The Wandelweiser Group is a collective for composers and performers of

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included se ...

. Inspired by the work of John Cage, the Wandelweiser Group writes

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

, which is typically of a very quiet nature and often incorporates

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

. The musicologist Tim Rutherford-Johnson describes them as a "significant feature of art music in the 21st century." Based around the publisher Edition Wandelweiser, they also have their own record label Wandelweiser Records. Prominent members of the group include Jürg Frey, Taylan Susam and Mark So

Overview

The Wandelweiser Group was founded in 1992 by Dutch-born flautist

Antoine Beuger Antoine Beuger (born 3 July 1955 in Oosterhout, Netherlands) is a Dutch composer, flautist, and music publisher. He is a founder of the Wandelweiser group. Biography Beuger studied composition from 1973 to 1978 with Ton de Leeuw at the Conservator ...

and German violinist Burkhard Schlothauer. In 1993 Swiss clarinetist Jürg Frey was invited to join, followed by American guitarist

Michael Pisaro Michael Pisaro (born 1961 in Buffalo, New York) is a guitarist and composer. A member of the Wandelweiser Composers Ensemble, he has composed over 80 works for a great variety of instrumental combinations, including several pieces for variable i ...

, Swiss pianist

Manfred Werder ''Manfred: A dramatic poem'' is a closet drama written in 1816–1817 by Lord Byron. It contains supernatural elements, in keeping with the popularity of the ghost story in England at the time. It is a typical example of a Gothic fiction. By ...

, then Austrian trombonist

Radu Malfatti Radu Malfatti is an Austrian trombone and harmonica player, and composer. He was born in Innsbruck, in the province of Tyrol, on December 16, 1943. Malfatti is associated with the style of music known as reductionism and has been described as " ...

the following year, then American trombonist Craig Shepard, and others. The group runs its own publishing operation, Edition Wandelweiser, and its own record label Wandelweiser Records. The music of the Wandelweiser collective is characterized by sparse, quiet, fragile soundscapes incorporating frequent silences. According to Radu Malfatti, Wandelweiser music is about "the evaluation and integration of silence(s) rather than an ongoing carpet of never-ending sounds." Michael Pisaro suggests that Wandelweiser works, which often involve extended durations of hours or longer, offer an alternative relationship to time; these pieces "become not a duration to mark, but a space to occupy". John Cage is a figure of central importance to the Wandelweiser composers; their music is often referred to as "silent music," taking as its starting point Cage's work 4'33", the first composition to consist largely of silence, after the "Marche Funebre" by the Frenchman

Alphonse Allais Alphonse Allais (20 October 1854 – 28 October 1905) was a French writer, journalist and humorist. Life Allais was born in Honfleur, Calvados. He died in Paris. Work He is the author of many collections of whimsical writings. A poet as much ...

. According to Pisaro, "Beginning with the music of John Cage, it has become possible to see time as having its own structure: not as something imposed on it from the outside by music, but something which is already present, which exists alongside the music."

Performers

Makiko Nisikaze Makiko is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: * Makiko Esumi (born 1966), Japanese model, actress, writer, essayist, and lyricist * Makiko Fujino (born 1949), Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party * ...

* Mark So *

Quatuor Bozzini The Quatuor Bozzini is a string quartet that specializes in new and experimental music based in Montreal, Canada. Since 1999, Quatuor Bozzini has been an original voice in new, experimental and classical music. Their skew is radically contemporar ...

* Cristián Alvear

Composers

Dante Boon Dante Boon (born 1973) is a Dutch composer and pianist. A member of the Wandelweiser composers collective, he is perhaps best known as an interpreter of experimental piano music. His own music has been performed internationally to wide acclaim ...

Daniel Brandes Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength ...

Johnny Chang Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Varia ...

* Jürg Frey *

Ben Glas Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( he, � ...

Mark Hannesson Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

* Eva-Maria Houben *

Carlo Inderhees Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...

Marcus Kaiser Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobâr ...

* Jukka-Pekka Kervinen * Bin Li *

* André O. Möller * Anastassis Philippakopoulos *

Kory Reeder Kory may refer to: *Kory (given name) *Kaye Kory (born 1947), American politician *Pierre Kory, American critical care physician *KORY-CD, television channel in Eugene, Oregon, U.S. See also

*Korey, given name and surname *Korie, given name an ...

* Burkhard Schlothauer * Sam Sfirri * Craig Shepard * Thomas Stiegler * Taylan Susam * Stefan Thut *

Emmanuelle Waeckerlé Emmanuelle Waeckerlé is an experimental musician, multidisciplinary artist and composer based in London. Her text scores, publications, and performances explore the materiality and musicality of language while proposing playful encounters with ...

References

Citations

Sources

* *

External links

Edition Wandelweiser homepage

* ttp://erstwords.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/wandelweiser.html History of Wandelweiser by Michael Pisarobr>Wandelweiser archives at le son du grisliAlex Ross on Wandelweiser
International music organizations Composition schools Arts organizations established in 1992 {{music-org-stub