Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra/ Iveta Apkalna / Kent Nagano

At some point towards the end, when Helmut Lachenmann’s »Tanzsuite mit Deutschlandlied«, composed in 1980, actually quotes or at least hints at Haydn’s Imperial Quartet, it has long been clear that this is not a hymn we should be singing along to. And there is certainly no suggestion of an invitation to dance in this piece, by one of the most impactful composers of recent decades. In this provocative work, once premiered – where else – in Donaueschingen and performed here with the sensational Quatuor Diotima from Paris, Lachenmann was interested in noises, breaks and the question of what a sound actually really is.