Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Ketan Bhatti and Vivan Bhatti
Berlin Alexanderplatz (2020)
- Bosworth Music (World)
Commissioned by Bühnen und Orchester der Stadt Bielefeld. Supported by the Hanns Bisegger Foundation and the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia within the scheme of Fonds Neues Musiktheater 2020-2022.
Download the performance audio files here.
Unavailable for performance.
- 2(pic,afl).2(ca).2(ebcl,bcl,sx).2(dbl bsn)/4.2.3(bfbn).1/3perc/timp/hp/prepared pf:synth(Juno60 Synth or plugin for computer)/str(8.8.6.6.3)
- 2(pic,afl).2(ca).2(ebcl,bcl,sx).2(dbl bsn)/4.2.3(bfbn).1/3perc/timp/hp/prepared pf:synth(Juno60 Synth or plugin for computer)/str(6.6.6.5.3)
- SATB
- Baritone, Tenor, Soprano
- 2 hr 25 min
- Christiane Neudecker
- German
Programme Note
Berlin Alexanderplatz is a work commissioned by the Theater Bielefeld and was planned from the beginning as an interdisciplinary work combining opera, drama and dance.
This was a great challenge and opportunity for us at the same time.
Since we, as a team of composers, always move in the border areas of different musical styles and musical traditions - such as between electronic club music and contemporary chamber and orchestral music - and look for intersections and similarities in apparent opposites, we were able to bring together and gather all our experience from our previous works and projects in theater, dance, music theater and radio drama in this piece.
A central element of our compositional technique is that of mimesis and adaptation, which we use as a tool not to juxtapose different times, genres - even worlds, but to summarize them in our own tonal language. In this way we pay tribute to the Berlin of the 1920s, in which the piece is located, and at the same time transfer the (musical) themes to today's expressive worlds.
The orchestral instruments mimic electronic synthesizers and delay effects, and speech is broken down into its component parts, from opera singing to naturalistic drama texts.
In this way we wanted to depict the noises and sounds in Döblin's language and descriptions - his polyphony of a big city in its most diverse facets.
Cast
FRANZ BIEBERKOPF - Baritone
REINHOLD - Tenor
MIEZE - Soprano
ERZÄHLER - Actor
Choir SATB:
CHOR DER HÄFTLINGE
DIE STADT SINGT
DIE SOLDATEN
DIE TOTEN
Speaking Choir:
DIE STADT SPRICHT
DIE FRAUEN
PUMPS BANDE
SOLDATEN
DER WALD
DIE BEHAUSUNG
DIE STURMGEWALTIGEN
Other Singing Roles:
MINNA - Soprano
ALTER MANN - Bass
SCHNEIDERIN 1 - Soprano
SCHNEIDERIN 2 - Soprano
SCHNEIDERIN 3 - Alto
SCHNEIDERIN 4 - Alto
MIEZE DOUBLE 1 - Soprano
MIEZE DOUBLE 2 – Soprano
MIEZE DOUBLE 3 – Mezzo-soprano
SPERLING 1 - Soprano
SPERLING 2 - Alto
SPERLING 3 - Tenor
TOD 1 - Tenor
TOD 2 - Baritone
TOD 3 - Bass
Other Speaking Roles:
WEIB
2 JUDEN
PASSANT 1 - 4
KNEIPENBRUDER 1 - 3
PUMS
WILLI
FRANZ DOUBLE
MIETZE DOUBLE
EIN JUNGE
3 ENGEL
IDA
