Klangspuren Festival 2023

Klangspuren Schwaz takes a meaningful look backwards in conjunction with the transregional memorial project Memories of Memories and, in doing so, ties into Klangspuren’s own 1995 series on forced labour in Schwaz under the Nazi regime. The matinée presents works by the Tyrolean composers Peter Zwetkoff, Bert Breit and Werner Pircher, among others, who in their music critically reflect their own personal experiences under the Nazis or during the oppressive post-war years under a so-called leaden sky. For the composers, the political touched practically all areas of human activity, composing and making music were no exceptions. They have taken a critical look at the role of the composer, freed it from the confines of the study and applied their skill and critical consciousness in various professions. Peter Zwetkoff (1925–2012) and Bert Breit (1927–2004) personally experienced the atrocities of the Nazi regime through resistance. By the end of the war, Werner Pircher (1940–2001) was just old enough to later be able to recall traumatic impressions from then. He experiences Tyrol at a time when booming tourism clashes with a society marked deeply by Catholicism and extreme cultural and intellectual rigidity. The composers’ works express their experiences and the consequent political attitudes without sacrificing their commitment to high compositional standards.