Juan Atkins, one of the founding fathers of Detroit techno, has passed away. He created his 1983 debut album, ›Enter‹, in collaboration with fellow techno pioneer Richard ‘3070’ Davis; together, they formed the duo ›Cybotron‹. I quoted a segment from the track ›El Salvador‹ on that album—a passage that serves as the basis for a large portion of my first and only orchestral work, ›Raving‹ (2014). I was, and remain, deeply impressed by the exhilarating freshness of the new music Atkins pioneered. Much like the first wave of pop music in the early 1970s, one can sense the new musical horizons being opened up here. That gives so much hope and expectation… It makes me very happy.
I consider myself fortunate that my roots lie in modernism, which allows me to work effectively with these new musical impulses. By transforming them, I essentially extend them into the present day (and beyond…): techno in ›Raving‹, 1970s pop music in ›Nous le chant III‹ (2015), and riffs from early pop music in ›Distant Voices‹ (2016). Currently, I am occupied with other projects—starting ›from scratch‹.
Incidentally, ›Raving‹ was commissioned by the ZaterdagMatinee concert series and premiered on February 1, 2014, by the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Reinbert de Leeuw—who, as it happens, had other things on his mind during that concert than the notes of ›Raving‹.

Tags: Raving, Juan Atkins, Zaterdagmatinee