Haas Spectral Music for the first time on Covent Garden

LONDON. World premiere of new opera by Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas

Last Friday, November 13, at the Royal Opera House Royal Opera House the premiere of Georg Friedrich Haas’s opera Morning and Evening (Morgen und Abend) took place. Haas is one of the most interesting Austrian composers, professing the principles of spectral music based on the harmony of overtones, a special perception of sound. Herman Helmholtz is considered the creator of this trend. Composers, whose work is a premonition of a new aesthetics and the relentless search for a new musical language, can be attributed to Scriabin, Debussy, Hindemith, Messian. Haas encourages the public to focus on the perception of sound, not melody and harmony. As a literary basis, a small short story of the famous Norwegian writer John Foss, who is called the new Ibsen, was chosen. The adaptation of the work about the life of the fisherman Johannes from birth to his death was made by the writer himself. The participation of the legendary Klaus Maria Brandauer, who pronounces a lengthy monologue of the fisherman Olai, the father of the protagonist, is a technique that enhances the emotional message of what is happening on the stage. The conceptual design of the scenography, the beautiful voices of Helena Rasker (Erna) and Christoph Pohl (Johannes) are a good reason to attend the premiere of the groundbreaking opera.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru