Alex Ross — Zamān

“One of the strongest was Oscar Bianchi’s Zamān”

“the molten quality of Bianchi’s musical language”

— Alex Ross, And the world was calm (Substack), 27 May 2026

Editorial summary

In his account of the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, Alex Ross places Zamān among the festival’s standout works. He identifies Noa Frenkel, Basel Sinfonietta and conductor Titus Engel as the performers, and explains how the score draws on Dora Polacco’s diaries of exile in Switzerland and reflections from Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain.

His discussion follows the voice between broad, incantatory writing and rapid fragments interwoven with the orchestra. He praises Frenkel’s commanding performance and the music’s transformation from fluid, agitated sound into dense harmonic formations.

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