Repertoire
Enno Poppe: Rundfunk for nine synthesizers (2018) 53′ – National premiere
Artists
Ensemble Mosaik
Enno Poppe, conductor
Program
The starting point for this piece is the key role radio plays in the development of modern music, from experimental electronic music labs, in most cases attached to different radio stations and to radio-art. At the same time, radio and everything that it involves in terms of sound recording, editing and reproduction have undergone big changes, leading to the obsolescence of some pioneering works of electroacoustic music (now regarded as “classics”, even though they were written barely 60 years ago) and to the emergence of new styles and genres (think, for instance, of the possibilities that Auto-tune offers). In this piece, nine traditional synthesisers are used (a Hammond organ, Minimoog and Yamaha DX-7), recreated in the form of software and used by the instrumentalists through their computers and keyboards. With this setup, Enno Poppe seeks to achieve a certain strangeness in the sound, manifested, so to speak, in its falsity. As the composer acknowledges, the composition’s interest appeal is purely and simply sound, worked on in a way that denotes a certain post-modern fetishism, devoid of any nostalgia and taking full advantage of all the available media.