Walden for extended Orchestra

"Walden consists of a series of musical sketches inspired by the novel of the same name from 1854 by Henry David Thoreau", is how Heiner Goebbels describes the project briefly. But anyone familiar with the work of the German transmedial conceptual artist and composer knows that things are never so simple with Goebbels. In his composition Walden from 1998, written for extended orchestra with narrator, Goebbels incorporates a broad range of influences and approaches: Fragments from Thoreau's "Walden", soundscapes in the spirit of radio plays, an arsenal of unusual instruments and sound arrangements that are equally at home in the avant-garde as in popular music. All of this is brought to life under the direction of Peter Eötvös and with Bob Rutman - a central figure in this project - in the role of narrator. Rutman is also heard in a more declamatory role: emphatically exclaiming, occasionally singing in the Khoomei technique, and ultimately becoming part of the orchestra himself by playing the steel cello and the bowing bell chimes - both instruments he developed himself. In his accompanying text, the composer explains that he originally conceived this work as a "counter-design to the big-city images of Surrogate Cities (1994)". "Nevertheless, my view of Thoreau's text is far less idyllic, and my relationship to his concept of nature is more distant than the source suggests. For me, Walden is a play about the tension between withdrawal and openness - between individual self-discovery and the constant presence of the outside world. It is not a romanticized view of nature, but rather a reflection on the conditions of our existence today." From trip-hop echoes and fascinating ambient structures to impressive orchestral climaxes at the extreme edges of contemporary composition, Walden is a testament to Heiner Goebbels' visionary compositional style in the middle of his career - and is one of the most innovative chapters in his oeuvre to date.