BERNHARD LANG (b.1957): I Hate Mozart.

Description: Lang's 'Music Theater' piece is an opera about opera, specifically, the backstage machinations that may be assumed to go on behind the curtain of a complex operatic äproduction and the interplay of the many people involved, their motivations, desires, frustrations … Theatrically, this is an opera for the television age, consisting of a succession of encapsulated scenes presented in rapid succession in deliberately artificial enclosed sets, as though the characters' lives off the stage are as constrained by theatrical artifice as their work. Musically, the work is totally accessible, with a slight 'if you like that sort of thing' proviso; Lang makes much use of 'looping' techniques - the repetition of brief musical fragments, sometimes by electronic means literally in the style of 'beats' employed by hip hop producers, and sometimes through minimalistic repetition in the instrumental and vocal material. Where this material is not entirely rhythmic, its harmonic content is entirely tonal, sometimes based on fragments of Mozart's music, more or less recognizable depending on context. The production is filmed from multiple camera angles, highlighting the principal action, from several live performances, the audio recording separately edited to present the best possible performance, albeit leading to occasional disconcerting loss of synchronization of the soundtrack with the film. The SACDs appear to present exactly this soundtrack with the option of surround sound on the DSD layer. 4:3 aspect ratio; subtitles and chapter selection; libretto and translation included in the booklet. German-English libretto. 2 CDs + 1 DVD. Florian Boesch (baritone), Dagmar Schellenberger, Andrea Lauren (sopranos), Mathias Zachariassen (tenor), Dieter Kovacic, Wolfgang Fuchs (turntables), Peter Böhm (sound director), Vokalensemble NOVA, Klangforum Wien; Johannes Kalitzke.