ANNA MOUGLALIS

“We are here in Hamburg in December of course just before the Christmas festivities begin so the city is vibrant with light and color and the austerity of the Baltic seems less oppressive.

The Elbphilarmonie is an extraordinary construction towering above the waters and it is particularly spectacular when seen from the river itself. When you enter you begin to climb higher and higher
toward the heavens and even the main auditorium has this vertiginous feeling which was made even more spectacular during the show as the models descended through its spiraling balconies to the stage below.

Karl is someone who always invents the future and to see the show this evening, it is impossible to fall victim to any simplistic ideas of a nostalgia trip. I experienced on the other hand a very beautiful sense of melancholy and perceived a simplicity and a
rigor in the presentation, in which indulgence and austerity collide, a contradiction typical of his work. The whole thing was executed and conducted—literally by the wonderful cellist Oliver Coates in his hoodie and trainers—with coherence and grace.”

Anna Mouglalis