Wilde Lieder Marx.Music – Birmingham Contemporary Music Group

Wilde Lieder Marx.Music – Birmingham Contemporary Music Group

This October, Kings Place plays host to the London premier of brand new music inspired by the ideas, philosophy and legacy of the socialist revolutionary Karl Marx. The Birmingham Contemporary Music Group were given an open brief: simply to ‘compose a work inspired by the life, work or ideas of Karl Marx’, a significant challenge given that Marx himself had little to say about music. The composers have, nonetheless, managed to capture the essence of his fundamental belief in the agency of social-political forces, as opposed to individuals, in moulding society.

New music reflecting the revolutionary ideas, philosophy and legacy of Karl Marx – from three unique perspectives. Celeste Oram’s Pierrot Laborieux [work & The Work] examines the idea of musical work – is a musician’s, or a composer’s, artistry truly free ‘labour’? French composer Frédéric Pattar uses the phenomenon of economic Deflation to sculpt a vivid sonic interpretation of the rise – then fall – of wealth in a capitalist system. And Robert Reid Allan collaborated with Gareth Mattey to imagine Terry Helenson’s Revolutionary Dreams: a man, once boldly protesting Marxist ideals, now confined to a humdrum life in the City. At night, his mind awakens…

Elizabeth Atherton soprano
Michael Wendeberg conductor