Maulwerker: Orte+Räume #6

In their ORTE+RÄUME series, the Maulwerker - Ensemble for Experimental Vocal Music - dedicate themselves to seemingly inconspicuous Berlin locations, exploring their acoustic peculiarities. The ring-shaped labyrinth of the Großer Wasserspeicher has its very own reverberation and resonance phenomena in store. The audience is free to move around to find new listening perspectives.

The Ukrainian composer Adrian Mocanu (*1989), who was the Maulwerker's composer-in-residence in 2024, composed “madrigali guerrieri” (war madrigals) especially for the reservoir. They refer to the title of Claudio Monteverdi's eighth book of madrigals, “Madrigali guerrieri, et amorosi” (Madrigals of war and love). Mocanu deconstructs the medieval vocal genre of the madrigal and filters it through his own perception of wartime in Ukraine. The first part - libro 1 - of his work was premiered in June 2024. Together with the newly composed second part - libro 2 - the complete piece will now be performed in its entirety.

The second part of the concert is the complete performance of “The Great Learning. Paragraph 7” by Cornelius Cardew. It uses a text from “The Great Learning” by Confucius [Kǒng Fūzǐ], translated by Ezra Pound. „If the root be in confusion, nothing will be well governed. The solid cannot be swept away as trivial and nor can trash be established as solid; it just does not happen. Mistake not cliff for morass and treacherous bramble.“