”Into Istanbul” is the start of a major, worldwide project, conceived by the Ensemble Modern and the Siemens Arts Program. Beat Furrer’s new ensemble composition Xenos for this project received its first performance on 10 October in Frankfurt.

Beat Furrer fashions his new composition Xenos for the Ensemble Modern with a unison melody, frequently transformed through spectral filters, as if it is being heard in different spaces. The spectrum of these transformations stretches from fundamental notes through filtered overtone harmonics, from narrow metallic notes ”as in a tin can” to a soft resonance as in a far-away space. In the course of time, the melody is first presented distorted to the point of being unrecognisable, and is only identifiable at the end in the bass flute. The association Beat Furrer evokes with this beginning is the violence of screaming over a barrier. The fascination through the uncontrollable oscillation of a scream and the dramatic effect of the unexpected has been present in his works for a considerable time, when, for example, in his opera Invocation, he allows it to become the compositional kern for the overall form. Beat Furrer portrays memorable experiences from Istanbul, the riches of Ottoman art in Topkapi, how spaces were constructed there with ornaments and light, or he tells of the power of the Imam singing in the Blue Mosque, who is both preacher, text interpreter and priest, and  takes in the listeners with a charismatic power. Furrer’s composition will be presented in a concert by the Ensemble Modern alongside works by Mark Andre, Samir Odeh-Tamimi and Vladimir Tarnopolski.

Marie Luise Maintz
from: takte 2/2008