Berlin’s MaerzMusik festival, curated by Enno Poppe, saw the premiere of new ensemble works by the russian composer Sergej Newski and ricordilab composer Alex Paxton.

Sergej Newski: Ensembletrilogie I Space

This nonet deals with the idea of the independence of different layers of time and material. The percussion can be understood as an homage to Twin Peaks film composer Angelo Badalamenti. The work "floated quite wonderfully” (Clemens Goldberg, rbb Kultur, 22.03.2023).

Read full composer's note

View score of Ensembletrilogie I Space

Sergej Newski: Ensembletrilogie III Memory

This work is based on amateur recordings made by members of the ensemble mosaik – with which Newski shares a friendship – at Berlin’s Love Parade in 1997, the year the ensemble was founded. The recordings show individual ensemble members and moments of city life such as the crowds at the rave, but also moments of silence in remote streets, as well as fragments of a private party with the ensemble’s musicians.
An affectionate "reflection of what Berlin has given me. An homage to the city" (Sergej Newski, Berliner Zeitung, 17.03.2023).

Read full composer's note

View score of Ensembletrilogie III Memory

Alex Paxton: Blue-Chew Cheerio Earpiece (2023)

The 2023 Ernst von Siemens Composition Prize winner Alex Paxton has been a composer at the ricordilab program since 2022. Commissioned by MaerzMusik and the Riot Ensemble, Paxton has written a work that showcases his exuberant playing skills as an improvisational trombonist and the instrumental possibilities of the British Riot Ensemble’s (two percussionists and three keyboards).

View score of Shrimp BIT Babyface

Alex Paxton: Shrimp BIT Babyface

A few weeks earlier, at the Pierre Boulez Hall in Berlin, Klangforum Wien presented the German premiere of Shrimp BIT Babyface by this exceptional British composer, who won the renowned Ernst von Siemens Composer’s Prize in 2023.

In Shrimp BIT Babyface, Paxton seeks to transport the audience to “a utopian-fantasy sci-fi scene filled with joy, pleasure and life” (Interview in Berner Kulturagenda).

View score of Shrimp BIT Babyface