Austria is the home of psychoanalysis, and Austria’s composer of the moment is on the couch in his Vienna apartment. Or perhaps I am; after 90 minutes with Georg Friedrich Haas and his fourth wife, Mollena Williams-Haas, I feel as if I’ve received a full grounding in neurosis, self-denial, rage, acceptance and expurgation. Bonus lessons that Professor Freud might not have offered to those on his couch but that are offered here include the topic of what it really means to be in a dominant/submissive relationship, and the niceties of wearing a collar (as Williams-Haas does) to signify one’s part in what the couple call their “slave-owner” relationship. Haas, the featured composer at this year’s Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, doesn’t hide anything about his life.…

Source: The Times November 19, 2016 00:10 UTC