A premiere for 11,000 strings

A premiere for 11,000 strings

Orchestras

norman lebrecht

June 03, 2023

The ever-unconventional composer Georg Friedrich Haas has come up with ingenious instrumentation for his latest work.

11, 000 Saiten (11,000 Strings) is scored for 50 microtonally tuned pianos and chamber orchestra.

It will be premiered by 50 student pianists from the Gustav Mahler Academy Orchestra in Bolzano on August 1.

The orchestra consists of 2 fl, ob, cl, sax, bn, hr, tr, 2 tbn, 2 perc, acc, harpsichord, harp, celesta, 3 vl, 2 vla, 2 vlc, cb.

Do the maths,

Comments

  • Carl says:

    As long as everyone keeps their clothes on, I have no issues with this.

  • Robert Holmén says:

    Fifty pianos!

    I wonder if they purposely re-tune each piano individually or just trek around the music school until they find fifty pianos that are already appropriately out-of-tune.

  • caranome says:

    Sounds like yet another modern composition that will never again be played anywhere after its premiere n go straight to the dustbin of history.

  • Paul Barte says:

    The actual construction of 50 microtonal pianos is perhaps the most remarkable part of the project.

  • Gordon field says:

    What did happen to Harry Partch?

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