Where I've never been before

Helmut Lachenmann is one of the most idiosyncratic and poetic voices in contemporary music. The film follows the composer in his seventieth year, when the Lucerne Festival honored him with a series of works and a world premiere. In his refuge above Lake Maggiore, he speaks about his search for sounds not yet absorbed into habit, recalls his teacher Luigi Nono, and reflects on composing as a process of cognition that opens new horizons of perception: "You can't just leave the apple of knowledge hanging up there".