Matthias Krüger

Ain't Nuthin' but Fairy Dust is the portrait CD of Matthias Krüger, three works in which musical and non-musical material and quotations run together in a steady stream. The result is a seemingly endless network of associations, drawing on classical music, old philosophy and pop culture alike. Underneath it, Krüger keeps asking about truth and identity.

Three ensembles and an orchestra take part. Ensemble Ascolta plays under Nicholas Kok, Ensemble BRuCH performs the piece written for it, and the WDR Sinfonieorchester is conducted by Elena Schwarz. A fourth work, by Ensemble Inverspace, is available online only. The recordings are productions or coproductions of Deutschlandfunk and the German Music Council, and of Westdeutscher Rundfunk for the orchestral piece. The booklet text is by Bastian Zimmermann, who writes that in Krüger's music nothing is safe from becoming the beginning or the end of a musical idea.

le vide à perdre takes in impressions of a night at a club in Istanbul, a release of the self in ecstasy. It is scored for prepared trumpet, prepared trombone, bass drum, drum set, synthesizer, electric guitar, electric cello and live electronics, and Ascolta plays it with great commitment. Wie ein Stück Fett (Redux), for soprano, alto and piccolo flute, prepared cello and prepared piano, treats excerpts from Gustav Meyrink's novel Der Golem with rough humour. Bellygoat Boom (substrate), a WDR commission for orchestra, was shaped by Maori cultural and artistic practices that Krüger encountered in New Zealand.

The online piece, sweep over me them dusty bristles, is written for five players with prepared flute and saxophone, synthesizer, piano, drum set, live electronics, body, voice and face. Its video, choreographed by Eddie Martinez and produced by Rikisaburo Sato, is on the Vimeo channel of the Edition Zeitgenössische Musik. It plays with a retro look that mirrors the electro swing appeal of the music.

CD, Wergo WER 6435 2, released in 2021 in the German Music Council's Edition Zeitgenössische Musik, running 61 minutes.