NDR Chamber Music Recital

What does silence sound like? In »4’33« John Cage famously muted the music. In John Cage’s perhaps most famous work, »nothing« – only silence – can be heard for a whole four minutes and 33 seconds. A few years earlier he considered how he could incorporate silence: his String Quartet from 1950 has a vibrato-free sound that feels not of this world. Drawing from eastern philosophy, the piece aims to »sober and quiet the mind, thus rendering it susceptible to divine influences«. Perhaps the four NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra string players intend to test exactly this claim? Later in the programme, in George Crumb’s »Black Angels«, God and the Devil come face to face: the extremes of the register are exhausted with great tonal intensity, and – using crystal glasses and unconventional instruments – the illusion of a higher power glows brightly.