Delirious Brahms
(2013)
author(s): Eivind Buene
published in: Journal for Artistic Research
The institutions of classical music could be regarded as sites of performance and production, and the apparatus and situation of performance as material for the composer. My work 'Johannes Brahms Klarinettentrio' revolves around the idea of composing with the situation of the chamber music performance. The composition is an intervention by way of the paranoid-critical method adapted from Dali by architect Rem Koolhaas: A chamber music ensemble is sitting on stage, performing what seems to be Johannes Brahms's Clarinet Trio (1891). But gradually both the music and the interplay between musicians change, thereby altering the expectations of the audience during the course of listening. As the piece unfolds, the acoustic instruments are overtaken by electronic equipment and sounds. The work is an attempt to challenge the tranquilising flow of chamber music, to open the situation to the possibility of the unexpected.