Florian Müller, Klangforum Wien, Mark Foster - Clemens Gadenstaetter - Comic sense (2005)

In our age, being light and funny is both stylish and dubious. The constant bombardment on TV and elsewhere easily induces to abandoning all hope that anything substantial can be expected from there, also in music, although the works of Mozart and Haydn still had much to offer in that regard. How should art, which according to Adorno’s ambiguous findings may even partake of darkness, react to this trend in comedy? COMIC SENSE by Clemens Gadenstätter provides a convincing and original answer to these and similar queries. Written in 2002-03, this work offers a rare example of contemporary music that is happy, playful and fresh, and downright friendly at times, without stooping to banality, trivial clichés or stereotypical gags. It arouses the listener’s curiosity, surprises and occasionally even astounds. It draws us in not by relying solely upon familiar emotions but through an extremely vital form of continuous searching.