[178.2] GOEBBELS AT THE PROMS

Andrew Clements in The Guardian on Heiner Goebbels' premiere, 'Aus einem Tagebuch', at the BBC Proms:

"The absence of cushioning strings gives the soundworld a penetrating edge. The wiry tangles of sounds are underpinned by the contributions from the keyboard: one of these is based upon the sound of an ashtray scraping on a steel guitar from Goebbels's theatre piece 'Max Black', while others are abstracted from his magical, Beach Boys-inspired 'Hashirigaki' or the percussive ricochets of 'Black on White'.

"There are the familiar excursions into brassy, jazzy territory, with sinuous oboe solos over what sounds like a sampled recording of a lion's roar (the percussion instrument, not the real thing). The conclusion is a brooding brass processional that finally gutters out in a flute solo. 'Aus einem Tagebuch' is as allusive and elusive as Goebbels's music always is, though it needs to be heard again in a concert hall where details don't disappear into the void."