STARGAZE FESTIVAL
Volksbühne, Berlin | 16 February
Last Sunday, much to the astonishment of several friends, our reviewer left the dancefloor of one of the world’s preeminent techno establishments to attend an evening of avant-garde classical music. On his own. On his birthday. Why, you might ask, would a person leave a nightclub full of friends, lesser enemies, and the world’s finest DJ talent to journey to the other end of the city on a chilly February evening and sit alone for three hours? Quite simply, because some things in life are more interesting than techno, and three of them were happening under one roof at the final leg of this year’s Berlin Stargaze festival.
A quick recap, for those in the dark: Stargaze is a collective of broad-visioned music enthusiasts whose desire to bridge the rift between classical and contemporary has resulted in some of the most original live performances in recent memory, everywhere from London to Sydney. Their annual three-day Berlin showcase is something of a gushing ground for the musically open-minded; this year’s run already saw UK producer Holy Other team up with a 40-person chamber choir, as well as Nils Frahm and Pantha Du Prince perform unique reinterpretations of ’60s avant-garde composer Terry Riley’s seminal In C in a three-part series. This was the final night, however, and it began with the 20-or-so person Stargaze string ensemble tackling a series of original pieces by occasional Arcade Fire violinist, the man behind Final Fantasy, Owen Pallett.
Next up, like the creamy filling between two slices of experimental artisan bread, came an appearance by Sufjan Stevens labelmates My Brightest Diamond. Backed, for one night only, by the five-person Zafraan brass and woodwind ensemble, this was an opportunity to air a host of brand new material from upcoming album This Is My Hand with the added bonus of some top-class horn support. An exciting prospect indeed. Decked out in a brass-buttoned marching jacket and prancing about the stage like the Little Drummer Boy, frontwoman and sole permanent member Shara Worden made her way through a handful of promising new tracks, all sounding far jauntier than she’s tended towards in the past. Although denied the time to indulge in her usual affable audience banter, by the final raucous blasts the crowd was (almost literally) blown away. A special mention goes to her enormously talented drummer, whose passion for the skins was played out, beat-for-beat, in the expressions on his impossibly malleable face.
Finally, for the closing act, Modeselektor-feted beatsmiths Mouse On Mars teamed up with ex-Battles member Tyondai Braxton for the third in the series of original re-interpretations of In C. While we certainly don’t have space to go into the specific instructions laid down by Riley regarding the correct way this piece should be performed (Google it, music geeks), this latest incarnation involved everything from giant table-sized synthesisers, to custom-made piano-playing robots, to eerie, elongated live vocals – all feeding into a seemingly chaotic tapestry of sound that was, at many points, quite overwhelming.
With eyes mercifully closed so as not to complicate the amount we had to process, the unfeasibly dense cacophony eased in and out of pace and rhythm. New elements came and went seemingly at random, yet the overall effect was of something miraculously well ordered, like cells dividing, multiplying, and dying right there on stage. Sat in the second row, blind to the world and awash in an ocean of alien notes, bleeps, clicks, and beats, our mind flicked momentarily back to the dancefloor of Berghain. It wasn’t for long. Some things in life really are just far more interesting than techno.
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Words: Alex Gwilliam
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