Delicate pianissimo passages, gripping rhythms, grand melodic developments, decibel-force noise registers: Steffen Schleiermacher’s works fully exploit the extremes of musical sound. Inspired by masterpieces from the visual arts, this composing internationalist commands an extremely sensuous and varied range of expression without equals in contemporary music.

Along with the Ensemble Avantgarde, the sonic.art Saxophone Quartet, and Wolfgang Heisig on the player piano, Schleiermacher creates a musical self-portrait offering a rewarding listening experience for fans of new music. Schleiermacher’s incredible Treppentänzer based on Oskar Schlemmer for the player piano is heard here in a rendering by Wolfgang Heisig on the Phonola. Handel’s famous Passacaglia in G minor is heard as an encore in a grotesquely wild version on the Phonola - a fine bridge between Schlemmer, who used this piece for his Triadic Ballet, and Schleiermacher, who like Handel is from Halle and with this fine work show earns his place in the master’s genuine and venerable musical line.