If you’re holding this CD in your hands, you prize the unexpected. Not because it’s written on the cover, but most likely just because you like to listen to new music. In other words: The unexpected is exactly what you’re expecting. Admittedly, this expectation makes it considerably harder to present you with something genuinely unexpected in the seventh CD of the Edition Musikfabrik released by the label WERGO.

The question posed by David Lang in the title of his melodrama – “Are you experienced?” – is rhetorical in nature, given that the piece takes a speculative look at the unexpected end of a concert evening. Philippe Boesmans, best known as a composer of operas, surprises us with a “Biedermeier” sextet. For Richard Barrett, interference becomes a structural principle, and Luca Francesconi knows the formula for driving the formulaic out of music.

The tracks on this CD also trace an arc, from the beginning of the Ensemble Musikfabrik im WDR concert series to a world premiere during concert twenty-four at the network’s Cologne studios: twenty-four concerts that formed the basis of the first seven CDs in the Edition Musikfabrik series. After many more concerts, the public can answer the ironic question “Are you experienced?” with confidence: “Yes, we are.” How about you?