Kassandra, by Michael Jarrell
After the novel of Christa Wolf
German version of Cassandre for actress, instrumental ensemble & electronics, 70'

Ensemble Modern de Francfort
Michael Bartosch, conductor
Anne Bennent, actress

Kassandra, Michael Jarrell

Within Michael Jarrell's oeuvre, Cassandre represents the culmination and synthesis of an initial and extremely fruitful creative period, even if the selection of the work's text was "dictated" to him by Christa Wolf in both musical and expressive aspects. The figure of the Trojan priestess, reinterpreted by the German author, is torn back and forth between images of the past and of impending catastrophe. Neither Wolf nor Jarrell himself means to plunge us into the midst of the Trojan War: Cassandra speaks merely of her memory of the events. At the piece's beginning, the worst has already occurred. The tope of lamentation - and of revolt - is based not so much on a utopia of change or an attempt at a breakthrough, but much rather engulfed by a sort of twilight. In a tiny space bordering on nothingness, as well as in the lightning-like certainty that precedes death, time deepens, closes and returns in loops: in the intensity of emotions, the past becomes present. The various moments of the drama are not offered up in a causal chain, adhering to some realistic principle, but rather follow one another without transition, attracting and sounding into one another, in a stream of consciousness that reveals the essential. The inner monologue represents both an attempt at clarification and the admission of failure, a marriage of clear realisation and melancholy. The whole work, according to the composer, is one "long coda". Note by Philippe Albèra

Ensemble Modern

Founded in 1980 and situated in Frankfurt am Main since 1985, the Ensemble Modern (EM) is one of the world’s leading ensembles of Contemporary Music. Currently, the EM is comprised of 19 soloists from Argentina, Bulgaria, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Poland, and Switzerland, all of whom provide the ensemble with its rich cultural background.
The Ensemble Modern is famous for its special working and organisational form, which is unlike any other in the world. All the members are responsible for jointly selecting and dealing with projects, co-productions and financial matters. Its unique and distinctive programme consists of music theatre, dance and video projects, chamber music, ensemble and orchestral concerts. Its program has spawned extraordinary and often long-term cooperative ventures
with renowned artists, such as John Adams, Geroge Benjamin, Pter Eötvös, Heiner Goebbels, Hans Werner Henze, Mauricio Kagel, Helmut Lachenmann, György Kurtág, György Ligeti, Benedict Mason, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Steve Reich or Frank Zappa.

The Ensemble Modern has gone on tour to Africa, Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, South America, Taiwan, Russia and the United States. It regularly performs at renowned festivals and outstanding venues, such as the Salzburger Festspiele, Klangspuren Schwaz, Festwochen Wien, Musikfest Berlin, MusikTriennale Cologne, Lincoln Center Festival in New York, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Holland Festival in Amsterdam, Lucerne Festival, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Oper Frankfurt, Kölner Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Berlin, Philharmonie Essen and the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden.
The Ensemble Modern gives approximately 100 concerts each year. The ensemble strives to achieve the highest degree of authenticity by working closely with the composers themselves. The musicians rehearse an average of 70 new works every year, 20 of which are world premieres.

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Festival de Pentecôte Herbert von Karajan 2000
19 juin, 20h