Search - Enno Poppe, Berlin Ensemble Mosaik :: Enno Poppe: Chamber Music

Freakin' awesome!

jive rhapsodist | NYC, NY United States | 08/15/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Who is this guy? From some God-forsaken corner of Germany...But this is the first New Chamber Music CD I've heard in quite some time that made me sit down and pay attention - thanks WKCR-FM NYC! They are really the best... Poppe is not a composer who is following the globally accepted Academic Post-Minimalist line. His music owes more to the gesturally compelling abstractions of such past masters as Ligeti and Lutoslawski. Not that he sounds like either of those giants...but the logic of his music, the fact that it always seems to be SPEAKING, the fact that it is actually a pleasure to listen to without being pandering - all this makes me think of them. Poppe uses a lot of microtonality, which contributes to a kind of grotesquerie in the musical image (look at the horrifying cover image - and then look at his photo. He's a nice clean-cut German boy!). His pieces have something of infernal machines that are built to make something no one needs. And I mean that in a GOOD way! If there's anything I don't like about this CD, it is that the timbres are all pretty clean and that rhythmically each piece is pretty relentless. He is not yet a master in terms of his use (or non-use) of space, and I guess funky timbres are not his thing. This is the perfect CD for those like myself who appreciate the innovations of Lachenmann, but wish his music reflected his name (Laughing-man) a little better. There's some silly stuff on this CD, but it is rigorous too. This combination is something Kagel used to be able to achieve nearly effortlessly, and of course some of Ligeti's music has this also. Is Poppe ready to take the place of these masters? Well...not yet. But he's really good!"