Notes about the works:

KO-THA

The guitarist Wilhelm Bruck plays his instrument like an indian tabla, with his hands performing a ballett on the open strings and the body of the instrument.

"The rhythm, which could be defined as an alternation of impulses, in musical terms is an exchange of sound and silence; it is also the most fundamental impulse: -no life, no art without rhythm."

                                                                             (Giacinto Scelsi)

This composition, which is dedicated to BRUCK and ROSS, creates a dimension and intensity of hearing experience unheared for such an ensemble. This is in part achieved through the extreme spatial seperation of the performers on stage, which forces the audience to rennite by the power of their imagination the stereophonically seperated sounds and the speech which is cut into phonemes.

"During the process of composition, or more precisely, the planning of relationships between sound and movement, I constantly had the feeling, that this music was "accompanying" something; if not a text, then isolated words or thoughts, in any case, things to be thought about that cannot be expressed in words because we are living in an extensively speechless society whose most epressive means of communication has been incapacitated and exhausted by the media and by the reckless manipulation of the emotions."

                                                                                                                                                                                                             (Helmut Lachenmann)

Acustica is without doubt one of the main works of Instrumental Theatre. With soundsources like scabellae, nail-violin etc. (see following list) the entire space of the stage is conquered. The unique humour of M. Kagel allows direct access to this exciting composition even to an audience not well acquainted with contemporary music.

List of soundsources for ACUSTICA