The Sessions Hall of the Legislature of the city of Buenos Aires was the stage where the Welt-Parliament (world parliament), a play by Karlheinz Stockhausen, in which a chorus of lawmakers gathers to discuss the meaning of love.
Certain aesthetic extravagance of the place, Wes Anderson styleprovided a scenographic context to the work, which begins with an introductory phase, directed by the chairman of the session with a wooden mallet and bells, and leads to the entrance of the “legislators”.
But strictly speaking, the work in its local version began earlier, with a master of ceremonies, well played by Pablo Seijo, which somehow introduces or explains the work to be listened to. How Seijo interprets the text written by Martin Bauer –with quotes from Kafka, Bernhard, Beckett and Shakespeare– Snippets of hymn, electronic music by Stockhausen are played.
In the introduction, the Hausmeister (concierge) says that the work is part of Stockhausen’s most ambitious experimental projectwhich took him 26 years to complete, he calls himself Licht (Light) and is made up of seven works, one for each day of the week. Welt Parliament It is a scene from the opera that corresponds to Wednesday (Mitwoch).
After the performance of the Hausmeister, the “legislators” entered the room through one of the doors of the enclosure, settled in their desks as the president announced “Wednesday of light!”.
thirty-six items
The total of 36 voices, distributed in four choral groupsthey were organized from left to right as basses, tenors, alto and sopranos. The polyphony of the 36 a cappella voices sounded impressive. A constellation of sound around a constant note of the pedal produced a wonderful sense of fluctuation.
Voices are formed a tapestry in which its 12 layers are gradually distinguished – a sequence of different lyrical, rhythmic and dynamic combinations – and changing colors.
The choir of unheard musicunder the direction of Juan Stafforini (in the role of “President” of the session), he performed a very nuanced interpretation with sound projection of each of the soloists, the sopranos Virginia Majorel, Lucía Lalanne and María Paula Alberdi. The bass section sounded powerful and the soloists also stood out Carlos Trujillo, Miguel Angel Perez and Augusto Santi.
Equally highlighted were the voices that are cut from the set, vocalizing phrases and syllables according to rhythmic-melodic patterns: Molina, Nostro, Artaza and Cambiasso (half), Pawlin, Picarel, Manzano (tenors) e Ferdinando Borra (baritone).
With a few exceptions, the text is incomprehensible and is communicated through phonetics, sometimes in the languages invented by Stockhausen.
There is a sacred sense that underpins the particular poetry of sounds, however, the author is not afraid to break in with a dash of humor: just before the end, the Hausmeister appears in the room to warn that the President’s car is during towing.
After leaving the room, a very fine coloratura soprano, Annanda Samarine, briefly took her place.
Previously, the choir had announced his appointment “Eva will be our deputy president”, almost inevitable not to read the text in local codeand the unexpectedly amusing misunderstanding may, after all, fall within the boundless eccentricity of a composer who has written a quartet for helicopters.
The extravagance inside Welt-Parliament One could relativize a little if one thinks that when the work was written, between 1994 and 1995, the emotional turning point that was recorded in that decade in the field of political theory began: the entrance of the emotional into the political, the role of affects in the configuration of political consciousness and social interaction.
There is still material to be cut and, perhaps, the extravagant local reality will surprise us one day with a parliamentary session dedicated to the debate on love.
“Parliament Welt”
Very good
Unconventional festival Karlheinz Stockhausen Welt-Parlament (World Parliament), experimental work for a cappella choir. Unheard music choir. Director: Giovanni Stafforini. Narrator: Pablo Feijoo. Musical direction: Pablo Picini. General address: Martin Bauer. Meeting room of the Building of the Legislature of the city of Buenos Aires, 6 and 7 November.
Source: Clarin
