Fama [SACD]

Beat Furrer (b. 1954) is a leading contemporary Austrian composer of my generation who has written extensively for voice, and who has often turned to Greco-Roman Antiquity for his themes. FAMA takes Ovid's House of Fama from Book XII of his "Metamorphoses," and overlays it with the figure of Else from Arthur Schnitzler's novella "Fraulein Else," about a high society woman who turns to prostitution to save her father from debt, and goes mad. Fama, the Goddess of Rumor, hears the quiet murmurs of all the voices in the world in her house, a bubble in the center of the world. In Furrer's "horttheater," (listening theater), this bubble, this space, doubles as Else's mind. One of the shortcomings of this Kairos disc is that the booklet does not include everything in English -- only the synopsis, but not the libretto. An essay by Daniel Ender, but not an interview with the composer, which is presented only in French. So most everything else I have to say will be about the very compelling music, not about the lyrical content, which remains partly oblique.

FAMA has eight scenes, and varying musical forces are featured across them, weaving a fascinating tapestry of sound. The lead vocal, the character of Else, is sung and spoken by Isabelle Menke. The superb choral part is sung by the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart. The ensemble parts are performed by the Klangforum Wien, the neuemusik ensemble formed by Furrer in the 1980s, and led by him since. And three solo instrumentalists are featured -- Eva Furrer on contrabass flute, and Bernhard Zachhuber and Manfred Spitaler on bass clarinet.

Like Lachenmann's avant opera "The Little Match Girl," I had to surrender to the incomprehensibility of the lyrics and appreciate FAMA on strictly musical terms before I could enjoy it. This is a recording of the live, premiere performance on October 14, 2005 at the Donaueschinger Musiktage, the German Neuemusik festival. (Oddly, the same recording is also available from Col Legno in its Donaueschinger Musiktage series.) The live performance took place in a specially constructed theater-within-a-theater with walls and roof than can be opened and closed, and most of the performers are located outside the inner chamber (Fama's house/Else's mind).

The music, on its own terms, is excellent. Furrer is a master of creating compelling, mysterious sounds with an instrumental ensemble, and here that is enhanced and layered with the addition of the choral voices and the speaker/singer. The piece lasts for over an hour (66'55), but maintains the listener's rapt attention throughout by varying the combination of forces over the eight scenes, and by satisfying use of tried-and-true tension-and-release dynamics.

I would gladly give FAMA five stars if the booklet was completely translated into English. This of course will not be an obstacle to those who read both German and French.

I recommend this to all new music listeners, along with these other recent Kairos discs by Furrer: Konzert für Klavier und Orchester and String Quartet No. 3 (see my reviews of both).

(verified purchase from ArkivMusic)

quite unsettling, perhaps just the way it is intended to sound; the "SUPER AUDIO" makes it all the more graphic and intimidating.
A macabre collage of sounds.