The individual DVDs are as varied as the various circumstances:

With the camera, we accompanied some orchestras for several days, with others the time and hence our film “yield” was more limited. Sometimes there were detailed sectional rehearsals with Helmut Lachenmann, sometimes the composer (and so also our filming team) arrived only after the sectional rehearsals had already taken place.

Most rehearsals were in German, several in English, others again in a colorful mixture of German, English, Spanish, and Italian.

There was also a big difference regarding familiarity with the music: This ranged from the student orchestra in San Sebastian, facing Lachenmann’s playing techniques for the first time in “SCHREIBEN,” to the rehearsals of “Air” / “Schwankungen am Rand” by the Ensemble Modern Orchestra, an ensemble very experienced with Lachenmann’s music.

So the DVDs are to be considered an approach to Lachenmann’s orchestral works, which – without raising claim to completeness of perfection – convey a vibrant impression of the composer collaborating with the musicians and conductors.

(Wiebke Pöpel)