After five tightly packed days of music, the 26th edition of the Festival Ultraschall Berlin came to an end with a short but electrifying concert led by conductor André de Ridder and hosted by director Andreas Göbel. An important component of the city’s music scene, the festival is dedicated to mostly contemporary works, composed no earlier than the second half of the 20th century. Each of the three titles in the programme – Lisa Streich’s Mantel, Unsuk Chin’s Clarinet Concerto, and Mark Andre’s Im Entschwinden – was introduced by Göbel, who also held brief interviews with Chin and Andre. The educational format and a free seating plan made for an especially pleasant and convivial evening, with the added luxury of a high-quality performance from the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.
With its succinct, everyday title, Streich’s Mantel is a reflection on what the composer calls the “skin of the orchestra”, namely the strings. A coat is a protective layer, but it is also the most exposed to the weather; it hides the body, but it also implies it. The constant interplay between the outside and the inside is the ruling principle of Mantel, written for strings plus two percussionists placed at opposite sides of the core ensemble. De Ridder emphasised this quality by suggesting different levels of acoustic distance and proximity, carefully weighing the pianissimos and fortissimos of Streich’s score. The work’s rhythmic drive, involving percussion and strings alike, was easily managed by the oiled machine of the DSO. And in the gears of this clockwork mechanism, hints of lyricism also appeared, quotes from works of a distant past.
As is often the case with Chin’s concertos, her Clarinet Concerto presents the solo instrument as a leading voice that is well integrated in the orchestra, rather than as a standalone presence. This, however, does not make the part any less demanding. Clarinettist Boglárka Pecze embarked on a strenuous journey featuring fast ornaments, big leaps, vertiginously high-register passages and multiphonics. Pecze’s virtuoso playing assisted her through the three movements, which each poses different challenges. Her breakneck coloratura in the first movement quietened down as the second began, evoking a suspended atmosphere where the clarinet assumed an organ-like sonority. The last movement resumed a faster pace, while leaving her room for improvisation. Chin’s writing often encourages the soloist to blend with other instruments, in order to create unique orchestral compounds. Pecze incorporated this into her rendition, adapting her timbre to what surrounded her. Now in full force, the DSO provided great volume and vibrant support to the performance, particularly through the brass section.