Bernhard Living – Touching the Past

The ‘Touching the Past’ album is a collection of three digitally produced compositions that are based on thematic and harmonic material from the work of three leading composers of 20th Century avant-garde music. The arm of the album is to acknowledge the music of the past – and to use elements of this music to inspire the composition of experimental music for the present-future.

Composition 2024.05 (Untitled) is based on the tone-row from Alban Berg’s ‘Chamber Concerto’ (1925). In this new ‘Composition 2024.05 (Untitled)’ – Berg’s music ideas have become compressed to a single continuous tone-line.

Composition 2024.07 (Untitled) is based on the tone-row from Arnold Schoenberg’s ‘Variations for Orchestra Op.31’ (1928) – and consists of single tones and dyads.

Composition 2024.08 (Untitled) is based on the ‘Elektra Chord’ from Richard Strauss’ opera ‘Elektra’. This distinctive chord consists of a tritone (an interval of three whole tones) – and an added minor second.

The ‘Touching the Past’ project is an example of minimalist expression – with the musical works of Alban Berg – Arnold Schoenberg – and Richard Strauss being reduced to the most basic and fundamental components. The compositions of the ‘Touching the Past’ album are acknowledgments of the legacy and the foundational role that past avant-garde music plays in shaping contemporary music – of providing a sense of continuity and connection with history – and ensuring that the essence of the past is not lost – but rather evolves with time.

Bernhard Living is a composer and former multi-instrumentalist (playing alto saxophone, and flute). He studied composition with the South African-born composer – professor Stanley Glasser at Goldsmiths College, University of London, and philosophy at Middlesex University, London.