Walden

Heiner Goebbels’ Walden sets texts by 19th century naturalist Henry David Thoreau, a grandfather of both modern environmentalism and civil disobedience. Thoreau’s experiment of living by Walden Pond — where civilization appeared only as the distant sound of a railroad — propagated a radical, solitary, spartan individualism promising a simple harmony with nature.Conceived as a counterpoint to the metropolitan images conjured in his earlier work Surrogate Cities, Heiner Goebbels originally composed Walden in 1998 for the Ensemble Modern Orchestra with Bob Rutman narrating.

For a new Ensemble version Goebbels worked closely with Ensemble Klang’s regular line-up of saxophones, trombone, guitar, percussion and keyboards, adding string quintet and Keir Neuringer as the narrator. With a number of specially-built instruments playing key roles — particularly the Bob Rutman designed ‘steel cello’ and ‘bow chimes’ which resonate their sound through large sheets of steel — the hour-long work is full of evocative sounds and features nine vibrant, image-rich movements.