casa Ricordi
durand salabert eschig
Ricordi M端nchen
Ricordi london
Editio Musica Budapest
n ew in si g h ts in to o u r c la ss ic a l
c ata lo g s, c o n te m po r a ry
c o m po se r s
a n d th e m u si c sc en e. UMPC : g iv in g m u si c a u n iv er sa l pe r sp ec ti ve
Table of contents Foreword....................................................................................................................... 3 Ensembles: AT the heart of modern music.................................................................. 4 “I feel pretty much alone in this”. László Tihanyi and his music...................................... 12 ORIGINALITY and Character. Maverick Composers giving essential new impetus to music life: An Excursion through the catalogs of Ricordi Munich............................................................... 16 Opera: an art form of today. An interview with Peter de Caluwe...................................... 26 The Fortunate Convergence of Two Musical Worlds. An interview with Ferenc Jávori, leader of the Budapest Klezmer Band.................................................................................... 30 UMPC new signings in 2012 (Francesca Verunelli, Samy Moussa, Adam Schoenberg). . ............ 34 A new wave in Italian opera......................................................................................... 38 Operas for young audiences. . ..................................................................................... 42 Vision, Innovation and Challenge. An interview with Southbank Centre’s Gillian Moore . . ..... 46 “What remains is music”- György Kurtág and Samuel Beckett............................................. 50 Giovanni SimonE Mayr (1763-1845): Historical-critical edition of the complete works.............. 54 SPANISH CONTEMPORARY MUSIC SURGES AHEAD.............................................................. 58 Encore: Composers committed to the defence of Authors’ rights. An interview with Laurent Petitgirard..................................................................................... 60 2013 World Premieres . . ................................................................................................. 62 2
the home for composers from across the globe The year 2012 has been tumultuous for the music publishing and
been doing for the past 200 years and this is why excellent composers
record industries and the future probably will not be much different.
from around the world feel well taken care of within the UMPC family,
In an age of acquisitions and mergers and an ever-changing landscape
and new composers are eager to join. We are particularly proud of our
of new products and technologies, continuity and stability become
new signings (see page 34) and of the new works with which our estab-
invaluable qualities.
lished composers are entrusting us.
This is particularly true for composers, who must use all their time
We are happy to share once again with you some of their key activi-
and energy for their creative output, and who need to be able to rely on
ties in some depth. Following current trends and interests, we have
their publisher to promote their works, produce their scores, and dis-
included articles on operas for young audiences (page 42), Klezmer
tribute their sheet music through sales and rentals in a well-informed
music (page 30), and music theatre (pages 26 & 38). We hope these
and educated manner based on years of experience.
stories make you feel engaged and inspired to explore further these
This is what the houses of Universal Music Publishing Classical have
topics and composers.
Antal Boronkay, General Manager, Managing Director, Editio Musica Budapest Silke Hilger, International Promotion Director, UMP Classical Cristiano Ostinelli, General Manager, Casa Ricordi, Milan Reinhold Quandt, Managing Director, Ricordi Munich Nelly Querol, General Manager, Durand - Salabert - Eschig, Paris
3
Ensembles: at the heart of modern music The ensemble, an audible symbol of modernity by Eric Denut
4
Periods in history can be recognized by their particular sound: the
limited to only “one per voice”) and reached full speed during the first
Baroque period is intimately connected with the harpsichord; music
two post-First World War decades. Composers from the period of neo-
from the first generation of Romantics furls and unfurls around the
classicism [broadly: from Milhaud’s Le bœuf sur le toit (1920) through
piano; and generations of Post-Romantics released the generous tem-
Stravinsky’s Concerto for piano and wind instruments (1924) and
perament of full orchestras into auditoriums of increasing magnitude.
Janáček’s Concertino (1925) to De Falla’s Harpsichord Concerto (1926)]
One can argue convincingly that the particular sound of the twentieth
found an antidote to Romantic chamber music and the Wagnerian
century is that of the ensemble, be it instrumental or vocal.
orchestra; those of the Darmstadt school (the Nono of Canti per 13 or
Originating from the twin influences of acoustic transparency and
the Maderna of the second Sérénade) found a manageable platform for
economy of materials, the instrumental ensemble saw the light of
the acoustic deployment of serial structures. In both cases, the illusion
day through a visionary act during the first decade of the last century
of a single universal raison d’être for sound disappears and is replaced
(Kammersymphonie op.9 by Arnold Schoenberg, written in 1906 for
by a panoply of varied styles whose joint lines of action are apparent:
an ensemble made up of the families of a symphonic orchestra but
the clarity of the presentation of the melodic lines, and the freshness
International Contemporary
PH OTOS :
ICE © Ar me n El liott
Ensemble (ICE) of the instrumental juxtapositions, forging a new palette which dis-
occurred shortly after 1945 with the appearance of ensembles “with
regards the massed texture of the multiple strings of the symphonic
music stands drawn closer together” (i.e., three singers per voice) and a
orchestra. These several “qualities,” attractive to composers and audi-
repertoire composed of more transparent, almost neo-madrigalesque
ences alike, inevitably led to the creation of many i nstrumental ensem-
sounds, after the fashion of Messiaen’s Cinq Rechants [It is worth not-
bles dedicated to this repertoire, and the development of these groups
ing, however, that at the same time Poulenc (Figure humaine) and
in turn fostered an explosion of growth of the ensemble repertoire.
Schoenberg (Dreimal tausend Jahre, De Profundis) were continuing to
The vocal ensemble didn’t really appear until the years following
be faithful to the more symphonic sound of the chamber choir].
the Second World War. The contemporary composers of the first half of the twentieth century still wrote masterpieces of the mixed chamber
Development on all continents
choral (i.e., requiring at least 32 singers) repertoire, including Debussy
With its tradition of chamber music having been well integrated
(Trois Chansons), Ravel (Trois Chansons), Poulenc (Messe en sol),
in its music schools and its symphony orchestras since the inter-war
Schoenberg (Friede auf Erden ) and Strauss (Der Abend). The watershed
period, Europe is at the forefront of creating dedicated performing 5
Left: musikFabrik Cologne Right: Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart
I communicated with ICE... via Skype and e-mail, recording samples and sending them back and forth; I felt as if they were in my room in London while I composed. —Dai Fujikura 6
ensembles. For example, in France, autonomy in the
a few years earlier. All echo the 1958 creation of the ensemble “Die
vocal domain began immediately after the Second
Reihe” in Vienna and the London Sinfonietta in 1968, – groups that
World War (including groups such as the Marcel
are still prominently on the scene today. In the wave of this dynamic,
Couraud vocal ensemble, of which the Groupe Vocal
all the European countries, including even those most geographically
de France in the 1980’s, Musicatreize founded in
distant from the “triangle of origin” of the genre, saw a blossoming of
1987, and Les Jeunes Solistes, which became Solistes
dedicated ensembles across their lands, including:
XXI, formed in 1988, are all worthy “successors”);
• from the Iberian Peninsula (most notably with the Ensemble Remix,
and in the instrumental domain during the 1960’s
which, despite its relative youth - it originated in Porto in 2000
(the decade which gave birth to the Ensemble du
- has acquired an enviable reputation amongst public and profes-
Domaine Musical and also the formal inception of Ars Nova) and has since continued without interruption with the creation of groups including: • 2e2m, L’Itinéraire and E nsemble Intercontemporain in the 1970’s, • Aleph and Alternance in the 1980’s, • Court-Circuit, • Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain, • Proxima Centauri, • Sillages, • Télémaque, • Linea and Cairn in the 1990’s and, more recently,
KammarensembleN from Sweden, Athelas from Denmark) • via Italy (Divertimento Ensemble, Ex-Novo, Alter Ego, Icarus) • and Hungary (the Intermodulation Ensemble founded in Budapest in 1985, the UMZE Ensemble there in 1996, and Componensemble founded in 1989). The originating countries have continued, like France, to pursue institutional expansion: • from the Netherlands (again most notably with Asko | Schönberg, now reunited, the Nieuw Ensemble and the specialised ensemble Vocaallab), • Belgium (Musiques Nouvelles, Spectra),
• Le Balcon,
• Luxembourg (United Instruments of Lucilin),
• Multilatérale.
• the UK (Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Exaudi),
The other larger European countries, begin-
• Russia (the Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble, Ensemble St.
birthplace of this repertoire, the Paris-BerlinVienna triangle, have the same dynamics, with such high-profile groups as the renowned
Petersburg), • and the Germanic-speaking regions (KNM Berlin, eNsemble Mosaik, Ensemble Resonanz in Germany). This phenomenon has become world-wide in the last twenty-five
• Ensemble Modern from Frankfurt (founded in 1980),
years with the appearance of important players on the scenes of other
• Neue Vocalsolisten from Stuttgart (1984),
continents, including:
• Contrechamps from Geneva (1984), • Klangforum from Vienna (1985), • Ensemble recherche from Freiburg (1985), mu nd Ma rti n Sig liste n ©
and Ensemble asamisimasa, Nordic Voices, from Norway,
• L’Instant Donné,
ning with the historical and geographical
lso Ne ue Voca
sionals alike) • to Scandinavia (Avanti from Finland, BIT20 and the Oslo Sinfonietta
• musikFabrik from Cologne (1990), • Ictus from Brussels (1994), • Ensemble XX. Jahrhundert, Vienna (1971), • Ensemble Aventure Freiburg (Germany) 1986, • Schola Heidelberg / ensemble aisthesis (Germany) 1993, • Collegium Novum, Zürich (Switzerland) 1993.
• Canadian groups such as the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne of Montreal created in 1989, • US groups such as 8th blackbird (1996), the Argento ensemble (2000), Alarm Will Sound and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) (2001) and the Talea Ensemble (2007), • Asian-based groups including the Tokyo Sinfonietta (1994) and the TIMF Ensemble from Tongyeong, South Korea (2001) • and groups based in Oceania, such as the Elision ensemble in Melbourne, Australia (1986).
All of these groups are all fixtures at festivals in the same way as the
The transplanting of the “European model” onto other continents
Ensemble Intercontemporain, which, as noted above, was founded
has been so successful that active composers as aesthetically and 7
generationally different as Georges Aperghis and Dai Fujikura, based
• Luca Francesconi: Plot in fiction (1986)
on the “Old Continent,” have built up over the last few years privi-
• Emmanuel Nunes: Musik der Frühe (1986)
leged relationships with ensembles situated on the other side of the
• Klaus Huber: La Terre des Hommes (1987-89)
Atlantic. Fujikura wrote of his concert piece Mina for five soloists of
• Niccolò Castiglioni: Risognanze (1989)
the International Contemporary Ensemble and orchestra: “Despite the
• Gerhard Stäbler: Den Müllfahrern von San Francisco (1989-90)
fact that we have a vast ocean between us, I communicated with ICE, a
These are but a few high points of a widely-circulated group of
chamber ensemble with whom I have long-standing relationship and
works which now form part of the regular repertoire of the majority of
with whom I can work most intimately, via Skype and e-mail, record-
the ensembles mentioned previously.
ing samples and sending them back and forth; I felt as if they were in
Although these works grew from a context of intense aesthetic and
my room in London while I composed.” Concluding with these words,
technological research (culminating in the project and creation of
in which he accurately summarizes what a number of contemporary
Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (Ircam) - a
composers believe: “I think that this is the best composer-player rela-
centre for musical research - at the beginning of the 1970s), favor-
tionship you can ask for!”
ing explorations into vocabulary and syntax, they all display dazzling expertise placing them on a par with the great pre-Second World War
An exceptional corpus in 50 years
works which, up to that time had defined this repertoire. To complete
Such institutional power cleared space for a repertoire which,
this panorama, we must add the knock-on effect of the dual phe-
from Schoenberg’s Kammersymphonie and the Neo-Classical opuses
nomena of the birth and then the rapid and fertile development of a
of Stravinsky to the first Darmstadt works of Nono, Maderna and
repertoire for ensembles based this time not upon the model of the
Stockhausen, already comprised an exceptional body of instrumental
symphonic orchestra but upon certain groups of instruments from an
work (the vocal repertoire was yet to be built up, as previously men-
orchestra, as well as the increasing orientation of some established
tioned, but soon would follow). The three decades of the 1960’s, 70’s
chamber music ensembles like the Nash Ensemble (created in 1964) or
and 80’s can be considered to be a golden age for the two repertoires.
the Scharoun Ensemble (1983) towards contemporary music.
The greatest names of the second half of the century wrote some of their best scores for ensembles, including these UMPC works:
Taking advantage of a rich fabric of performers with ever-increasing skills, and of institutions with solid financial and administrative
• Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Omnia tempus habent (1957) • Giacinto Scelsi: Tre Canti Sacri (1958) • Sylvano Bussotti: “mit einem gewissen sprechenden Ausdruck” (1961-63) • Friedrich Cerha: Phantasma ‘63 (1963) • Iannis Xenakis: Nuits (1967), Anaktoria (1969), Phlegra (1975) • Ivo Malec: Dodecameron (1970) • Bruno Maderna: Juilliard Serenade (1971) • Gérard Grisey: Partiels (1975) • György Kurtág: Messages of the Late R. V. Troussova (1980), … quasi una fantasia … (1988), and Double concerto for piano, cello and two chamber ensembles dispersed in space (1990) • Franco Donatoni: Tema (1981) • Younghi Pagh-Paan: MADI (1981) • Salvatore Sciarrino: Introduzione all’oscuro (1981) • Pascal Dusapin: Fist (1982) • Luigi Nono: Guai ai gelidi mostri (1983) • Marco Stroppa: Étude pour pulsazioni (1985-89) • Péter Eötvös: Chinese Opera (1986) 8
...of course I compose differently for the Klangforum Wien than for the Ensemble Modern. This is very important and it is a source of inspIration. —Enno Poppe
Ensemble Intercontemporain, Paris
9
Ensemble Ex Novo
10
foundations, it is natural that the “heirs” of the generations who were
• Olga Neuwirth (Hooloomooloo, 1997)
born before 1945 should appropriate these tools with gusto: even if
• Marco Stroppa (Hommage à Gy.K., 1997)
we cannot yet easily describe such works as “patrimonial” (in the sense
• Fausto Romitelli (Professor Bad Trip, 1998-2000)
that they have not had the time to be accepted universally as “modern
• Gérard Grisey (Quatre chants pour franchir le seuil, 1998)
classics”), the selection of notable works listed below are nonetheless
• Yan Maresz (Eclipse, 1999)
authentic artistic accomplishments which, it can be said without doubt,
• Georges Aperghis (Petrrohl, 2001)
will become staples of the repertoire for future generations:
• Salvatore Sciarrino (Quaderno di Strada, 2003)
• Liza Lim (Voodoo Child, 1989)
• Enno Poppe (Salz, 2005)
• Philippe Schoeller (Feuillages, 1991)
• Emmanuel Nunes (Lichtung I-III, 1988-2007)
• Luca Francesconi (Plot II, 1993)
• Mauro Lanza (Vesperbild, 2007)
• Philippe Manoury (Passacaille pour Tokyo, 1994)
• Sergej Newski (Alles, 2008)
• Martin Matalon (Metropolis, 1995-2011)
• Oscar Bianchi (Vishuddha Concerto, 2009)
• Stefano Gervasoni (Concerto pour alto, 1995)
• Dai Fujikura (ICE, 2009)
• Heiner Goebbels (Schwarz auf Weiss, 1996)
• Hèctor Parra (Caressant l’horizon, 2011)
• Guo Wenjing (Inscriptions on Bone, 1996)
• Alberto Posadas (La lumière du noir, 2011)
• Pascal Dusapin (Quad, 1996)
• László Tihanyi (Imaginary Dialogues, 2012)
Perspectives: beyond concert
era and its large-sized concert halls. There is little doubt that it is this
It would appear that the emerging generation of composers unques-
potential that frequently spurs on artists such as Oscar Bianchi, Luca
tioningly accept the ensemble as being a standard means of expres-
Francesconi, Philippe Manoury, Samy Moussa, Olga Neuwirth, Fabio
sion. Following on from Pierre Boulez, who had an essential role after
Nieder, Hèctor Parra, and Enno Poppe, and many others from the col-
the birth of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, and Friedrich Cerha, Beat
lections of Universal Music Publishing Classical, to work interactively
Furrer, Oliver Knussen and George Benjamin for the creation and/or
with other artists and art forms on works which will enrich the ensem-
the development of Die Reihe, Klangforum and the London Sinfonietta,
ble repertoire.
many young creators invent their own tools or integrate themselves
Translation: Christopher Brown
into existing ensembles. A review of the programming of a “festival
Part of this article has been published under the title “Petite cartogra-
within a festival,” like Strasbourg’s Musica, dedicated to what is on
phie des ensembles européens” in the general brochure of Musica Festival
offer in Europe today, revealed that half of the works presented (inter-
2012 in Strasbourg, France.
preted by almost a dozen ensembles) were by composers under the age of 45: truly a body of young artists in the making. This season, the well-established Ensemble Intercontemporain has given a score of
The following composers and ensembles have influenced each
young composers the opportunity to create or reprise pieces equiva-
other greatly over the years and formed a relationship which led to
lent to a third of their overall programming (in the vocal world, the pro-
commissions, world premieres and regional premieres. Here is a small
portion dedicated to young composers is approximately the same as
selection:
in the larger established instrumental ensembles), while the Ensemble Modern dedicates some of its subscription concerts in the prestigious Alte Oper of Frankfurt for the exploration of as-yet-unknown territorial universes, proof, if needed, of a “cross-fertilization” between artists and institutions which might be searching for an equivalent exploration in the symphonic or lyrical worlds. Relationships between art forms, being a major interest in our mod-
• Guo Wenjing and Nieuw Ensemble (Sound from Tibet, Inscriptions on Bone, She Huo, Concertino for cello and ensemble) • Liza Lim and musikFabrik (The tongue of the invisible) and Elision (The Navigator) • Luca Francesconi and musikFabrik (Unexptected End of Formula) and Neue Vocalsolisten (Herzstueck) • Emmanuele Casale and Ensemble Intercontemporain (2)
ern times, will no doubt confirm the central position of the ensemble,
• Jonathan Cole and London Contemporary Orchestra (Penumbra)
a sturdy implement that can combine the advantages of “chamber
• Dai Fujikura and ICE (Abandoned Time) and London Sinfonietta
music” (flexible scheduling and economic practicality, the increased
(Double Bass Concerto)
awareness of personal responsibility by the performers, the atten-
• Ian Wilson and Argento Ensemble (Cassini Void)
tion to detail) and the “philharmonic world” (mass effects produced
• György Kurtág and UMZE Ensemble (Four Akhmatova-poems) and
by symphonic compositional techniques and/or the use of amplification, the variety of timbres enabling the larger forms of music to be presented) to the realization of innovative projects. In this regard, the
Ensemble Contrechamp (Brefs messages) • Balázs Horváth and Concerto Budapest (Borrowed Ideas, Faust Groteske)
words of Hervé Boutry of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, about the
• Fabien Lévy and Ensemble 2e2m (Querwüchsig, Après tout)
nomination of Matthias Pintscher (a composer-conductor in the tradi-
• Olga Neuwirth and Klangforum Wien (Hommage á Klaus Nomi)
tion of Boulez and Eötvös) as artistic director of the group are a strong
• Sergej Newski and Vocaallab Nederland (Autland)
signal: “Matthias Pintscher has convinced us: of his interest in inno-
• Samir Odeh-Tamimi and Neue Vocalsolisten (Garten der Erkenntnis)
vation in classical instrumental tradition, of his wish to re-invent the
• Enno Poppe and Ensemble Modern (Knochen) and Klangforum
concert form, [and] of his curiosity and desire to include artists from
Wien (Öl, IQ)
other disciplines in our activity.” To be measured against this declara-
• Michel Roth and Ensemble Phoenix (molasse vivante)
tion is the potential for “the ensemble” to go beyond traditional con-
• Fabio Nieder and ensemble recherche (Der Schuh auf dem Weg zum
cert hall presentations and the imitation of the customs of Romantic
Saturnio, Sogno 10 lùnedi gennaio 1892) 11
12
Gray locks, cut in a Beatles-style bob. Swarthy skin. Behind thin-rimmed spectacles, darting narrow eyes; below, thin lips that readily spread in a smile. A strange
I feel pretty much alone in this.
mixture of a Chinese sage and a mischievous little boy gazes at us from the photo of László Tihanyi. The 56-year-old Hungarian composer can be said to be at the zenith of his career. Every year, persistently and continuously, he adds two or three new compositions to his œuvre, which presently numbers almost sixty works. He receives commissions both in Hungary and from abroad; he has composed for the Contrechamps Ensemble, for the Bath Festival, the Cologne musikFabrik and a whole series of Hungarian performers; the première of the opera commissioned from him by the French state took place in the Bordeaux opera house. But he does not mind composing just to please himself, since he knows that Hungarian and foreign artists are glad to perform new pieces by him. Or they may be introduced by his own chamber group, Intermoduláció, which has been performing for more than a quarter of a century. It is no accident that musicians willingly play Tihanyi’s music, because what he writes always sounds good and gives the performers satisfying material – even if not in the traditional sense – to play. As he himself
says, it is not enough for the composition as a whole to be well
formed, every individual part must in itself meet certain aes-
thetic criteria. A nd for Tihanyi, these criteria are primarily clarity and balance. It is almost thirty years now since Tihanyi found the most appropriate direction for his creative work, and since then, on this solid foundation, he has built and extended his repertoire of techniques. At the same time, Tihanyi’s path is rather unusual in the field of Hungarian composition, which to an outsider’s ear is generally easily recognisable. To the extent that 20th-century Hungarian com-
photo : Cop yr ig ht
by EMB
position has an independent history, the pre-eminent figure in it is
László Tihanyi and his music by Péter Halász
obviously Bartók. Because of the power of his personality, the uni-
versal significance of his music and his characteristically Hungarian style, decades after his death he remains an inescapable point of reference for his compatriots. While, after Bartók, the members of the following generation (including György Kurtág and to a certain extent György Ligeti as well) spent a lifetime defining their relationship with Bartók, the younger ones (like Tihanyi) were in the fortunate position 13
in various kinds of works written for chamber ensembles that vary in make-up from work to work. In his hands this apparatus, which sets in motion a multitude of different tones and timbres, enabling soloistic chamber music, homophonic or polyphonic effects to be produced, functions as an extremely flexible and multi-coloured tool. The sound created by the ensemble, however, is never an end in itself, but always a means of conveying a thought-provoking idea. Tihanyi does not deny – and in the titles of his works frequently points out to his listeners – that his works are mostly inspired by impressions from music or from outside the realm of music, and more than once by deeply hidden connections in music history, which at times engage him through that for them Bartók was not a direct challenge but rather a matter of
several compositions. Examples of such linked groups of works are
music history.
his series reflecting on Schubert’s Winterreise cycle (Winterszenen,
After receiving t he traditional training (that is, the kind that followed
Nachtzene, Irrlichtspiel, 1991); his Enodios (1986) and Pylaios (1988)
the Bartók-Kodály artistic concept) at the Budapest Music Academy , at
based on aspects of the Hermes myth; and his “Neptune series” (Triton,
the beginning of the 1980s, with the aid of several visits to Darmstadt
Nereida, The Passing of Neptune, 1995-96), which deals with astrologi-
and Warsaw, Tihanyi was able to see out beyond Hungary’s provincial
cal aspects. If the sources
musical life, shut in behind the Iron Curtain. Strangely, in Darmstadt it
of the underlying ideas or
was not so much the works composed by the local avant-garde that
the numerical proportions
held his attention, but the works of the Itinéraire group working there
expressed in the resulting
as guests, especially those of Tristan Murail, Gérard Grisey and Hugues
sound, rhythms and formal
Dufourt. Although electronic music and the combining of it with nor-
construction
mal instrumental music has not since then aroused Tihanyi’s interest,
gest a mystical atmosphere,
the sounds achievable in accordance with special harmonic principles
all these remain the com-
from an ensemble of acoustic instruments, owing to the nature of har-
poser’s
monics, certainly fascinated him. And it was at least equally impor-
protecting the genesis and
tant that he came under the influence of the formal purity of French
development of the works,
musical thinking and its hedonism, concentrating on the emotional
since nothing is more alien to
components of sound. And as he researched further back in time, he
Tihanyi than any hazy, unclear mode of expression. Looking back over
recognised that many of his French contemporaries’ predecessors like
his earlier years, it is, in fact, his excessive obviousness, what he calls
Boulez, Messiaen , Debussy and even Berlioz composed in accordance
his “mania for order” that he considers to be his main fault. But the
with similar principles. His choice of the French path meant diverging
listener cannot blame him for it, because it is precisely this that makes
from the Hungarian and Central European mainstream, which followed
Tihanyi’s music so comfortable, so easily inhabitable and comprehen-
the cult of German musical thinking, the priority of motifs and organi-
sible. What is more, it is just these wide, well-lit musical spaces that
cally developing form. (A hundred years ago, Kodály too, with only tem-
can conceal secret crannies like the breathtakingly moving moments
porary success, recommended following French examples in Hungarian
that occur in virtually every work, filled with characteristic cadenzas,
composition, which then was under German dominance.) Although
when musical time is suspended.
private
sug-
business,
Tihanyi never denies that he is a Hungarian composer, he senses that
What is very typical of the consistent nature of Tihanyi’s art is his
among his Hungarian colleagues his situation is unique. “I feel pretty
reworking, re-interpretation and acoustic or compositional re-clothing
much alone in this,” he says, but he does not regret having persistently
of earlier creations. In every case, these reworkings tend from smaller
defied not only the local expressionist fashions but also the imported,
apparatuses towards larger, more complex ensembles, enriching,
tempting trends of minimalism and neo-Romanticism.
expanding and rendering more complex the chamber music sound
Tihanyi likes best to express the duality of clarity and complexity 14
might
...it is not enough for the composition as a whole to be well formed, every individual part must in itself meet certain aesthetic criteria.
characteristic of the original works. Thus sometimes unusual “concert
—László Tihanyi
most complex score so far for full orchestra. A good example of his search for and discovery of external inspiration is his Two Imaginary Dialogues, which was written at the request of the Studio for New Music’s Moscow ensemble, and first heard in February 2012 at the festival called “Russia through the Eyes of Europeans.” Tihanyi chose two film directors who are important to him, so that reflecting on some aspects of their art he might sketch his own picture of a part of Russian culture. As he notes, in a passage in Lutosławski’s Livre pour orchestra, he recognised that orchestral sound can have film-like features and through sound enable near and distant views to be seen. For the chamber ensemble he created a sort of works” come into being, which of course have little in common with
inverted rhapsody: in the first part of the work, he evokes the atmo-
traditional concertos since, in singling out one or two instruments
sphere of Sergei Eisenstein’s monumental battle scenes with tumul-
from the chamber music ensemble and giving them the role of soloists
tuous, swirling torrents of sound which are repeatedly interrupted by
accompanied by the rest of the ensemble, he is merely picking out and
typical Tihanyi moments, like film stills. But in the second movement
reinforcing individual strands from the earlier composition, to weave
he translates into his own musical language the quietly tense world
around them a richer texture. This was how individual movements of
of Andrei Tarkovsky, imbued with metaphysics. In this chamber scene,
the clarinet-cello-piano trio Schattenspiel (1997) gave rise to the ver-
three dream pictures frame an instrumental dialogue and monologue.
sion entitled Atte (1999) with solo clarinet and cello accompanied by
Characteristically, Tihanyi expresses the contrast between the person-
a chamber group; from the four-hands piano piece Matrix (1998) came
alities of the two film directors in the form not of portraits but of dia-
Matrix/Kosmos (2002), and from the harp piece entitled Linos (2002)
logues, through which he incorporates himself and his own world of
came the “mini-concerto” for harp Arnis (2010). At the same time,
ideas, distinct from both of theirs.
these transformations reveal a lot about Tihanyi’s way of thinking and
In 2012, at the request of the Kempten Chamber Music Festival, he
his ideas about sound. Here ear-caressing sound is at the same time
composed Rundherum for piano quintet. This apparatus is unusually
a background to the strongly-defined musical ideas that come to the
traditional for Tihanyi, and partly for this reason he took care to divide
fore and is, in itself, an independent actor, which appears in the various
up the ensemble and re-interpret it in an original way. As the title of
forms of a work in many different lights.
the work (= Round about) indicates, in certain sections of the work the
Although Tihanyi feels himself to be primarily an instrumental com-
two violinists and the viola player circle round the cellist and pianist,
poser, his only opera so far, Genetrix (2001-2007), based on the novella
who are fixed at their instruments. When one after another all three
by François Mauriac, is one of the outstanding musical dramas of the
reach the music stands behind the piano, they step out, as it were, from
past decade. More than twenty years after an abortive attempt in his
the framework of the proper piano quintet genre and we hear them
student days, he set about giving new expression to a subject that fas-
from a sort of dream world. Their separateness is underlined by their
cinated him; in addition to achieving extremely original French diction,
playing mouth organs and percussion instruments at the rear desks,
he created an astounding theatrical effect, especially by incorporat-
and their music sounds at a different tempo from each other and from
ing choral passages, hymns sung in Latin, that overarch the chamber
that of the two musicians playing in the foreground; in the most com-
drama, and make it reminiscent of the mystery plays. In connection
plex section of the work as many as three separate levels are opposed
with Genitrix, Tihanyi refers to its prototypes Pelléas ét Mélisande
to the cello-piano duo.
and Bluebeard’s Castle, but the dramaturgy of his opera, which frag-
The avantgarde-minded French director of Genitrix, Christine
ments time and is full of references backwards and forwards, is very
Dormoy, once said : “Mauriac is classical, and so is Tihanyi’s style of
far removed from those examples from a hundred years earlier. At the
writing”. Hearing Tihanyi’s music, this summary judgment may seem
same time Genitrix – like the operas of Berg – contains many instru-
strange, but we have to admit she is right – if, by “classical” in the tradi-
mental forms, and from these evolved the “viola concerto” entitled
tional sense, we mean artistic creation on a human scale, transmitting
Passacaglie (2010), written for Kim Kashkashian, which is Tihanyi’s
human standards. Translation: Lorna Dunbar 15
Originality and Character Maverick Composers giving an essential new impetus to musical life: An excursion through the catalogs of Ricordi Munich by Michael Zwenzner
16
“Born in Karlsruhe in 1938. Emigrated to Australia in 1960. Part-time jobs, shift work in steel-processing industries which led to first encounters with sounds of a ‘metallic kind’. Experiments with so-called ‘hard and soft edges of reverberating metal,’ intense investigation of the unpredictable, non-lyrical but also poetic aspects of sonically ‘at random’ events. Credo: ‘Poetry in noise.’ Studies at the Savitsky Actors’ School in Melbourne, 1961-63. Joined a travelling theatre group. Studied guitar with Antonio Losada and music theory with Don Andrews in Sydney, 1966-70. Returned to Europe in 1971….” This is just a short excerpt from the unusual biography of composer Volker Heyn, who lives these days in Karlsruhe, and whose works are published by Ricordi Munich. Within the innovative music of the past hundred years, such unusual careers seem to be more the rule than the exception. Many significant 20th-century composers who long created in obscurity, or whose Volker Heyn
works initially experienced rejection, turned out later in their careers to be precisely those trail-blazing artists whose music has left the most profound historical traces, and enjoyed the most lasting success. Giacinto Scelsi, Iannis Xenakis, György Kurtág and Salvatore Sciarrino (all substantially represented in Universal Music Publishing Classical (UMPC)) catalogues are among those composers who for decades worked in obscurity, until suddenly their significance was widely appreciated, and they could gain the laurels that their outstanding artistic achievements deserved. In some tragic cases (one thinks of people like Gérard Grisey and Fausto Romitelli), this enormous success only came after the composer’s death. In the light of an ever-more-interconnected information society, it is astonishing that the 20th century was still an era of spectacular ‘belated discoveries’ of great artists. But it is just such cases that reveal the great importance of their supporters and advocates, who are also concerned to ensure that initial success is lasting, that their music remains available, and that knowledge of it goes out into the world. In the more than two-hundred-year tradition of Giovanni Ricordi (1785-1853), the publishers in the UMPC group have set themselves the same task, always keeping in mind the goal of helping artists to enjoy the most durable impact possible, on both present-day listeners and future ones. 17
I could say that I compose because I want to get to understand how the world functions. When I make music, I have to give concrete form to ‘world situations’ in terms of sonic categories. Compositional ways of proceeding, especially formal and ‘sonosomatic’ processes are probes providing insight into world situations, or their recognition. —Rolf Riehm 18
From left to right: Rolf Riehm Nikolaus Brass Thomas Lauck
So, for many years, Ricordi Munich has been working with some of the most original and distinctive composers of the older generation,
the cultural critic and philosopher Georg Steiner, and Volker Heyn to Jean Ziegler, a sociologist critical of globalization.
including the ones whose current projects are briefly presented
Ziegler’s book “The Empire of Shame” provides the starting point
below: the German and Swiss composers Nikolaus Brass (b. 1949),
for one of Volker Heyn’s most recent compositions. The roughly
Volker Heyn (b. 1938), Rudolf Kelterborn (b.1931), Thomas Lauck
half-hour eclipse of reason (2008-10) for female voice, ensemble
(b. 1943), Rolf Riehm (b. 1937), Ernstalbrecht Stiebler (b. 1934) and
and playbacks will be premiered on April 21, 2013 as part of
Hans Wüthrich (b. 1937). Common to them all is the combination
Deutschlandfunk’s New Music Forum in Cologne, with Salome
of single-mindedness and persistence with which they tread their
Kammer as soloist, and Ensemble Aventure conducted by Alexander
unconventional paths, their rich imagination, and their inexhaustible
Ott. It’s not a matter of conventional text setting; as Heyn says: “It
inventiveness. They all display a certain scepticism regarding the
wouldn’t have been of interest for this musical work to quote the
often artistically dubious “express route” to success, and reject
original texts from Jean Ziegler’s accounts and reports; for this pur-
compliance with the widespread trend to easy accessibility. So their
pose we have the book to refer to. What proved inspiring (if such
initial successes occur away from major halls and stages, but their
a word is permissible), was a particular scenario in his work, which
reach consistently expands f rom organic growth. What arises here is
describes the state of affairs that prevails around and inside the
a music lying beyond artificial excitement and short-lived hype. So
sky-rocketing garbage dumps at the outskirts of the town of Brasilia.
it is no accident that in their works they constantly make reference
The scenario, the setting: every day about one thousand children
to significant contemporary thinkers, for example, Nikolaus Brass to
and youths are allowed to rummage upon these hills in search of 19
Nikolaus Brass’ music has a radical individual expressivity. His pieces deal with pain and insecurity. This is austere music, yet all its micro- and overtone oscillations make it visceral and haptic. —Gerhard R. Koch
20
food and whatever usable objects they can salvage from these bac-
Astonishment is also aroused time after time by the music of
teria–infected dumps. All this under observation from sadistic secu-
Rolf Riehm who, following the great success of his opera Das
rity guards and over–ambitious, zealous supervisors.”
Schweigen der Sirenen in Stuttgart in 1994, is currently composing a
Someone whose composing is founded on such impressions is
second full-length music theatre work – this time for the Frankfurt
scarcely likely to furnish blissful melodies or sweet harmonies:
Opera, where the work will be premiered in September 2014.
that much one can hear from the recently-released portrait
Siren Samples: Bilder des Begehrens und des Vernichtens (Images of
CD on the Berlin edition RZ label. On the contrary, in eclipse of
Desire and Destruction) is the title of the present score, already
reason, for example, makes use of two pianos tuned a quarter-
largely completed, for which the composer also wrote the libretto.
tone apart, electric guitar, electric bass and playback of concrete
Meanwhile his music is attracting increasing international attention,
sounds. Journalist Oliver Alt wrote this about Heyn: “Part of what
as witness performances of his large-scale piano concerto Wer
is fascinating about Heyn is that he doesn’t shrink from the world’s
sind diese Kinder at the Ostrava New Music Days, and HAWKING
dirt. Refined aestheticizing is not what he’s about. On the contrary,
for ensemble in Prague and Los Angeles. Concerning the latter
this man’s music always arises as a reaction to the most repugnant
performance, on March 29, 2011, Mark Swed wrote in the Los Angeles
social and political situations. (…) Despite its rough surface –
Times: “This, in the end, is spiritual music not in a mystical sense but
conventionally produced sounds are more the exception than the
in a disorienting one. And with shocking sonic surety, Riehm reveals
rule – Heyn’s music glitters with a wealth of nuance that is just
a universe with a mind of its own.” In one of the long-renowned
astonishing.”
Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angeles, on April 29, 2013, there
will be not only the first American performance of Lenz in Moskau for ensemble, but also the premiere of a new work lasting about 25 minutes: according to the composer, Pasolini in Ostia (2012) is a kind of micro-oratorio for soprano, piano, percussion, cello and text projections based on a radio report about the last days of Pasolini’s life, and Pasolini’s film using Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. The singer Alice Teyssier will perform the demanding solo part. Riehm’s substantial discography will also be expanded in 2013: WERGO is issuing a CD with Wer sind diese Kinder for piano and orchestra and the large-scale piano solo HAMAMUTH – Stadt der Engel. Nicolas Hodges is the soloist in both works. A further CD including Lenz in Moskau is in preparation for the Cybele label. In 2013, on the occasion of Thomas Lauck’s 70th birthday, a substantial edition of four CDs will be released on the Telos label. This will draw emphatic attention to a composer who has devoted his life almost exclusively to the composition of pieces for small chamber ensembles, and has thus always been rather in the shadows of the music industry. All the same, over the course of the years Lauck has gathered around himself a steadily increasing number of first-rate musicians who have made studio recordings of a total of 22 of his compositions. These include internationally successful musicians such as the percussionist Isao Nakamura, the soprano Petra Hoffmann, the pianist and conductor Jürg Henneberger, and the trombonist Dirk Amrein, as well as emerging talents like the cellist Isabel Gehweiler and the double bass player Aleksander Gabrys. Thomas Lauck – born in Strasbourg in Alsace – studied composition with Klaus Huber, and later pursued a double career as a composer and ophthalmologist. He hones his works with the utmost care. The conductor Bernhard Wulff once wrote: “He works out the materials for his compositions the way a vintner selects his berries in late autumn: very careful choice of details, after a long process of personally listening to the individual sounds, their individual lives and eventual extinction. In this, visual artists and literary texts too act as virtual dialogue partners. Evaluation of the single note and its resonance – this sonic tragedy of a sound’s extinction – is one of his central compositional challenges.” For many years, Nikolaus Brass, whose most important teachers were Morton Feldman and Helmut Lachenmann, also pursued a double career as composer and doctor. For some ten years, he has built a reputation in Germany, with numerous premieres of orchestral, vocal and chamber music works. In the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the German music critic Gerhard R. Koch drew “attention to a composer who goes his own way, at a certain 21
Hans Wüthrich
distance from the established music industry, and comprehensively so. That is, Brass is a doctor: he doesn’t have to live from composing, nor does he want to. As a sort of part-time composer, Brass enjoys excellent company: Mahler and Ives.” Accordingly, Brass was often in a position to compose works without external commissions, but driven instead by inner necessity. This also applies to his first opera Sommertag (A Summer’s Day), based on the play of the same name by Jon Fosse (Ein sommars dag, 1999), which he is composing at the moment. Fosse’s texts, says Brass, have an innate musicality that makes them very suitable for music drama. This musicality is underlined “by the dramatic principle of superimposing the temporal levels in his dialogues. The characters move into other times, though at first the viewer doesn’t notice this. And in doing so, Fosse unfurls a central ‘musico-dramatic’ factor, if one takes the view that formed music works with memory: more than any other art, music is able to bring the past into the present, and more than any other art it shows what it means to be asked to experience what 22
With every piece I write, I start more or less from zero. Naturally I refer back to previous experiences, but I don’t believe that I have a personal musical language. —Hans Wüthrich
is present as what has passed.” Preoccupation with the themes of
piece I write, I start more or less from zero. Naturally I refer back
time and transience is also reflected in Brass’s concert music, such
to previous experiences, but I don’t believe that I have a personal
as Von wachsender Gegenwart for 19 solo strings or Zeit im Grund
musical language. I’m always considering afresh how to realize an
for two clarinets and eleven strings, both of which will available in
idea. And this constantly results in new arrangements of material,
2013 on a CD issued on the NEOS label.
and new ways of proceeding. I have this ambition, that anyone hear-
The inner necessity of a composer’s actions also stands abso-
ing a piece of mine gets an experience that he can only have with
lutely at the forefront for Hans Wüthrich, born 1937 in Aeschi,
this piece, and nowhere else.” What will come next? Wüthrich has
Switzerland. He is only interested in a commission if the idea for
disclosed this much: for 2013 he is planning a piece for four strings
a new piece that he wants to realize is already present. And since
and live electronics.
ideas that can stand up to his critical scrutiny are rare bits of luck,
Rudolf Kelterborn, born in Basle in 1931, is another outstand-
Wüthrich’s output to date has remained pretty small. The most
ing Swiss composer who single-mindedly goes his own way, and
recent piece, from 2010, was for two percussionists and live elec-
is always likely to surprise. In the journal Dissonance, Christoph
tronics with the title Peripherie und Mitte, premiered in 2011 as
Neidhöfer writes “Kelterborn’s musical gestures are mainly distin-
part of a concert celebrating the award of the Marguerite Staehelin
guished by clearly contoured energy processes, not unlike those
Composition Prize to the composer, who has also been a member
that can be observed in, for example, verbal and emotional, human
of the Berlin Akademie der Künste since 2009. In conversation with
expressive forms. This is where the immediacy of Kelterborn’s music
Thomas Meyer in the journal Dissonance, Wüthrich says “With every
lies: for the most part, it speaks in an emotionally direct way, and 23
Kelterborn’s musical gestures are mainly distinguished by clearly contoured energy processes, not unlike those that can be observed in, for example, verbal and emotional, human expressive forms. This is where the immediacy of Kelterborn’s music lies —Christoph Neidhöfer
Rudolf Kelterborn
24
its chosen musical material constantly has a vivid, transparent
works published since 1958 in one house. Stiebler is one of the
effect, even in its most transfigurative moments.” Good examples
first German composers to have built his compositions on the
of the direct emotional effect of Kelterborn’s music are provided by
reductive principles of minimalism, as early as in Extension I for
works like the Oboe Quartet for Heinz Holliger, given its first perfor-
string trio, from 1963. Neither complex nor repetitive, Stiebler’s
mance at the Lucerne Festivalin 2009, and the Nachtstück for the
music unfolds in a temporal and sonic space whose dimensions it
TaG ensemble, premiered in 2012 in Winterthur. On April 14, 2013
seeks to explore in all directions: the utopia of a ‘pure’ music as
the Basle City Casino will be the site for the first performance of
an answer to the overly dominant musical ‘narratives’ of earlier
Kelterborn’s Sinfonie 5 in einem Satz („La notte“) (2011-12), a work
centuries. Be aware of the place beneath your feet – this Zen phrase
commissioned by the Basle Music Academy, whose orchestra will
indicates the direction Stiebler’s music goes in: attention to the
give the premiere under the direction of Christoph-Mathias Mueller.
present moment, being inside the sound, animating the sonic
We end our little excursion with the composer Ernstalbrecht
space through constant repetition, and the high art of the long
Stiebler, born in Berlin in 1934, whose connection to America’s
wave: composing as an act of listening, as existential necessity, as
tradition of experimental ”maverick” composers is particularly evi-
a survival strategy. No wonder that Giacinto Scelsi was also one of
dent. As a radio producer, he was especially keen to ensure that
Stiebler’s most important inspirations.
composers like John Cage and Morton Feldman had an important
On January 31, 2013, as part of TransMediale Berlin Stiebler will
forum in Germany. Ricordi Munich’s acquisition of Edition Modern
have a portrait concert including two premieres: …mit der Zeit… for dou-
Wewerka a few years ago means that they now have all of Stiebler’s
ble bass and keyboard, and three in one 2 for bass flute, percussion and
piano. Following up on Unisono diviso (1999), for spring 2014 Stiebler is working on his second orchestral work, composed on commission from Hessian Radio, and to be premiered by the Symphony Orchestra in Frankfurt. The Berlin-Scene label m=minimal has embarked on a multiple CD and LP edition of Stiebler’s music. The second CD/LP, with the compositions ton in ton, composed for Ensemble Modern, and the organ pieces Torsi and Betonungen, will be released early in 2013. Of ton in ton, Stiebler writes, it was “composed relying on a tradition that reaches from the distant sounds of someone like Antonio de Cabezon to the soft filigree poetry of Morton Feldman, so as to penetrate barriers which are not just the Walls of Jericho; it’s more a matter of getting beyond our inner barriers, so as to have equal access to both far and near, and memory and dream, in an imaginary and real sonic space.” Translation: Richard Toop 25
The golden age of opera produced many innovative and daring
Sasha Waltz’s production of Pascal Dusapin’s Passion (for the opening
productions, however, this appears to have suffered a steady decline
of the season) and Benoît Mernier’s world premiere of La Dispute (on
during recent decades in many opera houses. An important exception
March 5, 2013), both published by the French o ffice of Universal Music
to this is the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, which has been program-
Publishing Classical. This is what Peter de Caluwe explained to us when
ming contemporary works through several generations of directors,
we interviewed him before the season’s opening:
and Peter de Caluwe and his team successfully continue this tradition. Awarded “Opera House of the year” by Opernwelt in 2011, this presti-
26
Opera is about community
gious institution in Brussels proves season after season that opera can
“For me commissioning and producing contemporary opera is
be as modern as any other less intimidating artistic field. This is clearly
a political, as well as a social and artistic statement; it proves that
evidenced by the 2012-2013 season programming, which includes
opera is an art form of today. Everything we do at Théâtre Royal de
rn d Uh lig Photo : Be
Opera: an Art Form of Today
la Monnaie needs to have a contemporary edge, it needs to have the feeling that we are making something which belongs not only to our house, but which is clearly a way of communicating between an artist and an audience of today. We have to allow artists to create, whether it is recreating old pieces from the opera repertoire or adding new pieces to the repertoire, and we have to find the audience interested in seeing those creations. This interaction is a very Greek way of thinking about theatre: it is talking about a community, and also talking about a process of bringing artists into society. In both cases it is about innovation, be it a new interpretation of La Traviata or a premiere by Pascal Dusapin, Benoît Mernier or Philippe Boesmans. Both give me enormous excitement.” An art form with a European touch “I am a very European-thinking person, so opera as a European art
An interview with Peter de Caluwe
form is incredibly important to me. Brussels is not only an administrative and economic capital but also a cultural one; here we can influence the people and the decision makers if we play our role properly, as Munich or Amsterdam or some other houses also do.
by Eric Denut
As you know La Monnaie was already a producing house as early as the 1900’s; a lot of premieres that did not happen in Paris occurred here. Our house was always attractive to composers. I see it also as a kind of statement from our country towards Europe. Like Belgium, which has two different communities, Europe is a conglomerate of different nations and regions; so our commitment to opera, singularly contemporary opera, can be interpreted as a pro-European political statement.” Audiences are curious “People are curious and not only about staging. You have to take them on an adventure and help them discover territories they don’t know. If they are in territories they already know, they may already have made a judgment. Offer them Les Huguenots by Meyerbeer (as we did in 2011 in the new critical edition by Ricordi Munich) and they are completely open, they have no judgments in advance. Offer them a world premiere and there is yet a different kind of curiosity. This is exactly what we are doing with Benoît Mernier’s new piece La Dispute. We have engaged a lot of patrons who are already committed to the piece: they contributed to the commission, they had readings of the libretto, met the stage directors, the librettist and the composer, the young singers, a whole making-of Peter de Caluwe
process which makes them understand what it is about.” 27
I call it a sine qua non condition. We need to create the right company feeling from the very beginning, with everyone involved – when this happens, it is the most exciting thing you can experience! —Peter de Caluwe
The 2013 season, from Pascal Dusapin’s Passion to Benoît Mernier’s
Benoît Mernier, sharing this vision, came up with a project based on
La Dispute
La Dispute and after a lot of research together with Joël Lauwers and
“The two contemporary pieces we programed this season are both
Ursel Hermann we ended up with a libretto based on several theatre
closely related to the passion: the passion between two people which
plays, including La Dispute, of course, but also La Double Inconstance,
starts with a relationship and the dispute that ends it. I have tried to
for example. As we also wanted to work with the fabulous singers
connect the whole season to this topic: there are references between
Stéphanie d’Oustrac and Stéphane Degout and give them a bigger role,
Marivaux’ La Dispute (which surprisingly had never been used as
we specifically looked for and found beautiful passages in Marivaux’s
a libretto, or at least as a basis for a libretto) and Mozart’s Cosi fan
body of work.”
tutte; the passion is also linked to Manon Lescaut, La Traviata, Lulu, all related in some particular way to this whole discussion between
“Our orchestral musicians are asking for premieres and contem-
in which we are looking from Eurydice’s point of view, why she does
porary pieces. It makes them much more individually responsible,
not want to return.
because most modern compositions are, like Pascal Dusapin’s Passion,
“Looking for common themes make us very creative – such as find-
very soloistic. We do not like thinking about “specialist singers” in
ing a way to work on Marivaux – who always was one of my favorite
modern art music. An artist able to sing Verdi should also be able to
writers. I am convinced the 18th century is much closer to our contem-
sing contemporary musical writing! Why should someone so fabulous
porary soul than the 19 - the free spirit, the individuality, people who
as Barbara Hannigan be portrayed as a 21st century music star? As you
dared doing things beyond the border of bourgeois life. So Marivaux
know she is equally at home singing Baroque motets as well as Ligeti’s
is a kind of contemporary writer, who happens not to live in our time!
Grand Macabre or Dusapin.”
th
28
Musicians and contemporary opera
Lei and Lui which is so fantastic in Pascal Dusapin’s score – a piece
Passion, music & libretto by Pascal Dusapin Premiered on June 29, 2008 at Aix-en-Provence. Belgian premiere on August 30, 2012 at the Théâtre de la Monnaie with a choreography by Sasha Waltz & guests with the Orchestre de Chambre de la Monnaie and the Vocalconsort Berlin conducted by Franck Ollu.
Recipe for success “The most important thing is to have all the ingredients from the beginning: a real team involving the conductor as well as the stage direc-
La Dispute, music by Benoît Mernier, libretto by Joël Lauwers
tor. You have to know what kind of direction of development you are
and Ursel Hermann after Marivaux
heading into. I call it a sine qua non condition. We need to create the
World première on March 5, 2013 at the Brussels Théâtre
right company feeling from the very beginning, with everyone involved
de la Monnaie - in co-production with Opéra National de
– when this happens, it is the most exciting thing you can experience! I
Montpellier.
mean, Mozart, Verdi, Strauss, even Wagner in some way (with himself!)
Orchestre symphonique de la Monnaie conducted by Patrick Davin Stage direction, Karl-Ernst and Ursel Hermann with the collaboration of Joël Lauwers
shared this point of view. If this is not the case, I will feel something is not working well, even if you have the best singers in the cast. That’s one of the reasons why we sometimes have had “holes” in our creative rhythm: suddenly you may have the feeling “Oh, there is something not really OK here.” Either this is going to be too late, or the composer is not really inspired, or it doesn’t work between him and the stage director – anything can happen. Or, I can have the feeling the composer is writing the piece because we asked him, not because he needs to. Someone like Pascal Dusapin coming to us with an idea he had when he was 18 years old for his next project in a future season - this is fantastic. If someone comes with this kind of idea, you know you have started well!” 29
The Fortunate of Two Klezmer ensemble and string orchestra - bearers of different tra-
Presumably you too grew up in that community. From the seventies
ditions, different cultures. In the past decade, the Budapest Klezmer
onwards there was a continuous exodus of Jews from the Soviet
Band and the Ferenc Liszt Chamber Orchestra have proved in their
Union. Was your migration part of that process?
joint concerts that the melodic world of the instrumental music of
If at that time, in 1972, we had not followed my sister, some time
the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe as brought to life by an en-
later we would almost certainly have emigrated to America or Israel,
semble consisting of clarinet, piano, accordion, trombone, violin,
as the rest of the family did. We saw clearly that we had to leave the
double bass and percussion can be successfully combined with the
Soviet Union, but our motives for leaving were economic rather than
sound of the classical orchestra. Ferenc Jávori’s Klezmer Suite has
political. In the seventies, there were more than four thousand Jewish
become part of the repertoire of both ensembles, and has scored
families living in Munkács. I went there last year, and heard that there
notable successes both in Hungary and abroad. The score appeared
are just two hundred and seventy-two Jews left. Jews have virtually
in print not long ago, thus becoming available to other ensembles
disappeared from Sub-Carpathia.
as well. The composer talks about the background to the creation of
What languages did you speak at home?
the work:
Yiddish and Hungarian.
At some time in the 1970’s, you moved from Munkács, Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union) to settle in Hungary. When was that, and what was your reason for moving?
We did not maintain a kosher diet, but my father was religious, and we observed the holidays and festivals. Ours was a big family, there
In 1972, my younger sister married a Hungarian Jewish boy and set-
were lots of relatives, and on these occasions we always got together.
tled here, and, in accordance with my parents’ wish, the whole family
On some feast days there were twenty to thirty people sitting round
followed her. I was 28 years old at the time.
the table. As a child I thoroughly enjoyed these occasions; we were
Munkács traditionally had a sizeable Jewish community. 30
How religious was your family?
a very loving family. Today we are scattered, fate has planted us in
Convergence Musical Worlds An interview with Ferenc Jávori, leader of the Budapest Klezmer Band ´´ ri by László Gyo
31
different continents, but we are a very close-knit family. How did you begin to study music? When I was six, my mother took me to see old Mr. Spitzer, head of the local music school, and had me enrolled. I would have liked to play the piano, but Mr. Spitzer told my parents – the war and the Holocaust were still a recent experience – that a person can flee with a violin, but not with a piano, so my parents decided for me: the violin became my main instrument, and the piano my second instrument, but, in the Soviet Union, it too was taken very seriously, and in my final exam I played a Mozart piano concerto. In Munkács, to what extent was there a living tradition of Jewish instrumental music? In the Soviet period there was no longer a living tradition. Jewish songs, however, were still sung by the community. From my mother and from uncles and aunts I heard a lot of Yiddish songs; my grandpa talked about the pre-World-War I klezmer musicians, who played together with gypsy musicians; in fact it was from him I heard that a real klezmer band played at the wedding of the daughter of Spira, the miracle-working Munkács rabbi. The way I became acquainted with klezmer was that in the town there was a wonderful leading violinist called Galambosi, who played in the Csillag restaurant. When I was at secondary school I used to go with my parents to the Csillag restaurant garden, where Jewish melodies were sometimes included in the program. I spoke with Galambosi, who told me what sorts of tunes he had learned from his father, who had played with klezmer musicians before World War I. At that time in the Soviet Union, no Jewish culture or Jewish music officially existed; the older members of the communities still knew songs, but nothing escaped the attention of the censor. Programs – for example, even those performed in restaurants by gypsy musicians – had to be approved by a party committee. It was not advisable to advertise that one intended to play Jewish music. Meanwhile, I went to Ungvár to the conservatory, then to university in Drohobics, but I frequently visited Galambosi, who showed me melodies which I transcribed. I found this musical world interesting and exciting, and I sensed it would be important to me, so I eagerly collected material. Most of my collection I owe to Galambosi, but I also
university studies, obtained my diploma as a violin teacher, and got a job in Nagyszőllős teaching violin. Did your klezmer music-making in fact begin after you moved to Hungary? In the first period after I moved here, I had to look for work. Luckily 32
Cop yr ig
elsewhere, and transcribed a lot of music; meanwhile I completed my
ht by Mi klós Havas
sought out elderly gypsy musicians in Nagyszőllős, Raho, Técső and
for me, the Budapest Operetta Theatre advertised auditions for a vio-
To me, the Ferenc Liszt Chamber Orchestra had always floated at
linist, so I found a job. But at that time, it did not even occur to me to
some unattainable height; I had heard them in countless concerts,
dig out my collection of Jewish music.
with Jean-Pierre Rampal, with Isaac Stern and others, and I had the
As far as I remember, in the ‘70s, Jewish music did not enjoy great
utmost respect for them. I would not have dared to think that one
popularity in Hungary either. Although two Hungarian music historians,
day we would be partners, that we would make music together, and
Judit Frigyesi and Péter Laki, collected liturgical music, there was no
indeed that one day they would play notes written down by me.
great fashion for Jewish instrumental music at a time when in Hungary
Then once, at one of our concerts, I discovered János Rolla, the con-
the dance-house movement was flourishing.
certmaster and artistic leader of the orchestra, sitting among the
What is more, the Jews in Hungary related very differently to their
audience. At the end of the concert. he came over and warmly con-
Jewish roots from those living in Sub-Carpathia. With only slight exag-
gratulated us. He liked the music and also our playing. He made a
geration, I could say that Jewish culture did not exist either. The major-
point of going over to our accordionist, Anna Nagy, and told her that
ity concealed their origin; only after 1990 did a lot of people whom I
up until that evening, he had always hated the accordion, but Anna
had gotten to know in the ’80s admit to being Jewish. As assimilated
had convinced him of the instrument’s virtues. A few years after that
Jews, they did not feel it to be an important element of their identity;
evening, János Rolla phoned me, we met and he asked me if I would
in their eyes I was a curiosity. Until the ’90’s, it would not have occurred
write something for the orchestra, because after so many Baroque
to me to do anything with my collection of Jewish music.
and classical works they would like to play something different. All
It was only some time during the 1980’s that klezmer music became popular again. When did you first encounter klezmer ensembles?
by Mi klós Havas Cop yr ig ht
not yet come into fashion. At that time, I was still a beginner as a
The genre’s renaissance started at the beginning of the ’80s. It was in
composer; I had written a few pieces for my band, and klezmer music
1988 that I first encountered it, when I was travelling in America, and
for two ballets, but I had never written anything for a classical cham-
in a New York record shop I saw a lot of klezmer recordings and sheet
ber orchestra. The occasion was at hand. We were already regular
music. I bought two records, listened to them at home, and was aston-
participants in the Jewish Summer Festival and the festival director,
ished to discover that half of the tunes were familiar to me.
Vera Vadas, asked us to produce a special program this time, so I sug-
Listening to klezmer music, the layman has the impression that as
gested that on this occasion we should give a joint concert with the
in jazz, here too there is ample scope for improvisation. Is there re-
Ferenc Liszt Chamber Orchestra. From then on, there was no turn-
ally? Is it a case of reconstruction? Perhaps re-creation? How much
ing back, the program was advertised, and I began composing. In the
freedom does the performer have?
first half of the evening, they performed a classical program, then we
Originally, the dilemmas were very similar to those experienced
played half an hour of klezmer, and finally together we played the
in folk music. How authentic does the sound have to be? Should this
movement I had composed for this occasion. There was a full house
music be performed as it was a hundred years ago or, moving with the
at the Dohány utca Synagogue in Budapest; we played to an audi-
times, should other elements also be incorporated in it? In America, at
ence of four thousand. Great expectations had preceded this con-
first authentic sound was the aim, which in the home of jazz proved
cert, thanks to the reputation of the Ferenc Liszt Chamber Orchestra
untenable. As time went on, realizing this, the klezmer musicians
and the unusual pairing. It was such a huge success that afterwards
tended increasingly to incorporate improvisation in their music.
they refused to let us leave the platform. We had to repeat part of
What is the “compulsory” composition of a klezmer band? Clearly,
the movement. This success boosted my confidence enormously, so I
in the various groups different instruments can be heard. Is there
composed the whole suite, which we subsequently have played in a
some kind of compulsory minimum?
lot of concerts, a recording has been made of it, and the Győr Ballet
To begin with I adopted the composition of the 13 member American Klezmer Conservatory Band. Later I came to realise that a seven-member group – accordion, clarinet, violin, trombone, double bass, drums and piano – better expresses my ideas. The Klezmer Suite was the fruit of a collaboration with the Ferenc Ferenc Jávori
this happened around 1998, when that kind of “fusion” music had
Liszt Chamber Orchestra. What is the history of the piece?
Company has choreographed it. As a matter of fact, to what genre does this piece belong? A work of serious music on Jewish themes? Crossover? What would you call it? I am unable to decide, but perhaps it is not important. It is the fortunate convergence of two musical worlds, which is an experience not only for us performers, but also for our audiences. Translation: Lorna Dunbar 33
UMPC new signings in 2012 34
Francesca Verunelli Born in 1979, Francesca Verunelli studied composition with Rosario Mirigliano at Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini in Florence where she obtained her diploma summa cum laude. In 2005, she was admitted to the Master’s Course in Compostion at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, where she studied with Azio Corghi. In 2008, she participated in the Ensemble Aleph’s International Forum, which performed her work RSVP in Paris. The same year, she was accepted into the Cursus for composition and music technology at Ircam, where two new pieces were produced: Interno rosso con figure for accordion and electronics (2009, Anthony Millet, accordion) and Play for ensemble and electronics (2010, Ensemble Intercontemporain directed by Susanna Mälkki). Her piece Neon (2008) was performed in Domaine Forget (Québec) by the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, under the direction of Lorraine Vaillancourt. She also received a French State Commission from the Nomos ensemble for whom she wrote Syllabaire (2009) and other commissioned ensemble works for the KDM and Accroche Note ensembles. In 2010, her orchestra piece En mouvement (Espace Double) was played by the Mitteleuropa Orchestra under the direction of Andrea Pestalozza at the Venice Biennale, where she was awarded the “Leone d’Argento”. The same year she received: an Ircam commission for a string quartet Unfolding, which was premiered by the Arditti Quartet in March 2012 at the Biennale ‘Musiques en Scène’ in Lyon; a joint commission from the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart and the Venice Biennale for a chamber opera Serial Sevens to be performed in July in Stuttgart and in October at Venice Biennale 2012; a commission from the Italian ensemble RepertorioZero for #3987 Magic Mauve (a work for percussion and electronic), premiered during Milano Musica 2012. Other recent commissions include: The narrow corner, Francesca Verunelli
an orchestra piece for Radio France to be performed in 2013; Cinemaolio, an ensemble work, for Court-Circuit
n Ra de l photo : Jea
(Commande d’État 2011) and The dark day for cappella choir (commissioned by the French renowned choir Accentus) to be premiered in 2014. Moreover, winner of the Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne Award 2012, the Lucerne Orchestra will premiere in 2014 a piece commissioned for the occasion. 35
Thank you, Adam, for demonstrating contemporary music can bring emotion and happiness —audience member in Nancy, France, after a performance of La Luna Azul
36
Adam Schoenberg Adam Schoenberg is Universal Music Publishing Classical’s most recent American composer, and he has already proven himself to be one of the finest emerging talents on the international music scene. His orchestra work Finding Rothko is being played throughout the nation, a piece that “races through aural representations of four Rothko canvases, conveying the exhilaration of being drawn into his bright blocks of color and the more reflective mood brought on by subtler shades.” (Grand Rapids Symphony) This season Adam began his tenure as the first-ever composerin-residence of the Kansas City Symphony, which will premiere in February 2013 his very own rendering of “Pictures of an Exhibition,” his Picture Studies, based on modern artwork from the collections of the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City. Just as in Mussorgsky/ Ravel tradition, he first composed highly virtuosic piano studies which he then orchestrated. He has also established a young composer’s workshop, where he teaches composition to high school students and which will culminate in a performance of their works by the Kansas City Symphony in May. Left: Samy
Photo (Mo ussa
): An ne de Gee r
Moussa
Samy Moussa Samy Moussa (born in 1984) studied composition in Munich with
Currently, Adam is working on a new orchestra work, Bounce, which is a co-commission by the Aspen School and Music Festival and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Right: Adam
Matthias Pintscher and Pascal Dusapin at the Hochschule für Musik und
His American Symphony, inspired by the 2008 U.S. Presidential
Schoenberg
Theater and graduated last year. Durand is proud to have published his
election and written for the Kansas City Symphony and Michael
very first String Quartet premiered by the well-known Arditti Quartet
Stern, has still as much relevance today in its expression of hope
during the famous Internationale Ferienkurse of the Musikinstitut
and optimism as when it was conceived, and will be revived by many
Darmstadt under the aegis of Thomas Schaefer. Also a conductor, Samy
orchestras around the U.S. over the next two seasons.
Moussa is becoming a major personality in Germany, conducting and
La Luna Azul, his most expressive and emotional work, inspired
being performed by orchestras and ensembles such as BR, the MDR
by his love for his wife, who he met while being a fellow at the
Sinfonieorchester and Ensemble Modern. In Canada, his home country,
McDowell Foundation, is based on a piano trio Luna y Mar, just one
he is also a regular guest at the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal
of many chamber music works that round out his substantial body of
where Maestro Kent Nagano premiered two symphonic pieces.
accomplished compositions to date. 37
Marco Stroppa
A new wave in Italian opera by Marilena Laterza
38
rd i, Mi la no Casa Rico Masotti © be rto Photo : Ro
To appreciate the vital role that opera plays in today’s music, we
instrumentalists, voice, invisible sounds, spaciality and acoustic totem,
might well compare it to copper. Just like copper among the metals,
Re Orso is an anti-fairy tale: the king is a monster, the heroine loses her
opera is in fact the musical genre that has remained in use the longest;
head and the final triumph is reserved for a worm. In short, it is a fierce
moreover, it possesses flexibility, malleability, a high level of conduc-
criticism of the sinister workings of power, the dramaturgical evolution
tivity, good resistance to corrosion, capacity to form alloys, variable
of which is well-suited to the compositional processes favored by (or
coloring depending on whether it is pure or blended with other ele-
embraced by) Stroppa, who, in place of the use of acoustic instruments
ments, and even a series of different synonyms to define it. The only
in the licentious banquet scene in the first act, substitutes the almost-
property that opera and copper do not share is ease of workability, a
exclusive intervention of electronics in the second, thereby represent-
characteristic which in the former is practically absent, given that its
ing the deformation of the multiple spaces and times that live together
twofold character – both profoundly rooted in history and at the same
on the stage.
time, thanks to its ante litteram hyper-textual nature, surprisingly up
Of an altogether different character is the work of Giorgio Battistelli.
with the times – demands of any composer that aspires to measure
Brought up within an opera environment, with a childhood spent in
himself/herself against it a marriage of awareness, intuition and crafts-
the front row of his grandmother’s provincial theatre “watching people
manship that constitutes a constant challenge.
tell stories and produce pure variety entertainment,” Battistelli is a
In offering a brief account of the most recent achievements in the
well-travelled opera composer. His career began with the sounds of
field of opera, we could start with Marco Stroppa. Although many
everyday work transformed into music (Experimentum mundi, 1981)
of his works contain in their title an extra-musical reference and are
and went on with monodramas, scenic concerts, melologues and other
characterized internally by a marked sonorous dramaturgy, Stroppa
forms of music theatre including literary, theatrical and cinemato-
has always avoided any music theatre project made up of bodies
graphic references – from Shakespeare to Fellini – all invested with a
singing and acting within a scene. That is, until he came upon a fairy
vivid sonorous dramaturgy and its artifices. In Sconcerto, ‘music the-
tale in verse by Arrigo Boito set in an imaginary and timeless uni-
atre’ (2010), Battistelli brings on stage an orchestra and its conductor;
verse with rich dramaturgical potential; appropriately adapted, this
the conductor, alas, is incapable of conducting the orchestra because
gave rise to the creation of his first opera, produced in 2012 at the
he is absorbed in trying to give order to his own confused ideas. The
Opéra Comique. A ”musical legend” for four singers, four actors, eleven
speech, difficult and in Sprechstimme form, preserves and exalts the 39
rhythmic-musical components inherent to it, at times sustained by the
of complicated labyrinths, contorted
music, at times contradicted, if not denied, in such a way that in the
streets, canals and horizontal projec-
end only sounds manage to express what a verbal discourse, now in
tions, furnish an ‹‹optical link›› with
crisis, is no longer able to disclose.
the Middle-European orientation of
As he had already done in Big Bang Circus, Il Canto della pelle and
Nieder’s music, a crossroad between
Giudizio universale, in Il killer di parole – the final panel in a tetralogy
Italian, German and Slavic culture.
composed between 1996 and 2010 – Claudio Ambrosini tells a com-
The sobriety of the materials used,
plex, problematic story, the solution of which, though, is left to the
the exploration of the individual
audience to reflect on after the curtain has fallen. A ‘ludodrama’ (drama
sounds transfigured and the opal-
game) in two acts on a subject by Daniel Pennac and the composer
escent expressionism that travels
himself, Il killer di parole, produced at the Fenice in Venice, tells of a
on the boundaries between con-
poet, a hero destined to defeat, at grips with the deletion of terms from
sciousness and dreams confer
the vocabulary and the extinction of linguistic specificities in favor of
a special instrumental voice to
a “definitive” language. The multiple levels of the literary text – which
every image; as a result the opera
oscillate between complete words and preverbal lumps of vowels and
gradually assumes the semblance
consonants – are reflected in the musical choices Ambrosini makes: h e
of a house on the point of wak-
resorts to both the vocal repertory of the avant-garde and to a bel
ing, the windows of which emit
canto approach, supported by the predominating tonal qualities of
a faint light.
the instruments, which delineate the evolution of characters and situ-
Just as original and distinc-
ations by way of distinctive sonorities in a play of reflections between
tive is the creative develop-
text and music.
ment of Fabio Vacchi, distin-
40
(Girotondo, 1982) by operas that he has never hesitated to define as
poser for a fable-like, symbolic and imaginative music theatre already
such. These are operas that mirror the evolution of his poetic and sty-
demonstrated in her international debut with Zora D. (2003) and sub-
listic identity over time and are underpinned by a constant fundamen-
sequently confirmed with Eine Marathon Familie (2008) and Simon der
tal trait: the impelling need to express an idea and to reawaken those
Erwählte (2009). I nspired by an Indian myth about an exchange of heads
perceptive experiences that allow it to take root in the consciousness
and reinterpreted by the composer in the light of her own perception
of listeners. Following an epic work like Teneke (Teatro alla Scala,
of the events, a tight dramaturgical narrative unfolds. Underpinned by
2007), in his most recent opera, Lo stesso mare (2011), Fabio Vacchi
a powerful spiritual force, the narrative maintains a point of contact
takes up the challenge of Amos Oz’s like-named novel (The Same Sea)
with the present while the music itself is an active player in the events,
and – in the context of a structure based on the preordained forms of
making available folk music traditions of Balkan origins, luxuriant
traditional melodrama – draws from it an experimental score, halfway
orchestration, exuberant melodic invention and enthralling rhythmic
between poetry and prose, lyricism and recitation, in which his distinc-
sequences – all peculiarities of Žebeljan – provoking in the spectator
tive compositional idiom takes shape around the intimate identities of
an incandescent psychological and emotive impact.
the characters. The interweaving of psychological events finds spirit
The huge music theatre project that Fabio Nieder is currently bring-
and coherence in the music, and the personal collection of these indi-
ing to completion - starting out from an original text written for him by
vidual stories, each rendered akin to the other by a common desire to
Claudio Magris - is, by contrast, introspective and other-worldly. The
bridge a distance, concrete or supernatural, from the object of one’s
scenes of this dramaturgical and sonorous polyptych (the overall title
affection, becomes the bearer – as always in Vacchi’s operas – of a
of which will be Thümmel, ovvero la perdita delle parole) are modeled
universal message.
on the last drawings of the Trieste painter Vito von Thümmel, realized
Fascinated by the visionary narratives of the Hindu religion,
in the mental asylum where he spent the last years of his life. ‘ Dreams’,
Riccardo Nova in Nineteen Mantras (2012) deepens his exploration
as von Thümmel himself called these visions, transcribed onto paper,
of a genre of performance art built around the interaction between
n
guished from the beginning
testifies to a persistent predilection on the part of the Serbian com-
photo by Ne no Br use ga
Two Heads and a Girl, Isidora Žebeljan’s most recent opera (2012),
Left to right: Claudio Ambrosini Isidora Žebeljan Riccardo Nova
Nova : photo by Me lin a Mu las / Nie de r: photo by Massi mo
Ost ro us
ka
Fabio Nieder
music, dance and theatrical gesticulation. I n a daring process of musi-
fullest expression in the multidimensionality of Quartett. An opera in
cal and cultural synthesis, Nova juxtaposes the most experimental
thirteen scenes on a theatrical subject by Heiner Müller drawn from
outcomes of sophisticated Western music and the re-elaboration of
Laclos’s Les liaisons dangereuses, the work was premiered at La Scala,
sonorities of Indian origins, utilizing the instruments of these two
Milan in 2011. The two protagonists’ enervating game of exchanging
musical traditions together with electronics. The contribution of the
and losing identity is rendered musically by way of a double orches-
director Giorgio Barberio Corsetti and the dancer and choreographer
tra, which gives voice both to the private impulses of the characters
Shantala Shivalingappa present a captivating dramaturgy but without
and to a collective and social dimension. This is supported by an elec-
any sung text as traditionally understood. Instead, the gestures of the
tronic elaboration of sonorous spaces and movements, which func-
body and the arborescent joining of rhythms and mixed sonorities
tions as an amplifier of what is happening on stage. In addition, the
generate a cyclic plot that tells of genesis, desires, seductions and
virtuosic vocal writing – with recourse to a broad spectrum of styles,
archetypal rivalries.
techniques, registers, inflections and timbres – and the computer
Finally, for Luca Francesconi, opera is not a preordained genre but a
treatment that synthesizes, deforms and multiplies the voices, con-
potential one: a locus capable of hosting the reciprocal fermentation
tribute to producing that powerful sensorial and intellectual impact
of different languages, each a generator of its own meanings. What is
that makes Quartett a borderland between nature and culture, body
involved is a poetics that is recognizable in the stylistic syncretism of
and techne, beauty and complexity.
his first work for music theatre, Ballata (1996-99), but which finds its
Translation: Nicholas Crotty 41
42
Lu ca Piva Photo by
Operas for young audiences
Anyone who thinks that opera and children are two worlds that never meet could not be more wrong! At the present time, children’s opera is going through a boom in popularity: one clear sign is the growing number of initiatives that, in the spirit of the most up-todate music education practices, are aiming to familiarize children and adolescents with the world of opera. And leading the field in this regard is Associazione Lirica e Concertistica (As.Li.Co), which, with its program Opera Education, has for many years been offering a series of artistic-educational activities focusing on the experience of young children (Opera Kids), older children (Opera Domani) and adolescents (Opera.it) when exposed to opera. We asked Barbara Minghetti (President of As.Li.Co) what the strengths of these projects were. The principal strength lies in opera itself, a genre which is proving more and more appealing to young people. Its language cuts across genres - there are no barriers - and it offers the opportunity to work at school on a wide range of themes including issues of vital interest in the present day. In addition, Opera Education gives us the opportunity Il sole, di chi è? by Silvia Colasanti
to work with young professionals and to have a place in an international network that allows us to get to know different countries’ opera scenes, different ways of thinking and different ways of working that enrich us year after year. Working with young people, in fact, offers us the opportunity to be always up with the times and innovative. You mentioned an international network. What does this consist of? We take part in Reseo and Opera Europa, where we enjoy accreditation as a body that carries out opera education at the highest level. For us, it’s vitally important to be involved in these networks in order to be able to exchange professional know-how, ideas and artists as well as to
by Francesco Rocco Rossi
co-produce certain projects, as is happening this year in the context of the celebrations for the anniversary of Wagner’s birth. 43
Young audiences are attracted not just by traditional opera repertory but also by musical productions of an ad hoc character such as those of four talented young composers - Carlo Boccadoro, Raffaele Sargenti, Silvia Colasanti and Matteo Franceschini - whose wideranging compositional interests also encompass works for children. In fact, it is educationally-rich activity of this kind that creates the adult audiences of the future. Not that one can overlook the inherent artistic quality of these composers’ works, which is very high, but what does composing for children really mean? We put this question to Carlo Boccadoro who has composed three operas for children - La nave a tre piani (The ship with three decks), Robinson and Cappuccetto rosso (Litte Red Riding Hood). Writing for a young audience is a huge challenge; you can’t hoodwink children with concert programmes written in “avant-gardese” or with vague aesthetic declarations. At the same time, for a composer it’s also a very stimulating experience because very young children, not yet being conditioned by ideologies and listening habits (so they’re an ideal audience), immediately make it known whether or not you have captured their attention. Your three operas are very different from one another. La nave a tre piani is ‘an opera on opera’ in which the typical situations of traditional melodrama are realised musically by way of various expressive languages (jazz, song, parody, etc.) whereas Robinson, based on the novel by Defoe, echoes a classical style. Cappuccetto rosso, on the other hand, is an opera about modernity; the protagonist demonstrates adolescent attitudes repre-
and Spanish) carries a message of tolerance, opposition to stereo-
sented figuratively by way of a very distinctive use of instruments
types and acceptance of differences. We asked Sargenti whether
that give life to sonorities typical of videogames. Is there a common
these themes also impacted on the musical choices that he made.
44
ing as much as possible different forms of musical and libretto-writing
wolf expresses himself in “howling blues” and is helped by a moon of
tradition so as to constantly attract the attention of young people. I’ve
“ghostly” origins to get himself accepted into a family that feeds on
tried to weave together strands of musical worlds that are apparently
a musical language of a “cultured” Russian and Viennese stamp. The
very different from each other so as to extract an essential “juice” with
children in the audience become protagonists in a twofold process of
which to make a range of musical cocktails that are as fresh, colourful
“musical integration:” they sing for reconciliation between two hos-
and tasty as possible.
tile people who produce a blend of their respective music, and at the
In the finale of Cappuccetto rosso, as we all know, “the big, bad
same time they celebrate the musical integration of the wolf’s howling
wolf” (that’s how he’s defined in the libretto) is killed. But not all
with the surrounding musical environment. In this way the children are
wolves are bad and in fact this is the idea that is forcefully proclaimed
attracted by and drawn into musical experiences that were probably
in Lupus in fabula (The wolf in fables) the opera with which Raffaele
unknown to them before seeing the opera.
Sargenti won the 2009 competition “Opera Junior” conducted by
Your opera is one of the most successful products of the interna-
As.Li.Co (together with the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Opéra Royal
tional co-operation that Barbara Minghetti mentioned. Can you tell
de Wallonie–Liège). The libretto (there are also versions in French
us something about this?
Gia nn ese
I created a network of references to different musical contexts: the
, Teat ro Re gio,Tu rin
Because this opera is a journey through different musical worlds,
In all these works I’ve used an extreme synthesis of languages, unit-
Photo : Ra me ll a&
denominator in all of these?
Left: La nave a tre piani by Boccadoro. Right: Les Epoux by Franceschini.
The writer of the libretto (Andrea
Matteo Franceschini has composed two operas for young people: Les
Avantaggiato) and I worked very
Époux (The couple) and Zazie dans le Métro (Zazie in the underground).
closely with a Belgian director and
We asked him how the idea of composing for children came to him.
a Spanish conductor, both under 30
When IRCAM in Paris commissioned me to write a piece of music in
years old. It was a very stimulating
2009, I decided to tackle an opera because I wanted to work together
experience because we were able to
with an opera team (a libretto writer, a director, a stage designer). I
compare our experiences both on an
wasn’t actually thinking about a children’s audience until at a certain
educational and artistic front, each of
point a marvellous book of photographs on scarecrows took hold of
us contributing what we had learnt in
my inclination towards the visionary and gave me the idea for my
the music and education institutions of
new work: Les Époux, the protagonist of which is in fact a scarecrow.
our various countries of origin.
Although composed for children, this work did not cause me to modify
Silvia Colasanti also composes mu-
my style in any way. All I did was simplify the writing, limiting myself to
sic theatre works and does so on vari-
basic musical gestures, even though children, equipped with an open-
ous fronts. Her catalogue in fact also
ness and attention that goes well beyond the normal, have shown that
includes an opera for children: Il sole,
they appreciate complex writing as well.
di chi è (Where does the sun come from)? We asked her how much of her non-children’s and non-opera work is present in this work.
have in common? They are two very different works: Les Époux – a small-scale work
A huge amount! Naturally, I always kept the intended audience – i.e.
and aimed at children between four and six – has a fairly simple struc-
children – to the forefront of my mind, trying to give voice to a musical
ture. Zazie, on the other hand, has a more complex instrumental make-
dramaturgy that took account of their listening needs. For example, I
up and is conceived for an audience of adolescents that are able to
reduced the musical material to the essential so as to help the chil-
enter inside the structure of a text that plays with the phonic preroga-
dren to recognise all the passages and their dramaturgical function.
tives of the French language. What they have in common, on the other
This adjustment, however, did not in any way distort my compositional
hand, has to do with the compositional process which, as I said before,
procedures or my style, both of which remained unchanged.
emerges out of the continual interaction between libretto writer, direc-
In your works you are very interested in experimenting with different sonorous mechanisms. How did you operate with Il sole, di chi è? First of all, I made use of different vocal styles; from recitation to Photo : Be no ît Au tissie r
What is there that’s special about each opera? And what do they
tor and stage designer. What’s emerged, though, in both cases, are operas that can be interpreted at different levels and are, for that reason, also suitable for adult audiences.
actual singing, almost like in a singspiel. But above all I experimented
The most up-to-date music education ideas combined with avant-
with and in a certain sense manipulated the sounds (vocal and instru-
garde languages, and a great deal of attention towards theatrical
mental) to obtain special dramaturgical effects. All that forms part of
dramaturgy, are the key ingredients of both of these works, ingredi-
my language, as does the constant search for new sonorous solutions
ents enriched by the intense enthusiasm that the composers invariably
dictated by expressive demands that are very well-defined and dic-
seek to transmit to their audiences (young or otherwise). All of which
tated, as in this case, by theatrical requirements.
does untold good for the future of opera! Translation: Nicholas Crotty 45
46
Gillian Moore
Vision, Innovation & Challenge An Interview with Southbank Centre’s Gillian Moore by Elaine Mitchener Gillian Moore is Head of Classical Music at Southbank Centre (SBC),
Reich to Akram Khan. She has commissioned many significant new
before which she was the Artistic Director of the London Sinfonietta.
works as well as creating opportunities for artists to reach the widest
She is a Fellow and council member of the Royal College of Music, a
possible audiences with their work.
council member of the Royal Philharmonic Society and an Honorary
urcy icia de Co PH OTO: Tr
Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. She was awarded the Sir
For On the Page, Gillian Moore discusses the essential and groundbreaking role the Southbank Centre plays in cultural life of London.
Charles Groves Award in 1991 for services to British music; an MBE in
You have recently been appointed to Head of Classical Music at
1994 for services to music and education, and an Association of British
the SBC where your previous position was Head of Contemporary
Orchestras Award in 1998.
Culture. Could you explain why your previous post focused on con-
During her distinguished career, Gillian has collaborated with many
temporary culture in general and not music?
of the great musical and artistic figures of our age, from Luciano Berio
When Jude Kelly came as Artistic Director in 2006, she was really
to Radiohead, from Harrison Birtwistle to Squarepusher, from Steve
keen to develop the idea of cross-arts festivals. I was commissioning 47
and performing the music to the highest possible standards, because this is when it communicates. What is your secret to attracting large audiences and what part do groundbreaking festivals such as Meltdown, Ether and the forthcoming series The Rest Is Noise, play in drawing, maintaining and building these audiences? I think people like big ideas. My experience is that audiences are events that brought together music and film, such as 2001: A Space
responsive to ideas that are bold and don’t apologize. I also feel that
Odyssey with live orchestral accompaniment, Heiner Goebbels doing a
it’s quite easy to program music already having an idea of who’s going
work for the reopening of the Royal Festival Hall including music and
to come, but it’s much harder to think: who should be there, who
text, and works for children like Icarus at the Edge of Time by Philip
needs to hear this music?
Glass. I was also doing cross-arts festivals, like The Ether Festival of
That is very important for
Innovation and Technology in Music, in which I am still very much in-
me, though, ultimately, the
volved. Over the last few years, we really developed the concept be-
most important thing for
hind this festival: Ether currently includes a wide program, from John
someone who is program-
Cage to Jonathan Harvey, Varèse, John Cale, and Anna Meredith’s new
ming music is to do it with
band. I was involved in the early days of programming the Imagine
authentic passion.
Childrens Festival. In addition to this, since it’s my passion and my
What are your priorities
specialty, I devised and programmed straight contemporary music fes-
when you program a sea-
tivals: the Xenakis weekend, the Stockhausen festival, the Messiaen
son: specific composers,
festival, a weekend of the complete works of Varèse, a Nono festival.
an anniversary, an over-
My role as Head of Contemporary Culture highlighted the wide scope
arching theme, the artists
of the program I was dealing with.
(orchestra/conductors/
What role does contemporary music/culture play for you now that you are Head of Classical Music? My background is as a musician trained in a very traditional way. I
tant are publishers to you in your research?
love all great music and I listen as much to Wagner as to Stockhausen
There has got to be a feeling that a certain idea is right for an audi-
and Nono. I hope in the future contemporary music will be integrated
ence at a certain time and that you can make the most of it; that you
in classical music programming as much as possible. The main theme
can do more than just put it in front of people who actually already
of the whole Southbank Centre classical music program next year is
know that they like that specific content.
The Rest is Noise festival, which is indeed an exploration of the music of the 20th century. In your experience, are there two different audiences for classical and contemporary or are they largely comprised of the same people?
48
soloists)? How impor-
It’s been very satisfying to see the progress of a composer such as Fujikura, from his very first appearances as a young composer, still a student, to be an internationallycommissioned figure.
As for publishers, I have always worked with them. They are very creative people, with whom I often have artistic discussions. The best publisher is someone who suggests things that actually have a chance to really be working in a specific context.
It’s undeniable that a lot of people go to classical music concerts for
The British arts scene is renowned for being extremely resource-
a particular reason: to see music that they know about and that they
ful. In these straightened times of budget and government support
feel comfortable with. There is also a large audience that’s interested
cuts, how does the SBC face these challenges without compromising
in contemporary arts in general and this audience would certainly
on quality?
come to contemporary classical music concerts, if these are presented
Southbank Centre is extremely fortunate to have enormous sup-
in the right way. All my life, I have believed that we can make all sorts
port from the Arts Council. We have a great fundraising team and
of music more accessible and approachable for people by providing
some very important supporters: MasterCard for summer festi-
different ways in and by talking about it in clear, unfussy ways. And
vals, Shell for our Classic International Series, and major trusts and
of course, ultimately, the most important thing of all is just presenting
foundations like The Paul Hamlyn Foundation and many generous
—Gillian Moore
presenting contemporary composers. Just looking around the country, I have seen that having ambition pays back: we can put on a Stockhausen weekend and involve the local community in it, just like the Birmingham Opera Company did; many young people in London and Stirling can get involved with the Simon Bolívar Orchestra, and there is a variety of young people presenting music at the BBC Proms. You are an avid advocate for music education for children. individuals who support our work from 50 cents in our donation box
Following the recent success of Icarus at the Edge of Time to music
right up to our Patrons’ Groups. The support they all give enables
by Philip Glass (European premiere), do you hope to commission
us to face challenging times while still presenting the highest pos-
more large-scale works for younger audiences? Is there enough
sible standard of programming. Also, we work very much in partner-
repertoire and resources out there to fulfill this mission?
ship with our resident orchestras (London Philharmonic Orchestra,
This is actually an interest of mine. With Peter and the Wolf by
Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and
Prokofiev and The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra by Britten,
London Sinfonietta) and other important partners. For example the
we already have two masterpieces in the repertoire. Pieces that have
PRS for Music Foundation worked with us on the New Music 20x12
stayed in the repertoire are really rare. We have to keep commission-
weekend, which was a surprising and very successful way of present-
ing new work for children from the best possible composers. I actu-
ing new music.
ally have a scheme to commission composers: Icarus at the Edge of
2012 is certainly an exceptional year for Britain and London in
Time by Glass and Matt Rodgers with The Trial of Dennis the Menace
particular, with the Queen’s Jubilee, the Olympics and Cultural
as part of the Imagine festival, for example. This festival is focused
Olympiad. Do you see any long term (positive) effect from these
on high-quality work written for children, as well as an exploration
events for the SBC and the cultural life of London in general?
of issues such as children’s right to culture and looking at the world
The Olympics have been the most stupendous time for this country and for London in particular. As a Glaswegian, I felt very proud of
from a child’s point of view. This is a rich vein that we are pursuing as much as possible.
being a Londoner. As far as culture is concerned, I think it has drawn
How can Universal Music with its international roster of compos-
attention to the many riches that we have and to the boldness of
ers help an organization like yours to pursue the common goal to
British culture, from the presentation of Stockhausen’s Mittwoch aus
make contemporary classical music heard?
Licht in Birmingham to Southbank Centre’s celebration of George
I think continuing to support the greatest composers is important,
Benjamin: Jubilation, to the New Music 20x12 weekend. Talking of
but also working in collaboration with arts organizations to make sure
this project in specific, we presented 20 brand-new short works by a
that as much material about music as possible is available online. And,
whole range of British composers. Because the weekend happened
of course, it’s important to present ideas to programmers that are suit-
in the context of the Olympics, the vast majority of the events in the
able for a specific context.
weekend were free, attracting an audience that you wouldn’t neces-
In the past you have commissioned and programmed our compos-
sarily see at contemporary music concerts. This special time allowed
ers Luciano Berio, Luca Francesconi, Dai Fujikura, Heiner Goebbels,
us to do this. T he other extraordinary moment has been the Unlimited
Olivier Messiaen, Luigi Nono, Salvatore Sciarrino, Iannis Xenakis… Is
festival, associated with the Paralympics, which has allowed artists
there anything that stands out in your memory?
across all disciplines to come together to present the highest qual-
It’s been very satisfying to see the progress of a composer such
ity of works. This showcased artists who may not have had major
as Fujikura, from his very first appearances as a young composer, still
platforms before due to their disability, and allowed them to have
a student, to be an internationally-commissioned figure. I will never
the opportunity of presenting their works in association with the
forget the Xenakis weekend, with the place packed to the rafters with
Paralympics. I think I have learned key things this summer in terms
a very hip crowd. It was also a great privilege to get to know Luciano
of my own activity, such as the richness of the scene around the
Berio and to work with him on two festivals of his music. Planning a
artists with disability, for example, or thinking of lighter touches to
festival with him, which sadly he didn’t live to see, but towards which
present contemporary music, in addition to our in-depth projects
he gave all his energy, has been one of the highlights of my career. 49
Samuel Beckett was very fond of music; he himself was a good
texts deserves special attention; more than two decades of important
pianist, and he listened to a lot of music: Schubert, Haydn, Webern;
works bear witness to his continuing interest in them. As one of his
in his final years he once came out with the involuntary confession
composer friends said about two emblematic works of his, it was as if
that “What remains is music.” He was not happy, however, to have his
he had travelled backwards, that is, from Beckett he had come to Kafka;
works set to music, although for the most part – often only after a work
and in fact his career was determined by his attachment to Beckett’s
had been composed – he did consent to some of his texts being used
œuvre, a relationship which was given added depth and emphasis by
in musical works. But even about his friend Marcel Mihalovici’s work
one of his most important works, his Kafka-Fragments, op. 24. During
based on Krapp’s Last Tape, Beckett said he did not like it, because that
his study trip to Paris in 1957-58 he saw the first rehearsals of Fin de
play was not suitable for an opera, since “Krapp does not sing, you
partie, and although he immediately realised its importance for him,
know.” To Morton Feldman, who asked him for an opera libretto, he
according to his own admission he did not understand it at all. Yet
declared plainly that “I don’t like opera...I don’t like my words being set
this experience prompted him to study Beckett constantly, to compre-
to music.” In the end, however, he did write a libretto for Feldman after
hend his works, and, not least, to make several abortive attempts to
all. The reason for his reluctance in all probability was that he felt his
set Beckett texts to music. In the case of the uncompleted works, it is
words to be complete in themselves, together with their phonetic char-
difficult to detect the reason for failure – we can only surmise that it
acter and intonation, and the setting of them to music, obeying its laws,
was the armor-like structure of the chosen original works that made it
ruins them, falsifies them. At least as important to him, however, was
impossible to set them to music; it would have been almost impossible
the way in which his texts were edited musically: either by adaptation
to find a valid solution in place of the rigidly formalized structure of the
of the musical forms or their use as a structural element of passages in
text and the stage movements.
a known composition, in fact as an “actor,” or by means of the already-
The breakthrough came with a peculiarly occasional composition.
composed tempo and rhythm of the text. According to actors’ recollec-
The text that served as the basis for it was Samuel Beckett’s last writ-
tions, if Beckett himself directed a piece, the tempo, the rhythm and
ing – originally written in French, but Beckett made an English transla-
the length of rests were very important to him: he meticulously marked
tion as well. Kurtág, although he had never before set a translation to
them (the last-mentioned in seconds), and virtually every punctuation
music, on this occasion first made use of the Hungarian adaptation by
mark had a definite meaning for him; at rehearsals he tapped out the
István Siklós, but when he came to write the second version of it, he
required rhythm on the desk. The anecdote related about his meeting
worked the English translation also into his composition. Beckett’s text
with Stravinsky is very telling: he asked the composer – who was very
is a late ars poetica: the struggle for expression, for expressiveness, for
enthusiastic about the handling of time in Godot – how it would be
utterance, and the constant falling back to the beginning; not just the
possible to set down in a score this musical layer of what he envisaged
search for the right word, but the struggle for the appropriate expres-
as the ideal performance. Perhaps his reservations were also due to his
sion, to find the truly appropriate word for the known meaning. It is
feeling that any musical arrangement is too closely tied to the period
not the futility of verbal expression that the text proclaims, but the
in which it is written; we know that he took care to remove topical ref-
virtual impossibility of a successful outcome to the search. The gen-
erences from his own texts.
unimaginable without Ildikó Monyók’s acting skills. The actress lost the
works, are faithfully preserved in his director’s copies and theatrical
power of speech as a result of a car accident, and only at the cost of
notebooks, and importantly by the sound and video recordings of the
unbelievable efforts, and with enormous willpower, regained it after
performances he directed, although with changing theatrical practice
seven years of dumbness. At one stage in the work of rehabilitation she
and taste they require more and more explanation. So many stipula-
could not yet speak, but was able to sing – among others, she learned
tions and documents might well dampen composers’ enthusiasm,
two songs by Kurtág. Kurtág heard these songs and, in the moving qual-
yet Beckett’s texts remain attractive. Certainly their brevity and strict
ity of Monyók’s performance, her struggle to express herself in words,
editing represent a challenge to musical adaptation – though Beckett
he saw a parallel with the subject of Beckett’s text.
excluded the use of incidental music or illustrative musical accompaniment, saying “[N]o music, for pity’s sake; it’s my last gasp.” In view of all this, György Kurtág’s attachment to Samuel Beckett’s 50
esis of Kurtág’s work, Comment dire/What is the Word, would have been
At the same time Beckett’s intentions, apart from the texts of his
The first version of the composition (Samuel Beckett Sends Word Through Ildikó Monyók in the Translation of István Siklós: Mi is a szó, op. 30/a) was written in 1990, for voice and upright piano. Throughout the
of the text: “What is the word?” What is music? And perhaps the greatest paradox and miracle of the way the music is formed is that even the most fragile musical material, motifs following one another in an order that is at first imperceptible, musical “word-fragments”, scraps of sen-
What remains is music György Kurtág and Samuel Beckett
tences, link-words and suffixes can become arranged into a musical process – preserving and eliminating the great paradox of Beckett’s late texts; after the final reduction, eventually the text itself also appears as music in the mind of the listener and reader. Kurtág’s music is not a “setting to music” of Beckett’s text in the traditional sense of the term; rather a particular reading or interpretation of it in the different medium of another art, music. For this reason, it is also possible that among Kurtág’s “basic elements” direct quotation found a place: for the most painful, most direct sentence in it, he used notes from the slow movement of Bartók’s violin concerto; which raises the question, is it a quotation in music,
by András Wilheim
the art of time, if only the notes of a melody are quoted, and not its
piece the piano accompanies, in the strictest sense of the word; it plays
rhythms, its beat? And of course, because Bartók’s melody lives in
exactly the same notes as the singer sings, at the same pitch. More
our memory together with its rhythm, we expect to hear the notes in
precisely, the vocal part requires a kind of sound production between
the original rhythm – and since here they do not follow each other in
singing and recitation, with concrete pitches that can be recognised and
that way, in this quotation we can perceive what is perhaps the most
followed (not as in Schoenberg’s Sprachgesang parts), but not sung but
important formative principle of Kurtág’s art: the creation of continuity
spoken, shouted and screeched or whispered. The vocal and the piano
with measurable, countable, calculable time.
parts are like each other’s shadow, but it is impossible, or scarcely pos-
The orchestral version of the work (What is the Word, op. 30/b, 1991)
sible, to tell which leads and which follows the other. The drama of the
includes the performance space also among the basic elements of the
text unfolds in the vocal part, but its framework, form and direction are
composition; from 1987 onwards it is a frequent feature of Kurtág’s
perceived and understood in the musical action; basic elements line up
orchestral works that various groups of performers are positioned at
side by side, as if repeating in music the question posed at the beginning
different points in the hall. In this piece, however, spatiality produces 51
truly unusual acoustic ideas: not just the distant nature of the individual groups is important, and the direction from which the sounds reach us, but rather the fact that we are hearing unison notes, and thus every sound defines a different spatial position. If we regard these sounds – to borrow Cage’s terminology – as prepared sounds, then here space itself is one factor in the preparation. But for this acoustic experience to be able to manifest itself fully, we have to imagine such an ideal performance in such an ideal space that perhaps falls out of the bounds of possibility. In the orchestral version, the language of the recitation is still Hungarian – but the English text is recited by an eightmember ensemble, commenting, supplementing, acting out, or at times anticipating what happens in the leading part. Not only does the music’s dimension alter in space,
György Kurtág
the proportions of the musical material are also transformed in comparison with the original version while the backbone
the passing over to the next world. And the third gesture is a composed
of the work remains the combination of the recitation and the piano.
motif, the vocal realization of which is a task that demands the impossi-
This composition warns the listener that it is possible to give
ble. With a single melodic line that arcs upwards, then plummets down
Beckett’s poem a musical reading that breaks through the structure of
and, from its lowest point, again swoops upwards, the singer has to
the text and creates an independent musical drama situation, in which
express wonder or, since we cannot really be sure what awaits us in the
text composition also seems to find a place, and in two layers: in the
beyond, in that sound perhaps rapture should also be expressed. Does
Hungarian translation and in the original, added to it more or less like
this represent the achievement of certainty regarding the end with
a commentary. This, however, does not mean an arbitrary re-interpreta-
resigned – and therefore rapturous – clear vision; or amazement that
tion of Beckett’s work; rather it reveals a special inner similarity in the
there really is a next world and glimpsing it is an ecstatic moment? Is it
thinking of the writer and the composer.
perhaps self-deception even in the last manifestation of life? Anyway, end of something, once and for all, and still continues.
expect to be performed. This game is deadly serious, as is the title:
The work is notated in a five-line system, with the modulation of the
Pillantás a túlvilágra (A Glimpse of the Next World): the work was writ-
various motifs, their pitch relative to each other, the vowel sounds to
ten in January 1992, the product of who knows what moment of crisis.
be sung and of course the dynamics all precisely specified – meticu-
It consists of three inhumanly difficult vocal gestures.
lously indicating the temporal disposition of the motifs, their propor-
The first is a sudden, terror-stricken exhalation; with ever-growing
52
afterwards, there is a long, very long pause – a silence that denotes the
tions and relative weight.
force the air is expelled from the increasingly helpless lungs or –
Drama evolves in the sounds and with the sounds, but it is by no
depending on the performer’s choice – an inhalation like a desperate
means a scene interpreted through extrinsic stage properties, and
struggle for life-giving air; as the composer’s instruction, with its own
even less any kind of “fooling around.” I could say that it is a Beckett-
enigmatic redundancy, says: “Suck the air backwards”. Whichever direc-
style drama and, what is more, it is in Beckett’s most ascetic genre, the
tion is chosen, the first gesture is followed by a long pause – not with
radio play. Or since we are talking about drawing breath, in his short-
the breath held, but with no breath taken at all. This is to be unbear-
est stage play, entitled Breath, where the faintly-lit stage, strewn with
ably, insufferably long. Then comes the second gesture, a gentle sigh,
all sorts of rubbish, in a single arc grows a little brighter then darkens
the first part of which is still active, but the longer, ever fainter, weak-
again: at the beginning and end of this process we hear twice the same
nulle part …”
ening part is increasingly resigned and passive. Again a pause, but a
quiet, stifled cry and together with the play of light an amplified inhala-
No. 26 “Lasciate
shorter one: this is the silence of the moment immediately preceding
tion and exhalation, with a five-second pause between them – all this
ogni speranza...”
„ … pas à pas –
by An dr ea Fe lv ég i
is suggested by a brief Kurtág composition that he perhaps did not
Cop yr ig ht
The nature of this apparently unfathomable, spiritual similarity
in less than thirty-five seconds What else is this but a form of music? If a composer wants to give a similar musical form to a Beckett text, obviously he can resort to solutions that to the writer may seem arbitrary. Kurtág’s major Beckett cycle, his … pas à pas … nulle part (... step by step … nowhere), op. 36, for baritone voice, string trio and percussion instruments, which is a selection from Beckett’s the Mirlitonnades verse cycle, supplemented by an earlier verse, plus the original text of the Chamfort aphorisms and Beckett’s English translations (Long after Chamfort), is on the one hand a text composition that is faithful to Beckett, but it diverges widely from the original intention. He constructs a drama that lurks as a possibility among the texts, but this is much more Kurtág’s own: it finds its place in the context of his musical world. It is a dramatic happening, but with no stage; there is no action behind it. The pseudo-drama of What is the Word and … pas à pas …, its virtual space, to which the music gives reality, can clearly achieve completeness when it submits itself to the test of a proper Beckett drama. Though Beckett did not like any dramatic text of his to be part of a musical work, he did not exclude the possibility that a composer might try to express in music the same dramatic situation that he put on the stage. Perhaps he showed a degree of naivety in this, or perhaps rather that his ideas about music were bound up with the period of his literary awakening and its prevalent musical idioms. Today, he would almost certainly be more tolerant towards an operatic experiment using one of his dramas for a perhaps anachronistic undertaking. Is any musical language of our time valid, or capable of being validated, if it seeks to present characters and situations without playing a frivolous stylistic game with fragments of the musical past? It is not really proper to say any more about what is truly a workin-progress – even if Beckett, too, analysed an aspect of what was at that time Joyce’s still opaque and therefore unappraisable work. A contemporary, however, has the special opportunity and right of observation and tense expectation: the right to follow with interest how a composer wrestles with the task that Beckett defined for himself when once while he was directing Fin de partie, he had reached such a degree of simplification and denudation of the play that he was able to say somewhat playfully: “Now I am going to fill my silences with sounds.” Translation: Lorna Dunbar 53
Giovanni Simone Mayr: Historical-critical edition 250 th Birthday in 2013 (1763-1845)
of the complete works 54
The composers of our time should study Mayr’s operas. They would find there everything what they are looking for and what would be useful for them. —Gioachino Rossini
BY OLIVER JACOB Giovanni Simone Mayr
Johann Simon (Giovanni Simone) Mayr was born June 14, 1763 in
of the Graubünden branch of the Bassus family, and a professor at
Mendorf, near Ingolstadt (Bavaria). His father Joseph taught at the
Ingolstadt University who, in 1780, inherited the title and property
school in Mendorf, and was also the church organist. It is from him that
(including Schloss Sandersdorf) of the Bavarian family line. Bassus was
Simon received his first keyboard and organ lessons, and he also sang
a member of the Order of the Illuminati, and maintained a printing
in the church choir; in 1769, he began taking lessons in Weltenburg.
press in Poschiavo; from there he distributed enlightenment literature
His talent did not go unnoticed: an unnamed admirer offered to make
in northern Italy. When the Order of the Illuminati was finally banned
it possible for young Mayr to study in Vienna. However, Mayr’s parents
in 1787, Bassus returned to Graubünden, taking the twenty-four-year-
turned the offer down. In 1772, most likely on account of his musical
old Mayr with him. (To what degree Mayr himself was actually involved
talent, Mayr received a scholarship to the Jesuit College in Ingolstadt,
in the Order is not known. There is, of course, nothing about this in his
where he studied grammar, rhetoric, logic, physics and theology until
Cenni, which in any case, reveals very little about his youth. But one
1777, when he enrolled at the university in Ingolstadt.
can assume that it is no coincidence that in 1815, the year in which
Not surprisingly, he devoted himself less to his studies of theology, law, rhetoric, logic and medicine, than to playing “quasi tutti gli stro-
Thomas Bassus died, Mayr wrote the cantata Annibale – Hannibal was Bassus’s name within the Order).
menti d’arco e da fiato” (almost all the string and wind instruments”), as
Most likely, the art lover Bassus already had Mayr involved in domes-
he himself reports is his autobiographical notes (Cenni autobiografici).
tic music in Sandersdorf. In Cantone, Bassus’s property near Poschiavo,
As a student, Mayr earned a living by playing the organ in churches in
Mayr (whose Lieder am Klavier zu singen were published in Regensburg
Ingolstadt.
in 1786) only catered to his Maecenas’s lightweight needs – a task that
It was at this time that Mayr also became acquainted with Baron
he may not have found entirely satisfying, or so one might conclude
Thomas (Tommaso Francesco Maria) von Bassus (1742-1815), a member
from a remark in his Cenni: “ogni composizione studiata d’intreccio e 55
d’imitazione, di fughe era quasi bandita” (“Every composition with an interweaving, an imitation or a fugue was almost banned”). But it must have been through Bassus that Mayr made contacts that ultimately allowed him to study with Carlo Lenzi, the Kappellmeister at Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo. Mayr’s first stay in Bergamo lasted just a few months: Mayr, as he writes in the Cenni, was dissatisfied, “che non poteva ottenere di essere istrutto ne’ primi principi dell’ arte di contrappunto” (complaining “that I did not get an instructor who taught teaching was obviously not what Mayr was hoping for, since the latter still hadn’t received any basic instruction in composition; moreover, as he wrote earlier, in Ingolstadt
that at this time he was still a beginner, whereas his peers Paër and
he had only been able to hear a few operettas by Hiller and a single
Nasolini were already getting to see their operas staged in Venice, did
concert in Munich. If we take this account of things in the Cenni seri-
not get what he wanted from Bertoni either. Bertoni gave some formal
ously, this means that up to the age of 26, Mayr was self-taught. In frus-
hints, but didn’t give him any basic instruction. So once again, Mayr
tration, Mayr had decided to leave Bergamo and return to Bavaria when
turned to teaching himself; and after Pesenti’s death in 1793, he had
a new Maecenas came into view: Conte Canonico Vincenzo Pesenti.
to give harpsichord lessons to earn a living.
Pesenti sent Mayr to Venice around 1789-90 to take lessons from
In Venice Mayr became acquainted with Piccinni and Peter von
Ferdinando Bertoni at the Conservatorio di Mendicanti, albeit with the
Winter, both of whom encouraged him to compose for the stage. On
condition that he was to devote himself exclusively to church music.
February 17, 1794, the premiere of Mayr’s first opera Saffo took place
But it soon turned out that Mayr, who wrote of himself in the Cenni 56
at the Teatro La Fenice. Previously he had already made a name for
© by Bib lioteca Civica An ge lo Mai e Archivi sto rici , Be rg am o
me the art of counterpoint”). Lenzi’s
Everyone bows when they hear Mayr’s name. —Gaetano Donizetti in a letter to Mayr
himself in Venice with his oratorios Iacob a
London, Dresden and Milan competed to bring him to their opera
Labano fugiens (1791), Sisara (1793) and Tobiae
houses. But Mayr did not take up any of these options; he rejected
Matrimonium (1794). From 1794 to 1815 Mayr
the offer to become Maestro di Cappella at St. Peters in Rome, as he
wrote at least two operas each year, without ever
did Napoleon’s offer to make him Directeur du Théâtre et des Concerts
turning his back on church music.
with an annual salary of 20,000 francs. Officially, Mayr justified his
In fact, Carlo Lenzi had not forgotten his former
refusal saying he didn’t want to ask his wife to live in a foreign country
pupil, and proposed him as his successor. On May
(in 1804 he had married Lucrezia Venturali, the sister of his first wife
6, 1802, Mayr was named Maestro di Cappella at
Angiola, who died in 1803).
Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo, a position he maintained to the end of his life.
Left: Autograph from “Credo detto di Novara” Right: Giovanni Simone Mayr
Mayr formed a warm friendship with his star pupil Donizetti. Once Donizetti left the Lezioni in Bergamo, the two men engaged in a lively
Though Mayr was not granted the happiness
exchange of letters and references. In 1824, Mayr asked Donizetti for a
of finding the right teacher himself, it was for just
contribution to his St. Cecilia festival in Bergamo. From Naples, Donizetti
this reason that he became very engaged with the
sent him a Credo in which he clearly alludes to Mayr’s Credo di Novara
training of young people. In 1805, Mayr’s music
(1815). Mayr in turn used parts of Donizetti’s Credo in his Messa a quattro
school Le Lezioni Caritatevoli di Musica was founded
(1826) written for the Einsiedeln monastery. Following the premiere of
in Bergamo; alongside his work as Kappellmeister,
Anna Bolena (1830), Mayr addressed his former pupil as Maestro.
he was the school’s director and also responsible for
Mayr’s last opera was Demetrio, premiered in Turin in December
teaching theory. For his pupils, Mayr wrote works like
1823. For the rest of his life, alongside works for his Lezioni, and a
solfeggios, songs and arias, as well as a series of stage works, including
few commissioned cantatas, Mayr mainly composed church music.
Il piccolo compositore di musica. The title role of this two-act Scherzo
Why Mayr completely turned his back on the stage remains a mystery.
musicale was written for Gaetano Donizetti, who began studying at
Equally hard to understand is Mayr’s outright refusal to let his church
Mayr’s school in 1806.
music be published; in a letter written to Giovanni Ricordi in 1840 he
Concurrently with his activities in Bergamo, Mayr was writing operas for most of the leading opera houses across Italy, as well as fulfill-
explained: “e fu costante mio sistema di non dar fuori musica di chiesa” (“it has constantly been my intention not to publish church music”).
ing requests to contribute sacred and secular works. His music was
Mayr died December, 2, 1845 in Bergamo. An eye ailment that led to
played throughout Europe. The degree of fame Mayr had achieved
near-blindness had made writing almost impossible for him. In his final
at this point in his career is proven by the numerous offers made to
years, he occupied himself by copying out some older sacred composi-
him beginning in 1803. Among others, Vienna, St. Petersburg, Lisbon,
tions on paper with widely-ruled staves. Translation: Richard Toop 57
Left: Alberto Posadas
by Jose Luis Besada
58
ue la Mu siq ) / Cite de
(Pa rr a)
Right: Hèctor Parra
(Pasa das Photos : DR
Spanish contemporary music surges ahead
and his opera will be premiered in the Teatro Real of Madrid. He is also working on a concert for three soloists and orchestra commissioned by the Donausechinger Musiktage, and on the creation of Tenebrae with Exaudi, the Ensemble Intercontemporain and the Ircam for the Spanish contemporary music has developed remarkably over the
ManiFeste Festival Biennale of vocal art.
last few decades. More and more Spanish music is performed in the
The influence of science and fine arts is also evident in Parra’s work,
great European festivals, as highlighted by the CDs produced by record
but the musical thinking of the Catalan composer is more linked to
companies like KAIROS, Col Legno and NEOS. Two main socio-cultural
the works of composers like Ferneyhough. Scenic music is recurrent
elements can explain this emergence: firstly, the s upport for the devel-
in his catalogue, as shown in Zangezi (2007) based on a text of the
opment of culture in democratic Spain as opposed to the intervention-
futurist Russian Velimir Khlebnikov, and in Hypermusic Prologue (2009),
ism of Franco’s regime, and, secondly, the improvement of the means
with the participation of the famous theoretical physicist Lisa Randall
of communication on an international level. Noteworthy among the
in the writing of the libretto. Parra is currently working with writer
composers who lived through the regime change during their youth
Marie NDiaye on the creation of new scenic projects: a production of
are Francisco Guerrero (Linares, 1951 – Madrid, 1997), sometimes
the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, of the Ircam, and of the Ensemble
seen as the “Xenakis español” (“Spanish Xenakis”), José Manuel López
Intercontemporain, and another premiere for the Münchener Biennale.
López (born Madrid, 1956), who represents the second spectral gen-
He is also collaborating with Händl Klaus on a major opera for the
eration, the Galician composer Enrique X. Macías (born 1958 and died
Schwetzinger Festspiele. As for the instrumental music, Parra’s style
1995 in Vigo), and Mauricio Sotelo (Madrid, 1961), a late disciple of
combines a use of densities and phrasing akin to romantic music but in
Nono and deeply linked to the flamenco musical tradition.
a fully current sound context, as shown in his pieces Caressant l’horizon
In the generation that followed – those who were born between
(2011) and Early Life (2010). Caressant l’horizon is mainly inspired by
1965 and 1980 – two authors are particularly valued in the French-
the astrophysics of black holes, and Early Life - a work commissioned by
speaking countries and more and more in the German-speaking
the Ernst von Siemens Foundation after he received the Composition
area: Alberto Posadas (born Valladolid, 1967) and Hèctor Parra (born
prize - from theories of Cairns-Smith prebiotic evolution.
Barcelona, 1976). The work of Posadas, a disciple of Guerrero, is akin to
Nevertheless, Posadas and Parra are not isolated cases in the
the musical thinking of Varèse and Xenakis. In some pas-
Spanish creative panorama. An entire generation of new composers
sages, it is also close to Scelsi’s style and to the French
is getting remarkable recognition at both national and international
spectral music genre. The metaphor with several mod-
level. It is also true of Jesús Torres (born Zaragoza, 1965) with his
els external to music is a permanent feature in his work.
notable neoclassical touch, of Ramon Lazkano (born San Sebastián,
The mathematical inspiration spreads widely through-
1968), one of the most skillful Spanish orchestrators born in the 20th
out his catalogue: the most significant examples are
century, José María Sánchez-Verdú (born Algeciras, 1968), able to
most probably his cycle of string quartets Liturgia
associate the Lachenmannian style with the Arab-Andalusian influ-
Fractal (2003-2007) – written for the Quatuor Diotima
ence, and Elena Mendoza (born Sevilla, 1973), who specializes in
– and his ballet Glossopoeia (2009). He also favors
musical theater works.
the transfer of ideas from other artistic genres in his
In short, and despite the consequences of the economic crisis in
work. Thus, his quintet Nebmaat (2003) was inspired
Spain and its big impact on cultural institutions, it seems that at least
by the pyramid-shaped architecture in Egypt and
the creative continuity of this generation has established itself in
Cuatro escenas negras (2009) and La Lumière du noir
Europe and will continue to play a substantial part in international cre-
(2010) by works of painters like Francisco de Goya
ative life for many years to come.
and Pierre Soulages. As his next creative projects, Alberto Posadas will complete his new cycle enti-
Editions Durand Salabert Eschig, partners of the 2012 Oviedo
tled Sombras for the Quatuor Diotima - adding a
Concorso with Orquesta Filarmonía de Oviedo and Maestro Marzio
soprano and a clarinet - to be performed at the
Conti, are happy to publish the First National Young Composers
Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik festival,
Prize, Guillermo Martinez’ Rapsodia para violin y orquesta. 59
Encore: 60
Orchestras merging in Germany,
next March) and his artistic directorship of the Colonne Orchestra in
dramatic cuts in public subsidies
Paris, is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the French Society of
in Spain and Italy, cultural budgets
Authors, Composers and Publishers (SACEM). Along with composers
based on compensation for “private
like Wolfgang Rihm in Germany, few creators could better describe
copying” endangered throughout
the arsenal which a European authors’ rights society like SACEM (the
Europe with France and Austria at
“armed wing” of “French cultural exception”), uses to help contem-
the forefront: the economic crisis
porary music to defend itself in the best possible way during this
is now having a strong impact on
period of economic turbulence. Laurent Petitgirard spoke with Eric
contemporary music and is steadily
Denut about the current situation and his vision of the future:
reconfiguring the balance between
Composers must be committed “I’ve noticed that a change
Composers committed to the defence of authors’ rights: An interview with composer Laurent Petitgirard
of activity is as good as a rest from the previous one. If I had to compose for fourteen hours a day I think that my head might explode; on the other hand if I had to work on copyright for fourteen hours a day, I’d probably not be here anymore. Alternating between
public funding and private initia-
one and the other requires a few presuppositions and constraints
tives, protected repertoire and the
but I find it regenerative. As an artist living in France, a country of
public domain, and, in general, the
“tags,” the principal difficulty resides in not allowing oneself to be
entire value chain of our profession.
reduced to one’s most visible activity, or to a “stereotype.”
Although the decision makers and
To be confined in this way can play tricks even with artists of
the general public are usually only
the calibre of a Leonard Bernstein or an André Previn (who,
aware of the surface reactions, com-
for example, is rarely invited to our country).
Concerto pour saxophone alto
posers who are involved in their art
Copyright is getting harder and harder to manage and
for the long term often know how to
requires knowledge of a growing number of parameters.
World premiere on March 12,
enrich the profession with their per-
Can creative people claim to be able to master such a con-
2013 in Douai (France), with the
spective and “political” (in a broad
stantly growing volume of knowledge? Probably not. In order
Orchestre de Douai conducted
sense) talents. France is a beacon
to be efficient on the board of a company like SACEM, the
by Laurent Petitgirard and
for “cultural exception” which it has
Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungsrechte (GEMA), etc.,
Michel Supéra on the saxophone
defended in international commer-
you must have reached the point where you can understand
cial negotiations for two decades.
many of the things that you will be called upon to deal with
The central figure in the front line
and also can envisage things that you will not be able to deal with.
of that effort is Laurent Petitgirard,
Only once you have enough knowledge to estimate the extent of
a composer published in the Durand
your own ignorance can you delegate intelligently. The composers,
collection, who, in parallel with his
authors and editors comprising a Board like that of SACEM must
musical creations (his Concerto for
share ideas of a specific ethic, of a specific vision, of a specific com-
saxophone is due to be premièred
mitment to precision in redistribution (this is one element, among
et orchestre
others, of the European cultural exception and accordingly costs
initiatives”) could lead to the sums levied for “private copying” being
a little more in management fees).It follows, then, that, facing the
put into question by the European Court of Justice. If the decision of
complexity of the stakes connected with the evolution of copyright
the Court were unfavourable, it would have dramatic consequences for
and technology, creative people need the support of a general man-
contemporary music in a country like France and elsewhere. I can’t see
ager who can and must have his own vision, modulated by the Board
the European states compensating this loss in any way with the state
who watches over its fair implementation.
of public finances today.
Once this framework is drawn out it seems to me that, for a com-
This means that in this dossier, as Chairman of the SACEM, I have to
poser who feels in a position to do so, it is a duty to commit oneself
lobby national and European politicians; of course, being a musician
to a society like SACEM, even if it is only for a short time. Otherwise it
from a background of classical music gives me access to these people
means that the keys to the management of authors’ rights and those
in a different way than if I were a musician from a more “commercial”
authors’ societies who exist to defend and to give it life
background. The fact that no one suspects me of having a large income
are left to pure technicians. You can see where this has
with my activity as a composer of art music puts me in a better position
led in some cases....”
to make people understand and accept that I am defending principles
The incarnation of the “cultural exception:” SACEM’s arsenal for the defence of contemporary art music
Laurent Petitgirard
“It would be a mistake to underestimate the difficulty of defending
about solidarity between musical styles: contemporary
our music before our political elite. One sign among many others: our
pop music, film scores, to cite just a few examples,
ex-Président de la République Jacques Chirac confessed to listening to
support the more demanding musical styles. For tele-
Le Marteau sans Maître by Pierre Boulez. We all know this is probably
vision, the multiplying factors, upon which are based
only partly true, but it was well received in our profession: there was in
the subsequent distribution, are ten times greater
this confession, be it true or not, the determination for a requirement
for contemporary music than for background music.
for culture, of a kind of curiosity. I do not wish to be cruel but should
Certain authors’ societies throughout the world do
we perhaps talk about the playlists of our two last candidates to the
not do this. This solidarity needs to be preserved at
presidency? There weren’t even any attempts to include repertoire
composer representative of contemporary music on the Board – it
ist e Mi llot
Contemporary music and the political elite
“There is a consensus of opinion within the Board
all cost. But it remains fragile: for example, this year, I am the sole
n- Ba pt PH OTO: Jea
rather than my own interests.”
works by Debussy or Ravel....” Authors’ Rights Societies as laboratories for the future
is also interesting to note that I am its chairman, but surely this
“SACEM is a place where creative people and revenues from very dif-
should not hide a certain structural fragility in the representation
ferent worlds cohabit: one world that must be profitable and another
of modern music.
world that is mostly subsidized. Just like other authors’ societies
Cultural budget of the SACEM is the other essential flank in the
throughout Europe it is at the heart of the problem music is encoun-
defensive line for this music. Of the 18 million (Euros) of funds, which
tering today and so it can observe the workings, the common ground
originate in part (€3 million) from a free allocation from the Board and
and the differences between these two worlds which meet where
for the greater part (the remaining €15 million) from the “cultural 25
patronage and other private support is involved. In the world of con-
percent” levied on “private copying”, 30 percent is devoted to sup-
temporary music, the subsidized part has taken on such importance
porting contemporary art music, without any relation to income levels.
that the crisis is perceived only when subsidy is threatened and not
The current crisis, which also affects contemporary popular music, of
when audiences are undermined. In the general context of narrow-
course, makes greater demands for support from their representatives
ing subsidies, SACEM and other authors’ societies experience of the
and artists; so this substantial share is very likely to be reduced even if
“commerce” (in the noble sense of the word) of the musical world will
we want it to remain significant.”
rapidly become precious to contemporary music, for example in the
The immediate threat
domain of the application of music to image (where practices remain
“The most immediate threat comes from the fact that an objec-
frequently rather archaic in orchestral and lyrical institutions). I hope
tion raised by Austria (where 50 percent of the sums levied under
that the “subsidised world” will rapidly come to a greater awareness of
the “private copying” legislation are designated to support “cultural
the changing conditions.” 61
(selection) January
February
March
April
18
2
17
2
22
13
29
Vinko Globokar
Adam Schoenberg
Fabio Nieder
Giuseppe Verdi
Philippe Manoury
Azio Corghi
Rolf Riehm
L’Éxil No. 1
Picture Etudes
Schlafendes
Un giorno di regno
Melencolia (String
Elena for choir,
Pasolini in Ostia
for soprano and
for orchestra,
Papierfrauenobjekt
(critical edition),
Quartet No. 3),
Biella
for ensemble,
ensemble, Hannover
Kansas City
auf Augenhoehe,
Sarasota
Monte Carlo
Hannover
21
Giacomo Meyerbeer
3
28
Chichino e Cicotta
Fabien Lévy
Vasco da Gama
Ian Wilson
Giampaolo Testoni
(opera for children)
Après tout for
(L’Africaine) (opera),
Minsk (chamber
Terza Sinfonia,
Milan
vocal ensemble and
Chemnitz
opera), Heilbronn
Ljubljana
3
5
Rudolf Kelterborn
26
Matteo Franceschini
Benoit Mernier
Sinfonie No. 5 “La
Azio Corghi, Preludio
Voce (cello concerto),
La Dispute (opera),
Notte”, Basel
‘ad una stella’,
Paris
Brussels
14
8
Volker Heyn
Michel Decoust
Pascal Dusapin
eclipse of reason for
27
12 orchestrations of
Aufgang (violin
voice, ensemble and
Younghi Pagh-Paan
Satie’s piano works,
concerto), Cologne
fixed media, Cologne
Der Glanz des Lichtes.
Mondeville
Dai Fujikura
27
Samir Odeh-Tamimi,
my butterflies for
Fabien Levy
String Quartet,
wind orchestra,
Towards the Door
Oldenburg
Chicago
We Never Opened for
Matteo Franceschini
9
Divertimento
Vinko Globokar,
(I Quartetto) for
Kaleidoskop im Nebel
28
string quartet, Rome
for ensemble, Bergen
Alberto Colla
instruments, Berlin
for voice and five instruments, Busseto
Double Concerto Berlin
Laurent Petitgirard Saxophone Concerto, Douai 62
Silvia Colasanti
14
21
saxophone quartet, Witten
Symphonie des Prodiges, Paris
Los Angeles
May
June
July
SEPTEMBER
October
November
1
1
23
20
1
20
Posadas and
Robert HP Platz
Gérard Zinstag Seul,
Carlo Boccadoro
Fabio Vacchi
Fabio Vacchi
Enno Poppe
Fujikura,
Branenwelten 1 + 5 +
l’écho for voice
Antigone (ballet),
Triple Concerto for
Veronica Franco for
Speicher I-VI for
Huddersfield
6 for pf, perc, strgs,
and ensemble,
Bozen
two flutes, harp and
soprano, actor and
large ensemble,
electronics, Cologne
Copenhagen
orchestra, Bari
orchestra, Milan
Donaueschingen
Michel Roth, MOI for
11
AUGUST
Georges Aperghis
4
25
9
ensemble, Cologne
Alexandre Desplat
1
Wild romance
Georges Aperghis
Zoltán Jeney: new
Marc Monnet
Poème symphonique
Guo Wenjing
for soprano and
Four etudes for
work for flute and
Trio n° 3, Paris
after Pelléas &
Three Scenes of
orchestra, Oslo
orchestra, Cologne
orchestra, Budapest
Mélisande, Nantes
Chinese opera, Sion
Marc Monnet Violin
19
Philippe Hersant
sopranos and
Alberto Posadas
24
Concerto, Strasbourg
Luca Francesconi
Vêpres à la Vierge
ensemble, Bodø
new work for vocal
Dai Fujikura
Piano Concerto,
(cantata), Paris
and chamber
New work for
Porto
ensemble, Paris
soprano and string
5 Sergej Newski new work for two
7 Enno Poppe
quartet, Salzburg
Out at Sea (chamber opera), Budapest
“IQ”), Cologne
Philippe Schoeller
26
ble and orchestra,
Songs from Esstal for
Olga Neuwirth
Donaueschingen
soprano and large
New work for soprano
orchestra, Paris
and ensemble, Salzburg
Kamakala for orchestra, Florence 29 Michel Tabachnik Lumières fossiles for orchestra, Paris
Alberto Posadas Concerto for three
8
woodwinds and
Mauro Lanza
orchestra,
Ludus de morte regis
Donaueschingen
for choir, Paris
six composers
new work for ensem-
7
Giacinto Scelsi
10
Philippe Manoury
Koffer (Suite from
11
DECEMBER
20
25
Georges Aperghis:
Eric Tanguy
Situations. Soirée
Organ Concerto,
musicale for
Caen
large ensemble,
Francesca Verunelli The narrow corner for orchestra, Paris 13 Philippe Manoury Concerto for two pianos and orchestra, Munich
Donaueschingen 63
Please contact our promotion team for any questions, perusal scores or recordings: Casa Ricordi, Milan Annamaria Macchi annamaria.macchi@umusic.com Editions Durand – Salabert – Eschig, Paris Eric Denut eric.denut@umusic.com G Ricordi & Co., Munich Michael Zwenzner mzwenzner@ricordi.de Michael Lochar mlochar@ricordi.de G Ricordi & Co., London Elaine Mitchener elaine.mitchener@umusic.com Editio Musica Budapest TÜnde Szitha szitha@emb.hu Universal Music Publishing Classical Silke Hilger Santa Monica, California silke.hilger@umusic.com
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