Loops

A musician, a grand piano and a minimalistic setting. Warming up with a 5/4-tact repetitive pattern in the left hand. Loops draw their circles, a sound continuum is established. Thus the concert begins with Harald Blüchel in Neu West Berlin.After twelve years of reclusion, reorientation and intensive compositional activity for renowned theatre productions (among others, Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Theater Neumarkt in Zurich) he returns to the stage with his new solo program as a performing artist. In Neu West Berlin he will present purely acoustic works that he compiled in recent years for the first time. The title of the program is “Transromantik.” All of the experiences with sequences and loops that he garnered in the years 1991 to 1999 under the artistic name of Cosmic Baby – and which made him into one of the most famous protagonists of the techno scene worldwide – flow into it, but allow another musical language of mood and form to develop.The musician and composer, who enjoyed classical training at the Conservatory in Nuremberg and Berlin University of the Arts (UdK), grappled intensely with the choice of a proper venue for the premiere. The atmosphere, acoustic conditions and the programmatic setting need to be just right. “Where, if not in Berlin, could I find the ideal place?”, Blüchel asked himself. “In the course of my search I discovered Neu West Berlin, where I immediately felt more than at home.” After his last big appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2004, this is the first opportunity to hear him live or to become acquainted with him anew.He describes his style as “romantic minimalism.” Role models such as Philip Glass, John Adams and Arvo Pärt are not to be overheard. Nevertheless, Harald Blüchel has found an approach to put his thoughts about identity, consciousness, concentration and contemplation into a form that also communicates itself directly to a public that grew up with pop culture and electronic music.He has resolutely followed this path ever since his conscious exit out of the given career patterns. “I prefer vertical, deeper perception to a horizontal world view aimed at efficiency, speed, scatter and illusory variety,” he says. “I follow what is going on in the world rather from a distance. This has nothing to do with being detached, but it provides me with better possibilities for making decisions about what things make sense for my life – and what things do not. I love nature, its rhythm and its exuberant vivacity. It was only with my move from Berlin into a beautiful house in the countryside that made it possible for me to want to make public appearances again out of my reclusion.”The twelve self-composed pieces performed by the artist in Neu West Berlin will be introduced by him as well. The classical piano concert retains its musical intensity, although transported into a communicative framework. An analogous moment is also reflected in the interior design: For his appearance Harald Blüchel will have virtually no artificial light. Neu West Berlin will be steeped in warm candle light.Doors open 08:00 pmConcert starts 09:00 pm!