Ernstalbrecht Stiebler, from the mid-1960s onward, reduced a few sounds to even fewer, composing his music for a small circle of musicians with whom he maintained an active exchange.
In doing so, he distilled what was essential to his work: invitations to listen, ever-new formulations of the idea of an inner auditory space that he invites the listener to enter. With a calm intensity, Stiebler’s music turns toward the single tone, fluctuation, and interval, giving rise to a music that may seem foreign while making an unfamiliar space perceptible. His music does not lend itself to emotional projection. In a conversation, he stated: “Music is too important to be burdened with emotions.”
Thus, his pieces are usually sequences of quiet steps into the open—highly precise despite their freedom. Through the means of repetition, they become continuous acts of bringing the here and now into presence. Stiebler pursued a path that is nearly singular within Western contemporary music since the mid-20th century, related to John Cage, Morton Feldman, and Giacinto Scelsi, as well as to composers of his generation such as Christian Wolff, James Tenney, and La Monte Young. With persistence and depth, he followed an artistic path that a younger generation of musicians, composers, and listeners is now approaching.
In 2024, we organized the EA:90 festival to mark Ernstalbrecht Stiebler’s 90th birthday. The festival was largely shaped by musicians who were very close to Stiebler and who had worked on his music with him over many years, in some cases since the 1990s. Unfortunately, Ernstalbrecht Stiebler was unable to attend the festival and passed away a few weeks later. Among his estate are works that have not yet been performed, which Stiebler dedicated to musicians from the festival circle and on which he had already worked with them; these form a central component of The Long Night for EA.
The concert combines music and film. It includes the aforementioned premieres, two important works from the 1980s, as well as an extended piece for cello and delay. Following the concert, the film Zeile für Zeile about Ernstalbrecht Stiebler will be shown.
