Jürg Kienberger and the piano duo huber/thomet surrender to the «intrictate structure of musical time and layers of experience» in Zimmermann’s Monologues: A musical theatre collage.

The monologues for two pianos are an impressive example of Zimmermann’s collage technique. Historical references are embedded in the overlapping sound and time layers: Gregorianik, Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy, short jazz snippets, Messias, «witnesses from various historic musical epochs surround us daily, dialogues across the ages.»

Zimmermann doesn’t only demand the highest piano skill. The two pianist «monologise” simultaneously, but—in a delicate,
perilous balance—often independently of one another “to a certain extent lost in their own reverie. ... Dialogues or manifold communication evolve into monologues that grasp time and space and remain in dialogues and manifold communication.»

As if all this wasn’t enough to drive the pair of pianists to the verge of despair, another demand is still made on top of that: to present Zimmermann’s Monologues in a 52-minute multimedia portrait collage. High time to consult a couples’ therapist! With his help, the pianists plunge into the past. The trio analyse, uncover layers, delve to the core and continue to collage the manifold communication on the keyboard. Things get out of hand. From the increasingly dense web of references, music, image, tone and conversational fragments, the monologues finally emerge—unscathed. Do they sound different now?