Frühling. Leeres Land.

KATHARINA LINHARD |soprano
JOHANNA ZACHHUBER | mezzo-soprano
BERNHARD LANDAUER | alto
SEBASTIAN TASCHNER | tenor
KORBINIAN SCHLAG | baritone

CHORUS SINE NOMINE

MOBILIS SAXOPHONQUARTETT
GORAN JURKOVIĆ | MICHAEL KRENN | YUKIKO KRENN | GEORG PALMANSHOFER
GYÖRGY HANDL | piano
TOMMASO HUBER | contrabass
IGOR GROSS | drums

JOHANNES HIEMETSBERGER | conductor

Concert introduction

A conversation with Wolfgang Sauseng and Elisabeth Vera Rathenböck

It is the beginning of spring. Easter is just around the corner. According to Christian customs, the bells will soon fall silent. The premiere of “Frühling. Leeres Land” is perfectly timed, as the themes of “spring” and “empty land” touch on many emotions associated with this season: fear of mortality, reflections on life, anticipation of a fresh start, painful losses, but also hope in dark times.

In a limbo, a land suspended in twilight, a small group of rememberers make their way. They find themselves between life and death – or between death and life. Like a cherubic, messianic luminary, the boy’s soprano voice attempts to rouse the other wanderers from their apathy. In the end, a small flame glows out of the “immeasurable darkness,” promising new life.

With extraordinary instrumentation and composed in his multifaceted, highly individual, and intense musical language, Wolfgang Sauseng has set a libretto based on a story by 22-year-old Ingeborg Bachmann to music.

This brings Imago Dei full circle: Sauseng (born 1956), a distinguished church musician and professor emeritus, has fulfilled another major commissioned composition work for the Chorus sine nomine under Johannes Hiemetsberger. Back in 2003, they premiered Sauseng’s “Passio Iesu” in the Klangraum.

LIBRETTO Elisabeth Vera Rathenböck
MUSIC Wolfgang Sauseng

WORLD PREMIERE

CAST
Boy, soprano
Old woman, mezzo-soprano
Girl, alto
Invalid, tenor
Old man, baritone
Mixed choir (also handbells), saxophone quartet, piano, contrabass, percussion