Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra / Matthias Pintscher

The title of Cerha’s epoch-making orchestral cycle »Spiegel« (Mirrors), written in 1960/61, can be taken literally. The composer himself has said that many of the »wartime experiences that I hadn’t really dealt with are washed up on shore« in this music. And to this day, the seven-part work clearly reflects the radical changes, questions and issues of the 1960s, likewise Cerha’s unyielding search for absolute musical freedom.

Contemporary music calls for open-minded performers: that was the case back then, and it still applies today. In 1958 Cerha was a co-founder of the ensemble »die reihe«. 2003 saw the establishment of a forum that gives outstanding young musicians the opportunity to fill 20th and 21st century scores with life together with the Lucerne Festival Academy under Pierre Boulez. The perfect ensemble, then, for Cerha’s »Spiegel«. On the rostrum: Matthias Pintscher, the Academy’s principal conductor  and one of today’s leading composers.