Christian Benning Percussion Group: Beathoven | 40 Stunden Gasteig

In the organizer's words:

How would Beethoven or Bach have composed if marimba, vibraphone or today's drumset had already existed during their lifetime? In their Beathoven program, the group gets to the bottom of this hypothetical question. They answer it with their own arrangements, exemplified by Beethoven's famous "Moonlight Sonata" in three movements.

Together with his colleagues Patrick Stapleton, Marcel Morikawa, Felix Kolb and Godwin Schmid, multi-percussionist Christian Benning has set himself the task of taking up the works of the most influential composers of past centuries such as Bach, Beethoven, Ravel, Rachmaninoff and Strauss alongside classics and original works of modern percussion literature and literally transforming them for his purely percussive chamber music ensemble.

In addition to the sound of familiar melodies in completely new timbres of the various percussion instruments, another unique feature of these transcriptions is the profound incorporation of grooves and rhythms from various musical styles that have emerged since then. With Beathoven, Benning and his colleagues make the timelessness of the musical legacies of these true grand masters of European music history audible.

📍 Hall E

Cast

• Christian Benning
• Felix Kolb
• Marcel Morikawa
• Godwin Schmid
• Patrick Stapleton
• Daan Wilms

Part of the 40 Stunden Gasteig cultural festival. The entire program can be found here.