Bassist

Like a researcher, composer-in-residence Mark Andre explores the possibilities of an instrument. Over several years he worked closely with the bassist Frank Reinecke. The result is a nearly three-quarter-hour solo piece that coaxes from the double bass an entire world of new and unusual sounds, directing our attention to the ephemeral, the unstable, the fragile. It pushes right up to the edge of the audible — for instance when the lowest string of the double bass is tuned even lower, down to an ultra-low E — and seeks, precisely through this, to let something transcendent, something metaphysical, shimmer through. 

Jörg Widmann | Frank Reinecke | SWR Experimentalstudio

Lucerne School of Music

Composer-in-residence Mark Andre has created an entire cycle of iv pieces. The title’s abbreviation stands for “introverted,” pointing to a journey into the interior of sound: fragile, pared-down music that operates at the edge of perception yet unfolds enormous intensity and opens a door to spiritual realms. His organ piece iv 15. Himmelfahrt deals with “processes of disappearance,” which Andre associates “with the situation of the Ascension, the dissolution of the body — or, in music, of the sonic body.” At one point, he even has the blower motor switched off during performance, reducing the wind pressure, and he further colors the sound through unusual registrations. “This creates a different kind of virtuosity — one where you’re not necessarily working with pitches, but with registrations,” explains the organist Stephan Heuberger. In the most recent work of the series, the duo iv 19. Pfingsten — Echos, premiered in 2025, Mark Andre calls for the unusual pairing of organ and double bass: two instruments with enormous ranges, yet utterly distinct in their sound worlds.

Bassist

Frank Reinecke

Events

Upcoming events

Aug 30, 2026

Jörg Widmann | Frank Reinecke | SWR Experimentalstudio · Lucerne Festival

Sep 5, 2026

Stephan Heuberger | Frank Reinecke · Lucerne Festival

Future and recently performed repertoire

Double-bass in iv 19. Pfingsten by Andre

Lucerne Festival

Bass in … selig sind … by Andre

Lucerne Festival

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