Stephan Heuberger, organ
Frank Reinecke, double bass
Mark Andre: "iv 15. Himmelfahrt" for organ (Swiss premiere)
Mark Andre: "iv 19. Pfingsten – Echos" for double bass and organ (Swiss premiere)
Composer-in-residence Mark Andre has created an entire cycle of "iv" pieces. The title's abbreviation stands for "introverted", pointing to a journey into the interior of sound: fragile, pared-down music that operates at the edge of perception yet unfolds enormous intensity and opens a door to spiritual realms. His organ piece "iv 15. Himmelfahrt" deals with "processes of disappearance", which Andre associates "with the situation of the Ascension, the dissolution of the body – or, in music, of the sonic body." At one point, he even has the blower motor switched off during performance, reducing the wind pressure, and he further colors the sound through unusual registrations. "This creates a different kind of virtuosity – one where you're not necessarily working with pitches, but with registrations", explains the organist Stephan Heuberger. In the most recent work of the series, the duo "iv 19. Pfingsten — Echos", premiered in 2025, Mark Andre calls for the unusual pairing of organ and double bass: two instruments with enormous ranges, yet utterly distinct in their sound worlds.
