This is a piece that I seem to have accumulated 3 versions of (2 CDs and an MP3 that I was given by a friend) and works well as a sort of resume for Lachenmann.


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