Commission to Wolfgang Mitterer

The Haus der Musik Innsbruck is dedicating a focus to Johann Sebastian Bach in the 2024/25 season. Commissions have been awarded for three concerts, including one to Wolfgang Mitterer. Mitterer is writing a piece ‘in memory of J.S. Bach’ for a mixed jazz ensemble with 6-channel surround electronics and himself at the piano. The commission is made possible by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

The new piece 437 hertz by Wolfgang Mitterer will be premiered in the main hall of the Haus der Musik without seating and with a 6-channel surround system around the audience. The composer himself will sit at the piano improvising. The prepared electronics revolve in the room and are divided into six 10-minute sections and tuned to the hertz number given by the piano (or floating against it). Between the loudspeakers, there are about 15 musicians (some of them also around the audience), who are divided into small groups and play from a score that looks the same for everyone, with enough space for improvisation, variation and independent interpretation of the score and the sound that is being created in the moment. The three 4-part diminished chords that cover the entire 12-tone spectrum of our music system and are the pivotal chords in many of Bach’s works play a major role in this piece. The music is intended to sound ‘tritonus-tonal’ at times and rest on ‘functional basses’, thus repeatedly hinting at virtuoso baroque.

Further information:
haus-der-musik-innsbruck.at

Date

March 19, 2025
Haus der Musik Innsbruck, main hall