The only certainty in life is death. A phrase that everyone knows. Nevertheless, society pushes death to the margins. There are homes for people coming to the end of their lives, hospices for the dying and hospitals for the terminally ill. That the death of a person is the end for those who remain is not an absolute truth. Time and again we hear that the cost of a funeral poses an economic threat to the descendants. One has to plan with 7,000 - 10,000 €. Errollyn Wallen addresses this issue in "Are you worried about the rising cost of funerals?". It clashes with the Mozart Requiem on this concert evening. Commissioning a mass for the dead and having it performed is one of the most pompous and expensive ways to commemorate the deceased.

The two works embody completely different compositional approaches as well as highly contrasting sound worlds: While the Requiem creates an irresistible downward pull, Errollyn Wallen's work immediately lightens the sombre mood with the first movement, a soulful blues. On this concert evening, Isabel Pfefferkorn and the Rothko String Quartet draw attention to what remains for the bereaved between grief and bills: the search for consolation and the hope of freedom through a new beginning.

[text: PODIUM Esslingen]

A contemporary work also became the highlight of the evening with its stylistic expansion of boundaries: "Are You Worried About the Rising Costs of Funerals?" is the title of a neo-Dada-style collage by the British composer Errollyn Wallen, born in Belize in 1958, which - starting with the blues and moving on to ragtime, balladry and [...] chanting - combines a veritable grab bag of genres to create a classically perfect virtuoso piece for a female voice and a string quartet with a wide range of differentiations.

[review: Martin Bernklau, Cul-Tu-Re.de Kultublog, August 3, 2024]