Wolfgang Rihm: Astralis & Other Choral Works

Wolfgang Rihm has not usurped the immense reputation he enjoys in contemporary artistic life. The works of this worthy heir to the German musical tradition invariably oscillate between monumentality – immutable blocks of sound – and ethereal movement – instrumental or vocal lines opening towards the infinite. His choral music is characterised by a syncretism that blends the influences of different periods, which he places at the service of a transcendence and a poetic and philosophical meditation of which he alone has the secret.