When it comes to modern music – from the 20th-century repertoire to scores on which the ink is barely dry –, Het Collectief is one of the finest European ensembles. With their sixth disc for Outhere and their first on the Zig-Zag Territoires label, the ensemble returns to the roots of the modern repertoire, interpreting Webern’s Passacaglia and, with soprano Katrien Baert, Berg’s Sieben frühe Lieder, Zemlinsky’s Maeterlinck Gesänge.

But how, with a chamber ensemble, does one perform this music that was written for orchestra or piano? It means finding transcriptions! Happily, Reinbert de Leeuw, conductor, pianist, composer, teacher, founder of the famous Schönberg Ensemble and eminent personality on the contemporary music scene, has arranged these works. And the icing on the cake: Het Collectief plays these arrangements under the direction of… Reinbert de Leeuw himself!