Hand werk

hand werk (spelling: hand werk [`hand vɛrk]) is a German chamber music ensemble for contemporary music based in Cologne.

Profile

Founded in 2011 and based in Cologne, Germany, hand werk performs works of contemporary chamber music without a conductor.

The ensemble performs classic repertoire for the Pierrot-plus-percussion lineup, and explores and responds to experimental music, by regularly performing works for electronic instruments as well as unusual instruments, such as everyday objects (tables, balloons, voices, etc.). Due to its repertoire and through the collaboration with other artists of different genres, the ensemble also ommits itself to interdisciplinary projects that include experimental and performance arts as well as contemporary music theatre.

hand werk defends "the values of sustainability and recycling throughout the world of music". The ensemble reenacts and reinterprets contemporary compositions whilst favouring a sustainable approach to contemporary music, as the present music scene is characterized mainly by premieres. Their own concert formats combine music pieces in a musical and dramatical way, without including a thematic focus each time.

hand werk performed at Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik, Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Acht Brücken Cologne, Zagreb Biennale, Klangzeit Münster, Ultraschall Berlin, Harvard University (USA) as well as at various concert series throughout Europe. The ensemble is working on an international level and went on tours in Libanon, to Singapore and Melbourne (Australia) and performed during a residency in Tel Aviv (Israel).

Name

The name hand werk was inspired by Richard Sennett’s book The Craftsman (2007, German title: Handwerk), in which he describes a tradition in which Handwerk (English “craftsmanship”) focuses on the creation of a product with utmost care and diligence, rather than on the selling potential and efficiency of production.

"Technique has a bad reputation. It can seem soulless. Those who come to have a high level of expertise, see that this is not so. For them, technique is closely connected with expression.“ Sennett, The Craftsman

Discography

• Timothy McCormack: Apparatus / Myunghoon Park: Seeds (Wittener Tage Für Neue Kammermusik, Kulturforum Witten 2012)
• kurzwelle (ON – Neue Musik Köln, 2017)
• Lisa Streich: Pietà (Wergo, 2018)

Literature and press reviews

• „Höchste Konzentration, Präzision und Präsenz entfalteten die sechs Musiker von hand werk, obwohl sie in Stücken von Sarhan, Filidei, Barden und Löffler nicht mit ihren angestammten Instrumenten auftraten, sondern fachfremd als Perkussionisten, Vokalisten und Elektroniker. Umso mehr faszinierten ihre Leistungen: reif für nationale und internationale Podien.“ Rainer Nonnenmann: Leistungsschau junger Ensembles. Das WERFT-Festival des Kölner Netzwerks ON, In: neue musikzeitung 2/2017
• „Für hand werk zählen Musikalität und Sorgfalt anstelle von Materialfetischismus oder instrumentaler Effekthascherei.“ Leonie Reineke, Deutschlandfunk, Atelier Neue Musik 2016
• „Aus fünfundvierzig eingereichten Partituren wurden sechs Werke junger Komponisten ausgewählt und vom jungen Kölner Kammerensemble „hand werk“ uraufgeführt. Unter dessen hochkonzentrierten Interpretationen ragte Flötist Daniel Agi mit der Uraufführung von Yasutaki Inamoris ebenso virtuosem wie eigenwilligem „Mumbling Flute, Reinforced“ heraus. Besonders eindrücklich geriet auch das schreiend stille „Asche“ der 1985 geborenen Schwedin Lisa Streich, wo in forciertem Unisono die Klarinette den Celloklang regelrecht verschluckt, so dass nur noch die heftigen Bogenwechsel des Cellisten zu sehen und als Knackimpulse zu hören sind.“ Rainer Nonnenmann: Interventionen wider die Routine. Die Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik. MusikTexte 137, 2013
• Heather Roche: Communicative movement in contemporary chamber music: hand werk in the rehearsal of new works by Thierry Tidrow and Georgia Koumará Divergence Press, 2016

External Links

Website

Vimeo

Soundcloud

References

This article "Hand werk" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Hand werk. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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