Mauricio Kagel: The Pieces of the Compass Rose

“The sound references are never used anecdotally; every one of them is integrated by Kagel’s extraordinary harmonic imagination into a world in which nothing is what it seems, and in which every new vista contains a genuine surprise.” Andrew Clements

Discover The Pieces of the Compass Rose, an extraordinary musical travelogue taking you from the north east of Brazil to the Gulf of Finland via the South American Andes. This is a rare performance of all eight movements, inspired by places located at each point of the compass relative to Kagel's native Argentina.

The distinctive sound of the salon band orchestration is accompanied by a huge array of unusual percussion instruments: cushions, a conch, even an axe chopping wood. A composer whose cultural and musical outlook embraced a life lived crossing continents, The Pieces of the Compass Rose is Kagel's response to the diverse soundworlds evoked by geography, language and ethics.

Above image © Philippe Gras www.philippegras.com