Sir Simon Rattle talks about “in vain” by Georg Friedrich Haas (13 min.)

For Sir Simon Rattle, Georg Friedrich Haas’ in vain embodies “one of the first masterpieces of the 21st century”. Many experts in the new music scene agree with him that the audience is also fascinated by the idiosyncratic tonal language in performances of the work. It is mysterious, multi-perspective music, somewhat similar to the lithographs of MC Escher. In this introduction to the performance of the piece in 2013, Simon Rattle explains how the piece is structured, in what form the so-called “natural tones” are used, and that the composer reacted with his music to the political situation in his native Austria. Rattle’s conclusion about in vain: “It’s really not like anything else”.