Störungen (2011) by David Hudry, or, The Confrontation of Tunings through the Combined Use of Baroque and Modern Instruments.
In Störungen (2011), the French composer David Hudry explores a new kind of instrumental mixing by bringing together two musicians on Baroque instruments and six on modern ones. Composed for the eighth edition of the Ensemble Academy Freiburg co-organized by the ensemble recherche and the Freiburger Barockorchester, this work explores the idea of dysfunctionality and duality through a confrontation between two types of ensemble: the Baroque one tuned to 415 Hz and the modern one tuned to 440 Hz. This article, which stems from a long interview with the composer conducted in 2018, traces the genesis of this work and underlines the compositional outcomes and challenges specific to this type of instrumental ensemble.