This MPS recital will feature music by Helmut Lachenmann, one of the most influential European composers of the late 20th century—except in the United States, where his music arrived late and still is largely unknown. His distinctive deconstructionist approach to composing for traditional instruments created one of the most radical shifts in the sonic world of Western classical music, while his unflinchingly political approach to musical structure and meaning makes his music anti-capitalist and anti-consumerist. In other words, Lachenmann’s music is challenging on every level, like a measured stare from someone to whom we are rationalizing why we don’t always live up to our own values, but who sees right through us and, without uttering a single word, compels us to do better.