In summary, much like my first encounter with Zafraan, this concert left a strong impression. Yet again, the addition of visual and stage elements added a new dimension and emotional depth to the pieces, which were performed outstandingly by the ensemble. I’m full of anticipation for their next project, set to take place at Archive Books in Berlin in the end of the month.
Due to many exciting projects, the Zafraan Ensemble is currently one of the most exciting players in Berlin’s contemporary music scene. For the ensemble members, an essential part of their work is the idea of musical exchange, with interest in collaboration focusing on representatives of alternative musical genres on the one hand – as in the recently concluded, two-part “Match Cut Festival” – but also on formations from the new era -Music scene. Paradigmatic for the latter was the three-part concert series “Rencontres”, which started in the summer of 2019 and ended last Tuesday with a concert in the Musikbrauerei am Prenzlauer Berg and was about collaboration with three established orchestras – the ensembles L’Itinéraire and Court-Circuit from Paris as well the Chamber Ensemble New Music Berlin – circled. Over the past few months, a joint program has been developed with each of these ensembles and presented to the audience in a total of seven concerts in Berlin, Stuttgart, Hamburg and Paris.
»The Berlin Zafraan Ensemble has recorded a portrait CD with works by the Israeli-Palestinian composer Samir Odeh-Tamimi for the Vienna label Kairos. […] Overall, I thought it was a great world of sound that was transported into my room. I thought there was power in it. […] A good and successful example of collaboration between composers and performers. […] The composition is very nice, including this change. Alif is in the middle and that is the largest piece. […] Whatever else you can perhaps say at this point, this CD is also excellently recorded. […] I found it very nice as an element in the dramaturgy of the CD that there are also solos that form a counterweight to the ensemble pieces.« (Review by Lydia Jeschke, Björn Gottstein, Bernd Künzig and Michael Rebhahn)
»Worth discovering: the Bastille Musique label and the Zafraan Ensemble with the CD sound speech. […] Because the ensemble attaches great importance to understanding the ideas and sound visions of the music it plays and implementing them as authentically as possible. The composers, in turn, were able to use the special qualities of individual musicians, for example pushing them to their technical limits.« (Hanno Ehrler)
»What relevance can the term sound speech, which is anchored in the musical discourse of the 18th century, have for contemporary composition? Eres Holz, Johannes B. Borowski and Stefan Keller, all of whom belong to the same generation, answer this question in very different ways, each with a chamber music and an ensemble work and pursue very individual approaches. […] What makes this production so extraordinary is not only the varied sequence of six captivating compositions, but also their uncompromising interpretation, sounded to the extreme and captured in depth by the Zafraan Ensemble under the direction of Titus Engel.« (Stefan Drees)
»Music among friends: Klangrede […] The Zafraan Ensemble musicians produce some really virtuosic playing, and no matter the difficulty they make each piece seem a natural and logical conversation. Titus Engel conducts the four larger scale works with great aplomb, and the whole has a great sense of clarity of texture and clarity of thought. […] The production values for these discs are high, with a lovely box and beautifully produced leaflets giving a very distinctive feel to the whole. A definite sense of occasion when you open it.« (Robert Hugill)
