Commission to Georg Friedrich Haas

With Ausschweifen, a long-cherished dream comes true for Ensemble Proton: Georg Friedrich Haas is composing a full-length work tailored specifically for the ensemble, one that lives up to its title in every respect. In it, he pursues a musical vision that bridges centuries and offers the audience an existential, sensory experience.

The composition for Proton’s core instrumentation of flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon/contrabassoon, violin, cello, keyboard, and harp will consist primarily of three elements: spectral overtone harmonies, microtonal clusters, and tonal, late-Romantic quarter-tone music. These elements allegorically open up a field of tension between three poles of humanity: While the microtonal clusters have an archaic, driving, and physically ecstatic effect, one may hear in the spectral overtone harmonies a flash of transcendence, of perfection within imperfection. In between lies a wondrous, seemingly anachronistic, tonal music. For this, Georg Friedrich Haas draws on a quarter-tone piano piece by Richard Heinrich Stein (1882–1942) from 1918. This serves as the starting point for an exploration of interval relationships, free leading-tone relationships, and the interplay of timbres and octave ranges.

The commission to Georg Friedrich Haas for Ensemble Proton Bern is supported by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

Further information:
ensembleproton.ch

Dates

September 12, 2026
Haus der Musik, Innsbruck

December 10, 2026
Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam

December 15, 2026
Dampfzentrale, Bern

December 16, 2026
Gare du Nord, Basel