Hear and Now - Berlin New Music Scene

1989: Twentieth Anniversary As part of BBC Radio 3's season of programmes marking the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Ivan Hewett reports on the city's vibrant new music scene today. He speaks to musicians from the old East, composer Helmut Oehring and ensemble director Thomas Bruns; and from the old West side, composers Enno Poppe and Reinhold Friedl, and festival director Matthias Osterwold. British composer Rebecca Saunders, who has settled in the city, proves that Berlin is still a magnet for foreign musicians. And from the new Noise scene, Sudden Infant explains why, in Berlin, noise is beautiful. Interviews with: Matthias Osterwold (artistic director, Maerzmusik) Thomas Bruns (artistic director, Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin) Helmut Oehring (composer) Rebecca Saunders (composer) Enno Poppe (composer) Reinhold Friedl (composer and director of Zeitkratzer) Music: Zeitkratzer/Nicolai: 5 Min (8:09) Zeitkratzer and Carsten Nicolai CD: Electronics (3-CD set, Zeitkratzer Records ZKR0004 Track 2) Rebecca Saunders: Blaauw (9.40) Marco Blaauw (double-bell trumpet) CD: (Wergo WER6694 2 Track 1) Enno Poppe: Interzone (extract) (14:50) Omar Ebrahim (voice) Neue Vocalsolisten Ensemble Mosaik Jonathan Stockhammer (conductor) CD: (Kairos 0012552KAI Track 12) Hildur Gudnadottir: Erupting Light (1:00) Hildur Gudnadottir (cello & electronics) CD: Without Sinking (Touch TO:70 Track 3) Sudden Infant: Zipper Ripper (0:45) CD: Psychotic Einzelkind (Blossoming Noise NB036CD Track 11) Sudden Infant: Ecstatic Ectoplasmic Eruption (4:19) CD: Invocation of the Aural Slave Gods (Blossoming Noise BN006CD Track 5) Helmut Oehring: Dokumentaroper (extract) (12:00) Salome Kammer (voice) Ulrike Zech (mezzo) Christina Schonfeld (deaf-mute actress) Gerlinde Demel (deaf-mute actress) Gabriela Arndt (deaf-mute actress) Torsten Ottersberg (live electronics) Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin Conducted by Roland Kluttig CD: (Wergo WER 6534-2)