Janus - sextet

The Roman god Janus has two faces, one for each end of the same. He is the god of beginnings and endings, of entrances and exits, of the future and the past—and perhaps even more importantly, he is also the god of the in-between, of transition. Doors and passageways obey him. He remains part of everyday culture even today. The ancient depiction of the double-headed figure serves excellently as a logo for countless companies, institutions, or fictional crime syndicates that adorn themselves with his ambivalence as foresight. Those who flaunt dialectics always believe they are right.

Janus himself has long let his knowledge go to his head, turning into arrogance. In the name of his wisdom, rules, and “morality,” he places himself above others. His entitlement clouds his vision. Every place and every time has its Janus. The music of Janus reveals his true faces and opposes him.

Now, music is an art of transition; every melody, every moving texture only comes into being through its own development. Whoever rules over beginning, end, and transitions, thus controlling how everything unfolds, would also make a fitting god of music. This is precisely where the music of Janus intervenes: it frees itself from Janus’s rulebook. It breaks transitions, jumps from false beginnings to false endings. It robs Janus of control over the becoming of things. He must surrender to unpredictable leaps—over and over again.

What is a playful, immediate music for us is, for the know-it-all Janus, who wants to control all processes, pure torment.

https://www.yingwang.de/

Klangwerkstatt Berlin – Festival für Neue Musik 2022 Konzert „Double View“ | 06.11.2022, 15.00 Uhr | Kunstquartier Bethanien, Studio 1 . Ton: Justin Robinson, Connor Shafran, Sébastien Vaillancourt. Künstlerische Leitung: Stefan Streich Künstlerische Produktionsleitung und Dramaturgie: Nina Ermlich. Die Klangwerkstatt Berlin 2022 ist eine Veranstaltung des Freundeskreises der Musikschule Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg e.V. in Kooperation mit der Musikschule Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. http://klangwerkstatt-berlin.de/ | © 2023