Ensemble Adapter - Donatoni: Chamber Works (2018)

We all like music that is rigorous and uncompromising, says Matthias Engler. Donatoni relentlessly strings together diverse fields of sound, working on them like a sculptor. Sometimes there are caesuras and then suddenly we hear something completely. However, contained in every piece is a point of reference, to which everything else can be traced back. The four solo pieces and three chamber musical pieces on this new release show exactly this intransigence and connections exemplarily. As a composer, Franco Donatoni was deeply influenced by Arnold Schoenberg, Pierre Boulez, and Stockhausen, particularly in his mature aleatoric style. His gifts as a master of his craft are most fully revealed in his orchestral works and chamber music, which are notable for their imaginative manipulation of sonorities and colours. His compositions have been conducted by Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, Bruno Maderna, Salvatore Accardo, Alain Meunier, and many others.