Heinz Ditsch and Max Gruber have come together to reconnect with an ancient artistic tradition of this city — the fusion of poetry, music, performance, and modernity inseparably associated with names such as Abraham a Sancta Clara, Johann Nestroy, Konrad Bayer, H. C. Artmann, and Ernst Jandl.

This tradition was embodied by the legendary ensemble “Des Ano,” with which Gruber achieved the remarkable feat of defining an entirely new genre: RAP as “Rhythmically Performed Poetry.” The German newspaper DIE ZEIT wrote that Gruber was the “new house poet of the dark Viennese school of mourning, melancholy, musicality, and lurking, sometimes ranting malice.” Elke Heidenreich named the wicked “Little Man” her favorite piece. With the new program “Song to Myself,” this tradition continues.

Heinz Ditsch, accordionist with Kollegium Kalksburg, returns to his old love, jazz, and leads a classical piano trio. Drummer Georg Edlinger and double bassist Sascha Lackner demonstrate their stylistic versatility.
With Max Gruber as narrator and reciter, every form of encounter, fusion, and confrontation between music and language is explored.

A music as eloquent as language is musical. “Song to Myself” tells of the difficulties of achieving greatness in life and investigating the causes of one’s own hard-earned insignificance. A musical-literary tour de force oscillating between concert, literary performance, spoken opera, theatre evening, elevated liver values, and deep melancholy — while not shying away from moments of “irresponsible cheerfulness” (© Karl Kraus).
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