>> David Plylar: Hello,
my name is David Plylar
and I'm here with Concerts
from the Library of Congress.
and I'm here with Paul Beckett.
and I'm so pleased
to welcome him.
He's representing Klangforum
Wien, an ensemble that we have
been wanting to get to be
a part of our series for
many, many, many years. and it
finally worked out just in time
for our hall to be
shut down for repairs.
so they have been very
adaptable and willing to kind of
fit over at Saint Mark's
Episcopal Church,
where they will be
performing tonight.
so welcome, Paul.
>> Paul Beckett: Thank
you for having us.
>> David Plylar: Yeah, it's
wonderful to have you here.
and so I thought we would just
talk a bit about the program
that's going on and also about
the ensemble in general and
maybe get some kind of maybe
you can give us some insider
knowledge on the group.
so maybe actually, maybe we
could start there because
the first work that's on the
program is by Beat Furrer,
and he's a composer
who founded the group.
You must say a bit about him.
>> Paul Beckett: Yeah. I mean,
for my personal opinion,
I've been in Klangforum for one
year, so I'm very fresh there.
so coming from the outside,
Furrer is one of the finest
composers of our time
and he's so important to
Klangforum, founded in 1985.
and yeah, I think Klangforum
are such an important part of
new music today and so is he.
and they hand in
hand grew, you know.
>> David Plylar: You know,
I kind of thought...
I always kind of thought of
him. I came to know the group
not through hearing them live,
but just through the recordings.
and so I always thought of him
as kind of like their classical
composer. If there were such a
thing for a modern composer with
the group. so that's
wonderful that--
When did you first kind of
get to know about the group
and what's your background?
You're a violist
and you've been playing with a
number of wonderful ensembles.
Maybe just tell us a bit about
how you came to
be with Klangforum.
>> Paul Beckett: Yeah. I studied
in England where I'm from,
and after an injury on the
viola I stopped for a few years
and when I came back in I wanted
to try something else, you know.
and so I went down this route
of trying some new music.
I did some Ligeti, Viola
sonata through this.
I met Garth Knox. He was
in the Arditti Quartet
and found Ensemble
intercontemporain in Paris.
and I spent some time with him
and he recommended I went to
Frankfurt, where I
met Ensemble Modern.
I studied the academy there.
After this, I joined Ensemble
Recherche in Freiburg,
who were I think they're sort
of the first unconducted group
of contemporary music, which I
think was kind of extreme for
the time to imagine such
complex music unconducted.
and then my journey
took me to Klangforum, which is,
is a really fantastic
new home for me.
I love it there.
>> David Plylar:
and how how often
do you tour with the group?
How much does the group stay in
place or does it tour much?
>> Paul Beckett: so we have
a concert series in Vienna
at the concert house in Vienna.
I think we do ten
concerts a year there
and then we travel
a lot. so, I mean.
I've just finished my trial
year there and already I've been
to Spain, to Japan,
to south Korea.
>> David Plylar: Wow.
>> Paul Beckett:
and now here, you know,
so we're on the
road a lot. Yeah.
>> David Plylar:
That's wonderful. I mean,
so we're grateful to
you for many reasons.
For being so flexible
with our situation here,
but also for being willing
to kind of put together
a different program than one
that you're going to be
playing later this week.
and so it's sort of a bespoke
program for us, and it starts
with a work by for its
Linea del Horizonte.
and this... I always find his
music to be so full of energy.
It's like always
even if it's something
relatively simple happening,
it's something that's
a very kinetic--
>> Paul Beckett:
Electric. It's really alive.
>> David Plylar: and so I think
that our audience is going to
really enjoy that. and
especially, you know,
maybe I could skip a piece,
but considering that one,
in light of the Xenakis work
that's also on the program
and that's the one that
you're going to be featured in.
>> Paul Beckett: Yes.
>> David Plylar: This Anactoria
and now this work...
The first piece is from 2012.
and the if I'm remembering
correctly, the Xenakis is from
1969.
>> Paul Beckett: Yeah.
>> David Plylar:
and so, you know,
there's quite a bit
of a difference there.
but there's something similar
to me about these pieces in that
there's kind of an exploration
of what's happening
around sound at a
kind of a local level.
but what's your experience like
just playing the work?
>> Paul Beckett: Always for me
to play Xenakis is kind of epic.
It's this huge,
especially in this one,
these huge sounds, so much
energy and force, and you go
from this to nothing, you know?
and it's between
these contrasts.
>> David Plylar:
Well, there's a wonderful...
The way that he kind of sets up
the noise of the strings at
times next to both
in the kind of the gritty
types of sounds, but also with
the harmonics and how
those hit with the clarinet
in different ways,
especially with these
kind of big dramatic gestures.
It's a little bit--
it's kind of a, I don't know,
it's not exactly the normal
Xenakis that everybody knows.
>> Paul Beckett: Yeah,
it's very similar to--
we taught a piece
called Crannog,
and it's very
similar to the writing
from that time as well. Yeah.
>> David Plylar:
Well, that's exciting.
Well, I mean the...
I'm imagining that you're
disappointed that we're not
doing "The Viola in My Life" as
as our second piece
on the program.
but the reason that we have
Morton Feldman's
string of Cosmos
on the program is that he
wrote that work as part of a
McKim Fund Commission
and our MCKIM Fund
at the Library of Congress
is a fund that allows
for new works for violin and
piano only to be composed.
and we've had a
number of great ones.
Elliott Carter duo came about
this way and other things, and
so it's a wonderful way to kind
of feature this part of our
Library's history. and you
were all willing to do that.
and so we'll get to hear this
work for violin and piano
as kind of an
intermediary piece.
but so have you played much
Feldman at all?
>> Paul Beckett: I have
played the Viola in my life.
>> David Plylar:
Okay. Yes. Okay.
so, yeah, I mean,
it's beautiful music.
>> Paul Beckett: It's amazing.
and it's really a challenge
in itself of concentration
and really control of sound.
It's incredible music he writes.
>> David Plylar:
Yeah, Yeah.
and for those who
don't know as much
about Morton Feldman's music,
a lot of it is very slow
and very soft
and very long.
>> Paul Beckett: Yes.
>> David Plylar:
This one is not so long.
so there's no no worries there.
but in terms of...
but yeah, it's wonderful.
and this piece, there's an
element of the imperfections
in kind of carpet imagery
that comes up
as a wonderful
kind of metaphor for
what's happening in the music.
and so I think it's
a really nice piece.
>> Paul Beckett:
Fantastic. Yeah.
>> David Plylar: Maybe
you can say a bit about
the kind of the big piece
in the program by Liza Lim,
The Extinction Events
and Dawn chorus,
if I'm remembering correctly.
>> Paul Beckett: Yes.
so this... I've forgotten the
word, but it's about these...
It's about the
pollution in the ocean.
>> David Plylar:
Like the gyres of...
>> Paul Beckett:
The gyres. That's the one.
and when it gets caught
in the current and
you know, I was listening to
the dress rehearsal today, and
you're really aware of this in
how she writes it, that somehow
the whole becomes the ocean in
a way, and you get this thematic
material that just
circles around.
You get these little bits here
and there, and we have,
you have the solo violin,
which the lower two
strings are detuned.
so on the higher strings, you
get these brilliant harmonics,
the sound of the fish, you
know, and then you get this
complete other world
in the scordatura.
and it sounds incredible.
You know, I think within the
whole program, you know,
you're going to hear, I think
the audience is going to hear
a lot of sounds they
haven't heard before.
Like most likely, yeah.
>> David Plylar: Yeah, that's,
no, that's a wonderful--
I think that's a
wonderful aspect of,
kind of the experimental open
mindedness of not only the
players in the group, but also
the composers who write for you.
Because I think that
this was a commission.
>> Paul Beckett:
It was, yeah, yeah.
>> David Plylar: so that's kind
of a wonderful aspect of it.
You know, one one thing I've
been meaning to ask you, and I'm
trying to remember exactly
where it's located, but
there's an educational
component, like an outreach
component to Klangforum
as well, right?
That that's one of the things
that you aim to do is to
help kind of interact with your
community and get people to
understand what it is that
you're doing and things like
that. and maybe you
could say a bit about.
>> Paul Beckett: Yeah,
We do a lot of things from
working with young composers,
commissioning new works,
but also working with children.
so actually I've been really
thrown into that
in my first year. and, you know,
while I'm also learning German.
[Laughing]
so this is quite fun working
with children in German, and
they're kind of more forgiving
in a way, but it's really nice.
We have a local school just
down the road and they come and
they get a chance to--
We have such a huge
array of instruments
in the percussion department
that they get this chance
to come and really create
music with us and do workshops
and get to play things that,
you know, they would never
have this opportunity.
It's really nice.
>> David Plylar: I mean, you're
used to having audiences that
know what it is that you do.
and so there may
be part of the--
they're in the know in a sense
in that way
but with the kids do
you find that there.
Do you find a different degree
of openness to the types of
music that you play or
how do they respond to you?
It's just different,
I imagine, from what--
>> Paul Beckett: They're
really up for it. You know,
there's no sort of
prejudice. It's really like...
In a way, yeah. They can't say,
Oh, no, we'd rather listen
to Beethoven, you know?
Everything for them is new. so
I always think it's very open.
and I mean, for them,
it's really fun
to be involved in
the end. so yeah.
>> David Plylar:
Well, I mean, I think
that's a wonderful aspect
of what you do.
and I think that's
an important part of
preservation of self
as well down the road.
but maybe you could speak a bit
about what's kind of upcoming
next for Klangforum in the
coming months, year that you're
aware of or are you
traveling a lot more
or you get a break or...
>> Paul Beckett: It's busy. The
next few months are really busy.
so I think we've
got the centenary
year of Ligeti this year. Yeah.
so we'll be playing
a lot of Ligeti.
We'll be traveling
to Budapest and Heidelberg
in Germany. and so
this Violin concerto.
Cello Concerto. Piano Concerto.
>> David Plylar: You're doing
the Chamber Concerto, too?
>> Paul Beckett:
Yes. Fantastic piece.
We played this a
month ago as well.
so that's really nice.
We have a really
exciting program
next week from Anna Poppe.
One of my favorites.
Always to play is--
Such great music to play
and we're playing his
complete Speicher and we take
that. We play it in Vienna
and in Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
so we do-- It's always
really nice to do a tour
of the same piece.
>> David Plylar: Yeah.
You get to know it a bit
more and have a chance.
>> Paul Beckett: Yeah. and
this is what I've really enjoyed
coming into Klangforum is like
Often or as often as we can.
We don't just play a piece once.
This can be quite dangerous
in new music. You get one chance
and then it's kind of discarded.
and we really try to preserve
the music we're playing.
so to get three chances at the
piece, something develops in
this tour as well
with, you know.
>> David Plylar:
That's a wonderful attitude.
I've always joked about wishing
that there were ensembles that
focused on second performances.
so like, just to give those.
Yeah, because that's always the
big lament of composers is that
they get that one shot with a
commissioner and they get the--
but then nothing goes quite
right, you know, and they have,
they find this out at the last
rehearsal and they don't have a
chance for this
music to kind of grow.
so that's wonderful
that you do that.
That's really great.
and the Ligeti. I'm
excited about that.
That's wonderful. We're
featuring a program that's going
to have the Ligeti Horn Trio.
>> Paul Beckett:
That's fantastic. Yeah.
>> David Plylar: That's
another great-- and of course,
these are pieces that reference,
not that we need
to be talking about Ligeti,
but these are
pieces that reference
each other in many
different ways.
The Violin Concerto and
all these.
so that's wonderful. We only--
most of his stuff is at
the Paul Sacher Stiftung but
we have, ramifications
was a commission.
so that's the one Ligeti...
>> Paul Beckett: Yeah and
it's a fantastic piece to have.
>> David Plylar:
Yeah. Yeah. Wonderful.
My goal is to get that
piece played here
at some point but yeah
we'll see. but yeah.
Well this is wonderful.
There-- have you--
so you're in town. You're
leaving tomorrow?
Then off to do these other--
and you're doing a work by
Hay'a Czernowin as well.
>> Paul Beckett: Yes.
>> David Plylar: Is that right?
Wonderful. and that's--
Yeah, that's just a
couple of days away.
>> Paul Beckett: Yes.
>> David Plylar: so
is it-- How long of a--
I guess just a
few more questions.
How long of a gestation
period do you have for
putting together a new work?
Is it different for a work
by Ligeti that's really
well known or versus a
new work by Eliza Lim or...
>> Paul Beckett: Yeah,
exactly. It's something
that we discuss as an ensemble.
some are in charge of
how many we need and
always for a new
work needs more time.
For I mean especially
with Klangforum have
such a big repertoire
often they were like
it's played a lot so you
can just kind of pull it out,
you know, and do
a few rehearsals.
but I'd say from my
experience of where I've worked
before, there's a lot
of rehearsals here, like
a lot of time put into each
piece, a lot of care, you know?
so I think everything
receives a lot of care.
and of course, but a new piece
often requires a
lot more time. Yeah.
>> David Plylar: I think
it's one of those things that
audiences, I mean, I guess a
lot of people recognize this,
but sometimes they don't realize
that the success of a new
work requires such commitment
on the part of the
performers to possibly learn
new systems of playing
all types of things
like that that go into it with,
you know, especially if you
only get that one shot that's
just you know, it may or
may not be as effective.
but when you have advocacy of
the type that your ensemble does
for these new works, then
these pieces have a chance
to become successful,
artistically successful.
>> David Plylar:
That's wonderful.
Well, is there anything else
that you'd like to add about?
What you're up
to or the program,
or what's it like
traveling these days?
>> Paul Beckett: It's just
really good fun, I have to say.
You know, post COVID,
it's great to get around
and not have to do
a PCR every time.
[Laughing]
but yeah, I think
we'll be playing in the
Siemens Stiftung. It's the
50th anniversary concert.
>> David Plylar: Wonderful.
>> Paul Beckett: In Berlin.
It's a bit of a highlight for
myself because it's--
we're playing
Berio, Schumann two
for Viola and ensemble.
so this is, you know,
really exciting for me--
>> David Plylar:
Oh, that's wonderful.
To do this. and
I mean, there's--
you get so many opportunities
coming to this group, you know,
personally and then as
a group, it's fantastic.
>> David Plylar: Yeah. I
mean, I love the fact that
you do these again, I think of
them as classic works for Berio.
It would be, this
is the classical repertoire of
new music. and so it's
wonderful that you do those
alongside these new...
>> Paul Beckett: Yeah, I
think it's good to still
take care of these things.
It could be a shame to
lose them, let's say,
between classical and now.
>> David Plylar: Yeah.
Absolutely. Well, Paul,
thank you so much.
>> Paul Beckett: Thank you.
I really appreciate it.
and it's nice to speak with you
and I'm looking forward to
the concert tonight very much.
>> Paul Beckett: Me too.
[Laughs]