The three substantial orchestral pieces that make up Mark Andre’s ... auf ... were conceived as a triptych, though they were given their premieres by three different orchestras within a few months of each other in 2007. The multiple meanings of the German word auf all conjure up ideas of transition and change, but Andre’s title is apparently also associated with the Christian idea of the resurrection, which he has said “represents the most powerful and amazing transition imaginable between two different conditions”. But if this is music about the process of becoming rather than about any starting or finishing point, it needs to offer a more far eventful and involving experience than this. With no destination in sight, the journey itself has to be made to matter in a way that Andre’s etiolated and alienated textures never threaten to. There are some intriguing textural ideas along the way, and the introduction of real-time electronic transformations in the final piece adds another layer of refinement, but it’s still hard to suppress a sense of “So what?” when it comes to an end.
