Grabbing vs. releasing, self-assertion vs. surrender: the title juxtaposes seemingly irreconcilable opposites. But it is precisely this sense of antithesis that defines the force-field mapped out by Jens Joneleit's cycle for 27 soloists, "Le tout, le rien". In the instant between reading the title and hearing the first notes of the music, the expectant listener can imagine a wide-open space with a free constellation of potential sounds. How do they interrelate? Do they seek to merge into a whole, or do they drift apart into nothingness from the moment they are nudged? And what happens when the two processes happen to interlock and conflict?
