When, back in 2013, we were asked by the Ensemble Dissonanzen to publish a massive retrospective edition of some of their most representative works, to celebrate their 20th anniversary, we knew it would have been a challenge. We were – and are – quite conscious of the fact that the work of an all-acoustic New Music ensemble with a heavy dose of improvisation may appear out of place within the Die Schachtel's catalogue that. although eclectic, is more biased towards electronic/experimental experiences, but then we listened to the music. And all of a sudden we were glad to embark in the operation.
Dissonanzen, born in Naples in 1993, is one of the most reputed and internationally acclaimed Italian New Music ensembles. They always carried out an important work on the modern and contemporary repertoire, performing works by composers such as Berio, Cage, Crumb, Dallapiccola, Feldman, Henze, Ives, Kagel, Maderna, Petrassi, Rzewski, Scelsi and Stockhausen, to name a few. They regularly collaborate with many musicians, composers and artists within the framework of the concert series of the Associazione Dissonanzen. The recordings contained in this 5CD box set, curated by Ciro Longobardi and Tommaso Rossi, present the most important steps in their life, covering a period of about six years (from 2003 to 2009) and shedding a significant light on their relationship with improvisation, which spans over a wide variety of productions, from repertoire to sheer improvisation to multimedia projects (as in the case of the "post-scoring" of the Man Ray movies).

The close working relationship between the players, and the emphasis placed on extremely subtle investigations of their instruments,create and refine radically unique approaches to collective invention, making this recordings an invaluable document of the life of one of the most creative music ensemble emerging from Italy, as well as an immersive and rewarding listening experience.

From the liner notes:“The aesthetical key of our work consists in the meeting of different personalities, coming from diverse musical trajectories. The Ensemble Dissonanzen has always carried out very serious work on the modern and contemporary written repertoire, while engaging with various possibilities in the area of improvisation. We have always experimented in new directions, also through our collaboration with outstanding guest artists belonging to different musical areas (Cristina Zavalloni, Marc Ribot, Michel Godard, Markus Stockhausen, Adam Rudolph, Alvin Curran, Stefano Scodanibbio)”