Spectra Ensemble & Ensemble Multilatérale

in vain is experienced in complete darkness. The eminent Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas is hailed for this work, one of the definitive masterpieces of contemporary music. With the lights dimmed, all attention shifts to the meticulous interplay of sounds: unusual timbres emerge and musical lines seem to undulate endlessly, like a musical illusion. As The New York Times writes: “… waves of opulently strange, beautiful sounds … it often seemed that supernatural forces were at work…” Haas’s work defies categorization: in his sweeping, dramatic compositions, the symphonic grandeur of his compatriot Anton Bruckner is discernible, yet echoes of spectral music and the massive microtonal fantasies of Giacinto Scelsi and James Tenney are never far away. The virtuoso Spectra Ensemble and Ensemble Multilatérale, conducted by Filip Rathé, perform this prodigious and unforgettable piece.