Music Traditions Challenged in the Dark and in vain

At the end of an avant-garde concert, it is not uncommon for the audience to feel in the dark about what they have just heard. But when the musicians share the darkness onstage as well, perhaps being in the dark is not so negative after all.

In its first U.S. performance of Georg Friedrich Haas’ in vain at Miller Theatre this Friday, the Argento Chamber Ensemble, is set to shatter all preconceptions about classical music and its limits.

For one thing, this concert, which is part of Miller Theatre’s Composer Portraits series, showcases only one piece. A quarter to a third of it is also performed in the dark, completely from memory.

While this arrangement has the potential to pose plenty of logistical difficulties for the performers, Argento’s founder and conductor Michel Galante also sees the darkness as an opportunity for the musicians to develop heightened awareness. “[In the dark,] musicians must listen in a more intimate way,” he said. “They connect only in sound, not visually. There is a level of intimacy with the audience, too, who is also in the dark.”

The Composer Portrait project has come a long way. Galante—himself a composer—had first heard of Haas’ work by word-of-mouth a few years ago and was instantly captivated by what he called the “coloristic imagination” of his works. After having secured the support of Miller Theatre’s former executive director and champion of new music George Steel, Galante traveled to Basel, Switzerland, where Haas currently resides, to discuss the work with the composer himself.

Darkness plays both a transitional and symbolic role in the performance. The section in the dark occurs in between sections of light—which embody a complex tuning-related dilemma regarding equal temperament and just intonation that has troubled composers for generations.

Haas is no exception—he, too, struggled with the tuning challenge. But in in vain, he has added a theatrical element to this puzzle by incorporating literal lightness and darkness. First, he visually demonstrates its irreconcilability, and then he shows the way in which all of these efforts ultimately end in vain. Galante likened this process to “situations that perpetuate themselves over and over again ... [like] characters [in a play] continuously playing out their roles without end.”

Despite the technical intricacy of the work, Galante believes the piece is “so powerful that no theoretical knowledge is needed. The textures of sound are rich and appealing enough.” To that end, Galante has decided to save what is conventionally a pre-concert lecture for the end of the concert, in order to free audience members from the burden of minute details and to allow them to discuss their initial reactions to the music.

What Galante considers a “story of irreconcilability” comes with a strong political subtext as well. Written in 2000—a time when the radical conservatives had regained power in Austria—in vain reflects liberals’ frustrations with that political climate. Society, according to them, had made such large strides forward, only to fall backward. This expression of dissatisfaction was coupled with a strong sense of anxiety.

Argento is committed to thinking outside the box. “We explore all aspects of contemporary music: what is cutting edge, the influence of non-western music, electronic music, music as noise, and multi-media installations,” said Galante of the group. What began as a quintet has blossomed into a group of 22 musicians, which performed 17 concerts in total this season and has traveled around the world.

Friday’s U.S. premiere of in vain, according to Galante, will be one of “pure confrontation:” with the music, the musicians, and the composer himself, who will be present at the concert. The ultimate question is whether the audience is up to the challenge.