Col Legno's Helmut Lachenmann: Ausklang/Tableau combines two of contemporary German composer Lachenmann's works from the 1980s, both heard in their world-premiere performances, given in 1986 and 1989 respectively. Ausklang is described as a "ein heimliche Symphonie" (a hidden symphony), but actually behaves more like a piano concerto. Although we are informed that this symphony has "clearly recognizable traditional subdivisions into the characteristic types of movements and tempi within a seemingly one-movement form," such subdivisions are not apparent to the listener, nor are they reflected in the track assignment; Ausklang is presented as a single, uninterrupted movement. We are supposed to be amused by Lachenmann's mixture of "euphonious" sounds with noise, but all of it is noisy -- Ausklang sounds like
John Cage's Concert for piano and orchestra on a collision course with
Stockhausen's Grüppen. Addressed as an answer to the incomprehensible critical charge that Lachenmann is a composer of "denial," in Ausklang it appears that Lachenmann has composed an equally incomprehensible response to such challenge. It is long, requires a great deal of attention, and doesn't reward one with much.
The 10-minute Tableau is a little easier to grasp; although here again Lachenmann's debt to
Stockhausen is obvious, it's a strong piece within that genre, being full of rich orchestral ideas, well-placed silences, and packed with exciting, abrupt kinds of gestures. If one is inclined toward Lachenmann to start with, then Col Legno's Helmut Lachenmann: Ausklang/Tableau will probably prove satisfactory. However, there is better Lachenmann out there than this, and the short Tableau probably won't prove a sufficient hook for some who might have taken the plunge otherwise; perhaps Col Legno should have released it as a single.