Rihm asked himself questions about the duality of being and appearance in his "Tasso-Gedanken". "If one sees Tasso as a relic of a stormy and urgent period", says initiator and premiere soloist Christian Gerhaher, "as one who relies on his genius, then one can compare this with a young performer who considers the substance of his own existence to be sufficient – and the content of his portrayal as less important. This is how Tasso behaves. This can also be seen and heard very strongly in the selection of Rihm's texts."

Rihm sees the songs as a "dialogue drama" from which a "path of reflection" emerges. Sometimes the singing voice sinks into pale regions, when it sounds "You feel like you don't know if you're alive", sometimes it swings loudly up into rebelliousness, sometimes the self-observation almost falters in a panic. And the pondering, masterful piano, which always resonates with virtuosity, sometimes atomizes Rihm's sounds into fragmented passages.