05 Wolfgang Rihm. New stage work for Bavarian State Opera
09 Georg Friedrich Haas. Dialogue with lighting in Donaueschingen
17 Luciano Berio. Homage in Strasbourg ‘Consequenza’
34 Robert Schumann. Frauenliebe for orchestra
Wolfgang Rihm
newsletter 04/06 • autumn 2006
Contents FESTIVALS Biennale di Venezia — 13 Festival Musica — 15 COMPOSERS Rihm — 5 Staud — 7 Baltakas — 7 Haas — 9 Cerha — 10 Schwartz — 11 Halffter — 11 Sotelo — 16 Lentz — 16 Berio — 17 Boulez — 19 Birtwistle — 20 Sawer — 20 Stockhausen — 21 Zender — 21 Pärt — 22 Kurtág — 22 Borisova-Ollas — 23 Wilson — 23 Martin — 24 Messiaen — 24 Weill — 25 Zemlinsky — 25 Delius — 26 Shostakovitch — 26 Schnittke — 27 Denisov — 27 Haubenstock-Ramati — 27 Webern — 28 Schönberg — 28 Marx — 29 Schmidt — 29
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contents 04/2006
Schreker — 30 Szymanowski — 30 Mjaskowski — 31 Klenau — 31 Janácek — 32 Mahler — 32 Braunfels — 33 Schillings — 33 Schumann — 34 Haydn — 35 Ligeti — 36
THE FUTURE'S BRIGHT — 37 ANNIVERSARIES — 38 - 39 WORLD PREMIÈRES — 40 - 41 NEW RELEASES — 42 - 43
Dear Readers, Once a work is burned onto CD nothing can change it. Does that aid its path into the concert repertoire? Admittedly, the CD is a guide towards the concert hall and, consequently, a blessing for the publisher. But a flawed recording can have fatal consequences for a work. Who takes the time, nowadays, to check a poor interpretation against the score, in order to see whether the weakness lies in the work itself, or can simply be traced back to an uninspired day in the studio? Thankfully this is the exception. Most of the time CDs have the desired effect: making ears prick up, and listeners leaf through the score from the sheer joy of discovery…
NEW ON CD — 44 - 45 The Editorial Team WORKLIST Borisova-Ollas — 46 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS — 48
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RIHM
Dialogue with an eagle The long-standing artistic collaboration between conductor Kent Nagano and composer Wolfgang Rihm – responsible, among other things, for Das Lesen der Schift and Europa nach dem letzten Regen – has now resulted in the monodrama Das Gehege, commissioned by the Bavarian Staatsoper for Nagano’s first production as music director there. The first peformance will take place on 27 Oct, with William Friedkin directing. Rihm has created a music theatre piece for dramatic soprano (Gabriele Schnaut) and orchestra from the final part of Botho Strauss’ stage play Schlusschor. ‘The woman in this solo music theatre piece holds a dialogue with an eagle in a game
reserve. In so doing she illuminates – with all the concentration and expressivity of contemporary (musical) language – the desires for strength and devotion, for self-realisation and social integration, that exist directly alongside one another in human beings – thus revealing a sister relationship with another figure placed on the operatic stage roughly a hundred years earlier – Salome.’ (Peter Heikler) Nagano has also chosen Rihm’s Deutsches Stück mit Hamlet for the President’s benefit concert (15 Oct in the Nationaltheater, Munich). Since 2001 Rihm has been working on Passion texts for the six singers of the ensemble Singer Pur, who have premièred each individual section as soon as it was finished. In 2006 he completed the entire cycle of Sieben Passions-Texte, expanding it with instrumental interludes and adding, as the final movement, a Miserere in which voices and ensemble combine. This new cyclic composition, entitled Vigilia, is a joint commission of the Berlin Festival, the Festival d’automne in Paris, the Venice Biennale, musikFabrik and the Kunstsstiftung NRW.
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rihm
Its first performance will take place on 7 September in Berlin under the direction of Stefan Asbury. On 29 Sep, Ensemble Recherche will première Séraphin – Sphäre in Brussels – a kind of preliminary sketch for a stage work whose first performance is planned for a year later. In Donaueschingen meanwhile Akt und Tag for voice (Claron McFadden) and string quartet (Arditti Quartet) is receiving its first performance. Rihm has enlarged the first part – Akt – by adding a setting of the William Blake poem Day. The distinguished English composer and conductor George Benjamin is performing Gedrängte Form with Ensemble Modern at the Festival d’automne and in the Alte Oper, Frankfurt (27 November and 1 December respectively), and conducting the Congertgebouw
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rihm
Orchestra in Marsyas for trumpet with percussion and orchestra in Amsterdam (26 and 27 October, Frits Damrow, trumpet, Gustavo Gimeno, percussion). Lothar Zagrosek has selected Ernster Gesang for his concerts in Berlin (7-8 October) and Gütersloh (27 September), while In Frage and Kalt can be heard in the Philharmonia Orchestra of London’s series Music of Today under André de Ridder (5 October).
Johannes Maria Staud
the RSO Wien under Bertrand de Billy to present the piece on 3 November. Meanwhile Incipit for alto trombone (Uwe Dierksen) and five instruments (Ensemble Modern) is receiving its Portuguese première in the Casa da Música, Porto (17 Nov).
STAUD
Apeiron comes to Vienna Apeiron. Music for large Orchestra is the title given by Johannes Maria Staud to a 20-minute work composed between 2004-5 in response to a request from Sir Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker. This prestigious commission has been internationally interpreted as a sign of recognition for his extraordinary talent. Staud’s comprehensive introductory note, explaining the background to his choice of title (from Greek philosopher Anaximander to Leonardo da Vinci), gives some idea how vastly divergent the sources of his inspiration can be, with the figurative arts playing a major role. Now Apeiron is to receive its Austrian première: Wien Modern has invited
BALTAKAS
Expanding cycle Ouroboros, an ensemble piece by Vykintas Baltakas for nine instruments (first performed at the 2004 Klangspuren festival) and parent of a growing cycle of further, related works, can be heard at this year’s Warsaw Autumn Festival on 28 September. Rüdiger Bohn, who is to conduct the Polish German Youth Ensemble, is then taking the work on a short tour with performances in Krakow (29 September) and Lviv, Ukraine (1 October). Ouroboros was last heard at the ISCM Festival in Stuttgart, with Johannes Debus and musikFabrik.
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staud / baltakas
donaueschinger
20.–22. Oktober 2006
musiktage
We rSWR k Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg
Nicolaus Richter de Vroe, Richard Ayres, Adriana Hölszky, Georg Friedrich Haas, Manfred Stahnke, Jörg Widmann, Brian Ferneyhough
Schönberg Ensemble Amsterdam
Mauricio Kagel, Alberto Posadas, Dmitri Kourliandski, Robin de Raaff
Prä s e n t a t i oFreiburger n Barockorchester/ ensemble recherche
Martin Smolka, Wolfgang Mitterer, Chris Newman
Arditti Quartet
Wolfgang Rihm, Julio Estrada, Ole-Henrik Moe, Saed Haddad
Wa h r n e h m u nBlasorchester g Performance Alvin Curran
Klangkunst
Kirsten Reese, Hans Peter Kuhn
Info: Kulturamt Donaueschingen Tel: +49 771 857 266 www.swr2.de/donaueschingen
HAAS
Intoxicating vowels Working with celebrated stage and costume designer rosalie, Georg Friedrich Haas has developed a Concerto for Lighting and Orchestra for the Donaueschingen Music Days. Pre-composed and recorded visual elements are treated as instrumental entries to which the music reacts – thus entering into composed dialogue with the lighting, rather as in the relationship between solo instrument and orchestra. The first performance takes place on 22 October 2006, with the SWR SO of Baden-Baden and Freiburg. Another Haas première forms the final concert of the Norwegian Ultima Festival: Nordic Voices perform Hertervig-Studien for 6 voices in Oslo (15 November). In Graz, as part of Musikprotokoll at the steirischer herbst, Three Love Poems (2005) for 6 voices after texts by August Stramm, Solo for Viola d’Amore (2000) and ....... for Viola and Six Voices (2005) will be performed by the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart and Garth Knox, viola. ‘Intoxicating vowels and vocals, microscopically slow changes of timbre and, simultaneously, expressive gestures’, says the prospectus (steirischer herbst).
The Weingarten New Music Days, which each year showcase a single composer’s work, are presenting 15 Haas chamber works between 1012 Nov, including the chamber opera Adolf Wölfli, Haiku and the String Quartets. Klangforum / NetZZeit have been asked to tour their Symposium – Intoxication in Eight Parts and in vain in Venice (29 Sep), Bolzano (7 Oct) and Budapest (13/14 Oct). And at the Mülheim New Music Festival, Ensemble Polyphonie T under Manfred Schreier will perform Haas’ 7 Klangräume, based on the unfinished fragments of Mozart’s Requiem (29 October).
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haas
the complete Spiegel cycle – which they last performed on 19 July in Bregenz – at a Wien Modern concert on 6 November.
CERHA
Europe-wide Friedrich Cerha’s Hymnus, commissioned by the Berlin KonzertHaus in 2000 and first performed in 2002 by the Berlin Symphony Orchestra under Eliahu Inbal, is to have its Italian première on 4 October in Venice as part of the Biennale di Venezia. Peter Hirsch will conduct the orchestra of the Teatro La Fenice. Cerha’s new Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra – written between 2003-4 and first performed on 9 March in Denmark – has its Austrian première on 20 Oct, with Michael Gielen conducting the RSO Wien and the soloist from the first performance, Johannes Ernst. The SWR Symphony Orchestra of Baden-Baden and Freiburg, under Sylvain Cambreling, is repeating
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cerha
On 12 and 13 November Michael Boder is to conduct Langegger Nachtmusik III with the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Hamburg. Scored for large orchestra plus two smaller ensembles, the work received a brilliant performance in Frankfurt by the Hesse Radio SO under Stefan Asbury (2 March). ‘Rarely can you hear such flowing transitions between the countless small and large instrumental groupings in an orchestral composition as in this piece played by the HR-Symphony Orchestra. Cerha too is – as Adorno described his teacher Alban Berg – a “master of the smallest transition”.’ (Achim Heidenreich, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
SCHWARTZ
The geometry of musical lines Jay Schwartz‘s latest work, Music for Chamber Ensemble, is a commission from conductor Olari Elts for his Ensemble NYYD. The first performance takes place on 7 September in Tartu (Estonia), followed by a performance on 10 September in Tallinn. ‘Music for Chamber Ensemble is a geometry of lines, curves and intersections which follow the musical laws of horizontal time and vertical intervals, as well as the architectonic laws of structure and proportion…The aim of my work is to map
the architecture of a composition onto a unique stretch of time.’ (Schwartz) His Music for Orchestra (for string orchestra), which casts its spell over the listener by means of its archaic power, has been selected for performance at the Venice Biennale (6 October at the Teatro La Fenice, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI with Johannes Debus conducting). HALFFTER
Festive Spanish sounds Of his Dortmund Variations, written to honour the 100th anniversary of the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra, Cristóbal Halffter said: ‘It was my intention to write a piece in which all the different groups of the orchestra could go through their paces.’ And now he has chosen to celebrate his own 75th birthday with a similar festive showpiece. The first performance of Dortmund Variations II, in reduced scoring, can be heard on 6 October in Las Palmas, with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria under Günther Neuhold.
Jay Schwartz
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schwartz / halffter
BIENNALE DI VENEZIA
Va’ pensiero – The Venice Music Biennale Va’ pensiero (Go, my thoughts!) – with these words begins unquestionably the most famous chorus in the whole operatic literature. The prisoners in Nabucco sing both of their longing for the happiness of lost times and of their hopes for liberation from their present sorrows. Giorgio Battistelli has taken precisely these words as the motto for the 50th Music Biennale (50. Festival Internazionale di Musica Contemporanea, 29 Sep - 7 Oct). Battistelli, who is assuming responsibility for the programme for the third time aims with Va’ pensiero to bring contemporary music
once again to the centre of current cultural debate, to revitalise dialogue and intellectual engagement with this art form. To facilitate this he has invited important composers, thinkers and philosophers to Venice – among other things, for example, there will be a meeting between philosopher Peter Sloterdijk and Wolfgang Rihm on 5 Oct. The programme also includes: the first performance of Wolfgang Rihm’s Vigilia (3 Oct; see the Rihm article elsewhere in this issue); the Italian première of Friedrich Cerha’s ‘hymn of praise to the overtone series’ Hymnus for orchestra (4 Oct) with the Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice; Georg Friedrich Haas’ in vain as part of Klangforum’s intoxicating Symposium (29 Sep) and 3 Love Poems with the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart (4 Oct); plus Jay Schwartz’s Music for Orchestra (6 Oct) with the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI.
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biennale di venezia
Festival INTERNATIONAL des Musiques D’aujourD’hui STRASBOURG
L’INATTENDU DE LA CRÉATION Les nouvelles générations et leur chef de file, Bruno Mantovani, renouvellent avec appétit les écritures musicales de leurs maîtres incontestés Schoenberg, Berio, Ligeti et Stockhausen
113 ŒUVRES 62 CRÉATIONS ET PREMIÈRES FRANÇAISES 67 COMPOSITEURS 39 MANIFESTATIONS www.festival-musica.org Rens : +33 (0)3 88 23 46 46
graphisme poste 4 / photographie frantisek zvardon
16 SEPT :::::: 8 OCT 2006
FESTIVAL MUSICA STRASBOURG
UE works on the menu
(Roland Auzet), conducted Laurence Equilbey.
The Musica festival, though dedicated to new music, doesn’t shy away from looking back to its roots. Thus it includes works by Arnold Schönberg (for example the Gurre-Lieder under Michael Gielen), Alban Berg (among other things the String Quartet Op. 3) and Béla Bartók (Second Sonata for violin and piano).
And a veritable composer portrait is being dedicated to Johannes Maria Staud: apart from the première of the percussion piece, Ensemble Modern under Sian Edwards is playing his Configurations/Reflet (2002) for eight instrumentalists, the piano works Bewegungen (1996) and Peras (2004) feature in Jan Michiel’s programme, and Carolin Widmann is to play Towards a Brighter Hue (2004) for solo violin.
Musica is also paying tribute to the late Luciano Berio (d. 2003), not only by playing a series of his own compositions, but also with thirteen short commissioned works (among them a piano piece by Vykintas Baltakas and a work for solo percussion by Johannes Maria Staud) which, under the collective title Consequenza, will enjoy a staged performance directed by Antoine Gindt. The performers will be members of the Remix Ensemble from Porto who, together with T&M Paris, shared the commissions. Wolfgang Rihm is represented by two works: the Wölfli-Lieder (soloist James Bobby, conductor Robert HP Platz) and Astralis for small choir (Chor Accentus), cello (Sonia Wieder-Atherton) and two timpani
by
Johannes Maria Staud
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festival musica
SOTELO
Black scream For Spanish composer Mauricio Sotelo the paintings of Irish artist Sean Scully are among the most intense in contemporary art. His picture entitled Wall of light black is, for the composer, like a ‘black scream’ and – along with Goya’s painting and the Flamenco song form Siguiriya – inspired him to write Wall of light black for Sean Scully (2006) for saxophone and chamber ensemble. Commissioned by musikFabrik and Kunststiftung NRW, it was first performed on 27 August in Cologne by musikFabrik under Brad Lubman, with Marcus Weiss as soloist. In response to a commission from Saarland Radio – and with the guitar sound of the Granaiana in mind – Sotelo has also composed Tanquam centrum circuli for flute, harpsichord and orchestra, which will be premièred in Saarbrücken with the Saarbrücken Radio SO under Josep Pons and soloists Roberto Fabbriciani and Elisabeth Chojnacka (24 September).
Mauricio Sotelo LENTZ
Mystic web of sound Contrasts between sound and silence distinguish George Lentz’s consistently gentle Mysterium, in which he wanted to compose ‘the purest kind of music’. Recently there were several opportunities to hear 2 works from this cycle: Ngangkar for orchestra was performed in July by the Sydney SO under John Storgaards, and Monh for viola and orchestra had 2 premières – in Tokyo (Yoshiko Kawamoto, Tokyo SO/Kazuyoshi Akiyama, 23 Aug), and Llandaff (Philip Dukes, BBC National Orchestra of Wales/Luke Dollman, 31 Aug).
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sotelo / lentz
BERIO
Consequenza a homage The multitude of concerts, festivals and initiatives that engage with his work in the most diverse ways shows how vital Luciano Berio’s musical legacy still is three years after his death. Now the Remix Ensemble of Porto (Portugal) has dreamt up a homage of a quite special kind. Based around Berio’s early Canzoni Populari (1946-47) and his reaction to the murder of Martin Luther King in 1968, O King for mezzo-soprano and five players, thirteen pieces for solo instruments by thirteen
young composers (among them Johannes Maria Staud and Vykintas Baltakas) will be premièred under the title Consequenza. Although fully independent works in their own right, each of these pieces is at the same time a ‘Con-Sequenza’ of Berio’s work. The performance will be staged by Antoine Gindt, with projected visual materials by film and video artist Bruno Deville. The evening closes with a first performance of Pascal Dusapin’s Baisser de rideau. Consequenza can be seen for the first time on 24 Sep at the Festival Musica in Strasbourg, with subsequent performances at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris (23 Oct) and the Casa da Musica in Porto (4-5 Nov). Information about many more high-profile performances can be found on the UE website: Pierre Boulez is conducting Chemins II, Corale and Calmo in Lucerne (13-14 Sep), David Robertson Sinfonia in St Louis, USA (27-29 Oct).
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berio
büro54
do 14.9. TIROLER SYMPHONIEORCHESTER INNSBRUCK · LETTISCHER RADIO-CHOR · BEAT FURRER · DIRIGENT · Paul Engel· UA · Martin Smolka · ÖE · Beat Furrer · Leos Janácek fr 15.9. LUCERNE PERCUSSION GROUP · MICHEL CERUTTI · DIRIGENT · Dai Fujikura · Philippe Schoeller · Yan Maresz · u.a. Werke für 12 Percussionisten sa 16.9. GUNTER SCHNEIDER HÖRT PIERRE BOULEZ · LUCERNE FESTIVAL ACADEMY ORCHESTRA AND VOCALISTS · PIERRE BOULEZ · DIRIGENT · LUISA CASTELLANI · MEZZOSOPRAN · Arnold Schönberg · Anton Webern · Pierre Boulez · Matthias Pintscher · Luciano Berio so 17.9. PILGERWANDERUNG · LETTISCHER RADIO-CHOR · SIGVARDS KAVA · KASPARS PUTNINS · DIRIGENTEN · ERIN GEE · STIMME · BARBARA ROMEN UND GUNTER SCHNEIDER · PETER LINDENTHAL · JAKOBSWEGFORSCHER · Erin Gee · UA · Kassian Erharts interaktive Bewegungsklangschalen · Arvo Pärt · Felix Resch · Miroslav Srnka · Günther Andergassen · ÖE · Martin Smolka · Anne Boyd · Peteris Vasks · Santa Ratniece · György Ligeti · Martins Vilums · Martin Smolka · UA di 19.9. FRIEDRICH ACHLEITNER · Lesung und Gespräch mi 20.9. GUNTER SCHNEIDER HÖRT HAIMO WISSER · ENSEMBLE WINDKRAFT MIT CHARLIE FISCHER · SCHLAGZEUG · PEPPIE WIERSMA · SCHLAGZEUG · CHRISTIAN DIERSTEIN · SCHLAGZEUG · ERNESTO MOLINARI · KLARINETTE · N.N. · GITARRE · DENNIS RUSSELL DAVIES · KLAVIER · MAKI NAMEKAWA · KLAVIER · KASPAR SINGER · CELLO · N.N. · TROMPETE · N.N. · POSAUNE · Haimo Wisser · UA · Olga Neuwirth · ÖE · Haimo Wisser · Fischer-Molinari-Duo · UA · Michal Nejtek · UA · NACHTKONZERT · MAKI NAMEKAWA & DENNIS RUSSELL DAVIES · KLAVIER · Dmitri Schostakowitsch do 21.9. TIROLER KAMMERORCHESTER InnStrumenti · GERHARD SAMMER · DIRIGENT · Hubert Stuppner · UA · Eduard Demetz · UA · Felix Resch · UA · Werner Pirchner fr 22.9. MILITÄRMUSIK VORARLBERG · KARL GAMPER · DIRIGENT · Peter Eötvös · Murat Üstün · UA · Eduard Demetz · UA · Jorge Sánchez-Chiong · UA · Charles Ives sa 23.9. FILM IM KULTURGESPRÄCH · DAS LINKE DING · MoEns PRAG · BOHEMIA SAXOPHONE QUARTETT · MIROSLAV PUDLAK · DIRIGENT · TSCHECHIEN · Hanus Barton · UA · Marek Kopelent · UA ·Martin Hybler · UA · Miroslav Pudlak · UA so 24.9. INTERNATIONALE ENSEMBLE MODERN AKADEMIE KONZERT · SOLISTEN DES ENSEMBLE MODERN · FRANCK OLLU · DIRIGENT · BENEDICT MASON · SUPERVISION · Benedict Mason · felt/ebb/thus/brink/here/array/telling/ · ÖE mo 25.9. JÁCHYM TOPOL · AUTOR · TOMAS ONDRUSEK · SCHLAGWERK · Lesung und Konzert · Martin Smolka · Milos Haase · Peter Graham · David Lang · Iannis Xenakis di 26.9. INTERNATIONALE ENSEMBLE MODERN AKADEMIE · ABSCHLUSSKONZERT · Harrison Birtwistle · Galina Ustwolskaja · Steve Reich · Wolfgang Rihm · John Cage mi 27.9. ERICH URBANNER HÖRT ERICH URBANNER · ENSEMBLE WIENER COLLAGE · ERICH URBANNER · DIRIGENT · ALFRED MELICHAR · AKKORDEON · Erich Urbanner zum 70.Geburtstag · Zdzislaw Wysocki · UA · Bernd Richard Deutsch · UA · Johanna Doderer · UA · Erich Urbanner do 28.9. ELISABETH SCHIMANA · ELECTRONICS · CORDULA BOESZE · FLÖTE · LENA GOLOVASHEVA · BEWEGUNG · Elisabeth Schimana · UA fr 29.9. STILLSTAND · JUNGE SOUNDS & THEATER · Lehrlinge von MPREIS, IVB, IKB und GE Jenbacher · SchülerInnen der Glasfachschule Kramsach sa 30.9. RADIO SYMPHONIEORCHESTER WIEN · MARTYN BRABBINS · DIRIGENT · ERIN GEE · STIMME · Erin Gee · UA · Joanna Wozny · UA · Dai Fujikura · ÖE · George Benjamin 29.9.-1.10. klangspuren barfuß Kinderfestival
Info & Tickets: T +43 5242 73582 · F -20 · info@klangspuren.at · www.klangspuren.at Klangspurengasse 1/Ecke Ullreichstraße 8a · A-6130 Schwaz
BOULEZ
New movements A new orchestral movement is in progress in Pierre Boulez’s studio, where he is tackling the orchestration of Notations VIII. Since Daniel Barenboim commissioned and premièred Notations VII in 1997, Boulez has taken up several of the pieces, of which the eighth now seems to stand the best hope of completion. At the same time conductor Boulez is planning movements of a more literal kind: a fixed date in his diary in recent years has been the Lucerne Festival, where he devotes himself to directing the young musicians of the Festival Academy Orchestra. On 14 September he conducts his cummings ist der dichter for 16 solo voices and chamber orchestra of 27 instruments, then two days later
appears as guest with the same programme at the Klangspuren Festival in Innsbruck. Further ‘movements’ are planned with the Ensemble Intercontemporain: on 7 November Boulez directs his Dérive 2 in the Cité de la Musique in Paris, then travels to Milan (9 Nov), Badenweiler (11 Nov) and Berne (13 Nov). In Badenweiler Jörg Widmann will present his Dialogue de l’ ombre double at the Hotel Römerbad (10 November). Boulez performances over the next few months begin as early as 6 September in Berlin, where Daniel Barenboim is conducting Notations VII in the Philharmonie, where he gave the work its European première in 1999. Later the ASKO Ensemble under Stefan Asbury perform Messagesquisse in Arnhem (31 Oct), Amsterdam (2 Nov) and The Hague (3 Nov), with soloists Jean-Guihen Queyras and Doris Hochscheid.
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boulez
BIRTWISTLE
European parade 2006 is the 100th anniversary of Paul Sacher, and it is fitting that one of the works he commissioned, Harrison Birtwistle's Endless Parade, features in two programmes this autumn: on 5/9 there will be a performance in Berlin by Ensemble Resonanz and William Forman under Jonathan Stockhammer in the Philharmonie, and on 31/10, in Cardiff, Thierry Fischer will conduct the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in a performance of this fascinating work that was given a splendid first performance by a young Håkan Hardenberger. ‘It exudes that sense of personal
presence which marks the work of a major creator.’ (The Observer, May 1987) On 26/9 Ritual Fragment will be performed in Rotholz, as part of Klangspuren Schwaz, by the musicians of the International Ensemble Modern Academy. And on 5/10, the soloists of EIC will play Five Distances for Five Instruments at the Cité de la Musique in Paris. SAWER
A Good Night at the Academy ‘The piece clearly shows a full command of purely musical means … The players … must be well pleased to have this ironical, disturbed and disturbing Good Night’. (Paul Griffiths, The Times). On 3rd October the Royal Academy of Music’s Manson Ensemble, under Christopher Austin, will feature chamber works by David Sawer. Between (for harp), Good Night, and Take Off (both for small ensemble) will be performed in London. Sawer has also been appointed as visiting professor at the Academy in October 2006.
Harrison Birtwistle
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birtwistle / sawer
(8 September); in Cologne the Theatre of Voices under Paul Hillier is offering the ‘Paris version’ of Stimmung; and Stop can be heard (25 October) at the Klangzeit Festival in Münster.
Hans Zender STOCKHAUSEN
New perspectives
ZENDER
70th birthday Present-day ears can no longer really understand what provoked such scandal in the early days of serial music. At the Darmstadt première of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Kreuzspiel in 1951 its ‘idea of an intersection of temporal and spatial events’ still met with general incomprehension. In recent years however the work has been programmed with encouraging frequency (nine times in 2006 alone). Now the Wien Modern Festival is presenting it as part of its Stockhausen focus on 21 November, with Klangforum Wien under Peter Eötvös, together with KontraPunkte, Zeitmasse and Klavierstücke 7 and 8 (played by Maurizio Pollini). At the ZKM in Karlsruhe the International Ensemble Modern Academy is playing Kurzwellen and Spiral
Composer and conductor Hans Zender celebrates his 70th birthday on 22 November 2006. The works which he entrusted to Universal Edition between 1979 and 1990 reflect certain important facets of his intellectual world: the interest in music theatre (his Joyce opera Stephen Climax), the allure of Japanese culture (for example the flute concerto Loshu V), the importance of the voice and, with it, of literature (settings of Mechthild von Magdeburg and Henri Michaux). We extend our warmest congratulations!
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stockhausen / zender
PÄRT
Entering the repertoire Thanks to the CD release of Arvo Pärt’s Lamentate for piano and orchestra with Alexei Lubimov and Andrey Boreyko (ECM New Series 1930), the work is well on its way towards entering the repertoire. Following Vienna (10 June) and St. Gallen (12 August), the Russian première takes place in Moscow on 14 November, (State Academic SO under Mark Gorenstein, once again with Lubimov at the keyboard). Pärt’s latest orchestral work, La Sindone, has its Finnish première on 29 September in Helsinki (Finnish Radio SO/Andres Mustonen). A performance in Turku under Juha Kangas follows (19 October), while in Berne Andrey Boreyko will conduct the Swiss première on 7-8 Dec. Für Lennart in memoriam for string orchestra (2006) is now available for hire. Tõnu Kaljuste conducted the piece on 3-4 Aug on the island of Naissaar during a two-day Pärt Festival, and at the beginning of November Andres Mustonen will direct it in Tallinn.
György Kurtág KURTÁG
at Wien Modern Amongst the numerous works of György Kurtág to be performed in honour of his 80th birthday is the early masterpiece The Sayings of Péter Bornemisza Op. 7, a concerto for soprano (Elena Vassileva) and piano (Pierre-Laurent Aimard). The first performance in Darmstadt in 1968 drew the attention of the music world to this previously unknown 43-year old composer – an encounter which in later years led to important commissions like the Kafka Fragments and Trussova Songs.
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pärt / kurtág
BORISOVA-OLLAS
Timeless form WILSON If you think that, as a form, the three-movement symphony has had its day, then you haven’t yet heard the Symphony No. 1 of Victoria Borisova-Ollas. A ‘gorgeously orchestrated work of great power and poetry’, it bears the subtitle ‘The Triumph of Heaven’, referring to a 1907 painting by Russian artist Kazmir Malevich. The symphony – each movement of which is ten minutes long – was composed in 2001 for the Malmö SO. The opening conveys an impression of the threatening skies looming over St Petersburg in the early twentieth century – a century that brought so much suffering to humanity. This first movement is characterised by a blind pursuit of the Zeitgeist and the desperate struggle to survive. The second is dedicated to silent mourning, and the third takes the listener back to the erratic twentieth century. A symphonic experience.
Inspiration The RTE National SO, under David Brophy, will present the Irish première of Ian Wilson’s Licht/ung on 13 October at the National Concert Hall in Dublin. Licht/ung was inspired by the tragic events that occurred at Nagasaki in 1945. There is also a performance of his in fretta, in vento at St. Andrews Church, Cheltenham, on 21 Nov by the Carducci Quartet. This work also exists in a string orchestra version and was premièred as such at the Presteigne Festival in 2005.
Victoria Borisova-Ollas
23
borisova-ollas / wilson
MESSIAEN
Voices of nature
MARTIN
Homage to Mozart Thanks to Mozart’s 250th birthday, conductors and programmers have rediscovered Frank Martin’s sevenminute Ouverture en hommage à Mozart, written in 1956 for the 200th anniversary of Mozart’s birth. Since January the piece has been heard several times a month – and can next be heard on 6 Sep in Lucerne (Camerata Zürich under Christoph Mueller). However no anniversary was needed to justify the revival of Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Rilke (12 and 16 Oct in Vienna, with Bernarda Fink and the Vienna Philharmonic under Fabio Luisi). Also regularly performed is the grandly scored oratorio In terra pax (22 Nov in Radeberg). In 1944 Martin wrote his Passacaille for organ. The (1952) version for string orchestra is to be played by the Tonhalle Orchestra under David Zinman in Zurich.
Olivier Messiaen wrote Oiseaux exotiques between 1955-6 in response to a commission from Pierre Boulez for his Domaine Musical concerts. The score draws upon the songs of exotic birds from India, China, Malaysia and America. Messiaen was a keen ornithologist, roaming the countryside over and over again in order to transcribe birdsong. Oiseaux exotiques for solo piano, small wind ensemble, xylophone, glockenspiel and percussion is one of his most frequently played works; it can be heard again in Singapore (5 Oct) and San Diego/US (3-5 Nov).
24
martin / messiaen
Alexander Zemlinsky, A Florentine Tragedy, Hamburg 1981 WEILL
Money is the root of sensuality ‘The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by Kurt Weill is regarded as political parable, discourse on operatic aesthetics, analysis of the mechanisms by which human civilisation functions and merciless portrayal of the state of human relationships under the influence of the market. It is all these things, and yet much more: one of the most successful operas of the twentieth century and a great theatrical entertainment of amazing strength and topicality’. This is how Berlin’s Komische Oper describes its latest theatrical première. Under the musical leadership of Kirill Petrenko and stage direction of Andreas Homoki, Christian Oertel sings Leokadija Begbick, Jens Larsen Trinity Moses, Tatiana Gazdik Jenny and Kor-Jan
Dusselje Jim Mahoney. The first night is 24 Sep, with eleven further performances until Dec 2006. Information: www.komische-operberlin.de
ZEMLINSKY
A cataclysmic affair Many composers, including Puccini, toyed with the idea of setting Oscar Wilde’s play A Florentine Tragedy. What finally got Alexander Zemlinsky interested in the piece was its stylistic and structural resemblance to Salome. The fatal love affair between painter Richard Gerstl and Mathilde, wife of Arnold Schönberg, which ended with Gerstl’s suicide, must also have moved him deeply. The Opéra de Nancy is presenting a new production of this exciting oneact work from 14 September.
25
weill /
zemlinsky
Frederick Delius
of transience and parting, are translated into music with equal genius. This rarely performed vocal work can be heard in the Stadttheater, Giessen on 7 Nov, with the Philharmonic Orchestra and Opera Chorus of Giessen under Carlos Spierer.
DELIUS
Iridescent
SHOSTAKOVICH
harmonies
100th birthday
Although a contemporary of Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss, as a late-romantic composer Frederick Delius (1862-1934) remained an outsider. His style has been described as ‘fastidious mood painting against a spiritual background’, of which a characteristic feature is the conjunction of distinctive sliding, iridescent harmony with folksong-like melodic materials. In 1906-7 Delius composed his Songs of Sunset for mezzo-soprano, baritone, chorus and orchestra, in which (as in Brigg Fair and In a Summer Garden) he attains the peak of sensitivity and lyrical maturity. The poems of Ernest Dowson, with their elegiac mood
For a long time Dimitri Shostakovich (b. St Petersburg, 25 Sep 1906), was saddled with the reputation of composing to order for Stalin’s totalitarian regime. Only since the 1980s have we known how he had to work under constant threats and reprimands, which he revenged with music that worked on two levels. What on the surface appears to be loyal to the party is, underneath, often directed against the system itself. On 9 Aug 1975 he died in Moscow of a heart attack. Now without doubt he counts as one of the 20th century’s greatest symphonists, who right up to today has claimed an ever greater share of the repertoire.
26
delius / shostakovitsh
SCHNITTKE
Serenade Universal Edition was the original publisher of a series of important works by Russian composer Alfred Schnittke (d. 1998). For example, besides the Symphony No. 2 and the a cappella choral work Minnesang, Dialog for cello and seven instruments was also released through UE. Dating from 1965, it is to be performed by members of the Gubaidulina Festival Ensemble in Amsterdam (15 Oct), while the sextet Serenade (1968) can be heard in Saarbrücken (with members of the RSO, 20 Sep) and (with an ensemble of soloists) in the chamber music hall of the Philharmonie, Berlin (18 Oct). DENISOV
A little noticed anniversary Russian composer Edison Denisov died ten years ago. It is thanks to the Altenberg Trio of Vienna that he will be remembered in a concert on 24 Sep – by a performance of his Shostakovich homage D-S-C-H for clarinet (Bernhard Zachhuber), trombone (Andreas Eberle), cello and piano, which follows a performance of its dedicatee’s Piano Trio.
His 1969 Quintet for wind is to be performed on 17 Sep by soloists of the Deutsche Oper, Berlin – as part of a concert entitled ‘To Shostakovich, on his 100th’ which also pays homage to the younger Russian. HAUBENSTOCK-RAMATI
Return to Poland The Warsaw Autumn Festival is commemorating Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, born in Krakow in 1919, with a performance of his 1967 Symphony K (National Symphony Orchestra of Polish Radio under Gabriel Chmura, 30 Sep). The composer said of this work:‘“K” stands here as a symbol… for all the other Ks who, over and over again and in every period, are branded “guilty”. The anxious circumstances of modern humanity, its insecurity…these were the elements which stimulated the composition of my opera Amerika. They are also the elements I wanted to express in my Symphony K.’
27
schnittke / denisov haubenstock-ramati
WEBERN
Vocal Klangfarben In 1908 Anton Webern wrote Entflieht auf leichten Kähnen Op. 20 for mixed choir a cappella, his last work in conventional tonality (G major). Pierre Boulez is juxtaposing both versions of it with the mature late work Das Augenlicht (1933) for mixed choir and orchestra, Op. 26 (Lucerne Festival Orchestra plus vocalists, Lucerne 14 Sep, Innsbruck 16 Sep). Ernst Krenek was deeply impressed by Webern’s conception: ‘Das Augenlicht is an exemplary model of exclusively intellectual creation, hard as steel and fashioned
Lucerne Festival Orchestra
according to purely constructional principles, with no regard for particular vocal or instrumental forces. The writing shows such a preference for extreme, unidiomatic peripheral registers and wilful complexity that, the better one understands it, the harder it is to perform correctly…’ Sylvain Cambreling is also performing the work, with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg (Luxembourg, 29 September).
SCHÖNBERG
Sexy, elegant and sensuous… …is how Simon Rattle once described the Gurre-Lieder for soloists, chorus and orchestra (1901/11) by Arnold Schönberg. The SWR SO of Baden-Baden and Freiburg under Michael Gielen (with the choirs of Bavarian and Central German Radio) are touring the work across half of Europe – Lucerne (13 Sep), Essen (15 Sep), Berlin (17 Sep), Frankfurt (29 Oct), Freiburg (31 Oct), Vienna (2 Nov) and Budapest (3 Nov). ‘This work is the key to my whole development. It shows sides of me which my later work does not reveal, or derives from a different basis’ (Schönberg).
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webern / schönberg
to make works which have unjustly fallen into oblivion, or which were believed lost, once again available. SCHMIDT
No longer a
MARX
The society Founded in Vienna in March 2006 on the initiative of Marx scholar and biographer Berkant Haydin, the Joseph Marx Society (www.joseph-marx-gesellschaft.org) promotes the conservation and dissemination of the work of Joseph Marx â&#x20AC;&#x201C; often cited as a master of romantic impressionism â&#x20AC;&#x201C; through editions of his compositions and writings, biographical and musicological publications, events (concerts, symposia, lectures) and support for performances, radio programmes and recording production as well as collaborations with other organisations and institutions. Prominent composers, artists and music critics (including Kurt Schwertsik, Peter Vujica, Friedrich Cerha and Thomas Hampson) are active in the Society, which is working together with UE
well-kept secret Today the fascinating late romantic orchestral music of composer Franz Schmidt (1874-1939) is no longer a well-kept secret. His Symphonies have already appeared several times on CD (above all the Symphony No. 4) and his summa, the oratorio The Book with the Seven Seals written in 1937, was his last large-scale piece and belongs amongst the most important works of its kind. On 14 October it can be heard in Berlin, with the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra and Karl Foster Chorus under Barbara Rucha.
29
marx / schmidt
Franz Schreker, Der ferne Klang, Berlin 1925
Schreker’s opera and is conducting Nachtstück, the interlude from the third act, on 9 Nov. Meanwhile Austrian cellist Heinrich Schiff, who also excels as a conductor, is programming the Chamber Symphony in his concert with the Rotterdam Philharmonic (22 Oct), and the school orchestra of the Konrad Adenauer Gymnasium, Westerberg is playing the Romantic Suite (13 Sep). SZYMANOWSKI
SCHREKER
In Spain - finally! Almost a century after it was written, a Spanish theatre has had the courage to stage Franz Schreker’s opera Der ferne Klang. Pedro Halffter, son of composer Cristóbal Halffter, has adopted the work and brought Peter Mussbach’s production over from the Deutsche Staatsoper, Berlin. The Spanish première takes place on 7 November at the Teatro de la Maestranza, Seville. Besides the young Spaniard, Alan Buribayev from Kazakhstan, General Music Director in Meining, has also immersed himself in
Unmistakable The distinguished Polish composer Karol Szymanowski, who died in 1937 aged only 55, has succeeded in gaining a permanent place in international concert repertoire with his most important stage, orchestral and chamber works. For example, his Violin Concerto No. 1 is being played by F.P. Zimmermann with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Simon Rattle in London (2 Sep) and by Jennifer Kolt in Portland, Oregon (Oregon SO / Carlos Kalmar, 14 Oct). And his Symphony No. 3 features on Gabriel Fetz’s programme with the Stuttgart Philharmonic, 10 Oct.
30
schreker / szymanowski
MJASKOWSKI
A rediscovery KLENAU A rarity from the UE catalogue was revived on 22 June in Jerusalem by the Jerusalem SO under Leon Botstein: Silence: Symphonic Poem Op. 9 after Edgar Allen Poe (1910) by Russian composer Nikolai Yakovlevich Mjaskowski (1881-1950). One of the characteristics permeating the whole of Mjaskowski’s output is a profound intensity, which manifests itself particularly in a refusal to resort to lurid effects and superficiality.
Longing so vast Danish composer Paul von Klenau set Rilke’s poem Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Rilke in 1915, i.e. 27 years before Frank Martin engaged with the same text (Viktor Ullmann and Siegfried Matthus also found inspiration in it). In 2000 and 2002 the Odense Symphony Orchestra championed a number of Klenau’s orchestral works. Now the orchestra and its conductor Paul Mann have revived this one-hour piece for baritone solo, mixed choir and orchestra. Two performances are taking place (7 and 8 September) before the musicians take the work to the recording studio. Information about Klenau’s Cornet is unfortunately extremely scarce, but it can be assumed that Rilke’s lines (such as ‘And courage has become so tired, and longing so vast’) struck a chord with the composer in the second year of the First World War.
Nikolai Mjaskowski
31
mjaskowski / klenau
JANÁCEK
Life class sketches With his third opera Jenufa Léos Janácek succeeded in making his breakthrough as an operatic composer. Since the première of this moving story about the fate of the sexton and her stepdaughter Jenufa at the Brno National Theatre in 1904, it has become one of the composer’s most frequently performed works. Janácek was the first to succeed in transforming everyday speech directly into music. His method of using speech-melodic motives is clearly distinctive. It is known that the composer preserved everyday conversations in the form of little musical sketches: ‘Jotting down genuine speech melody is, as it were, music’s life class,’ he said. Among the opera’s numerous performances mention should be
made of the Sydney Opera House’s 1998 production by Neil Armfield, which from 20 Sep to 21 Oct can be seen there again under the direction of Richard Hickox. MAHLER
The Eighth The first performances of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 took place on 12 and 13 September 1910 in Munich. They brought Mahler the greatest triumph of his life, in terms both of public recognition and of his own artistic intentions. To this day the symphony, on account of the gigantic forces required, has remained a challenge for any concert promoter. A challenge which is now being taken up by Michael Tilson Thomas on 13 Sep in Luxembourg and 17 Sep in Lucerne, as well as by Daniele Gatti on 16 Sep in Birmingham.
Leos Janácek, Jenufa, Portland Opera 1996
32
janácek / mahler
Max von Schillings, Mona Lisa, Staatstheater Braunschweig 2005 BRAUNFELS
The nightingale sings again ‘I do not believe that such an absolute masterpiece has ever graced the German operatic stage as this lyrical-fantastical piece after Aristophanes!’ wrote Alfred Einstein of Die Vögel by Walter Braunfels. Bruno Walter, conductor of the Munich première (30 Nov 1920), was equally enthusiastic. Based on the Aristophanes’ comedy The Birds, the work tells the story of two people – Hoffegut and Ratefreund – who leave the earth in the hope of being able to lead a better life in the world of the birds. Braunfels was one of the most popular composers of this time until his works were banned by the Nazis at the beginning of the thirties. Freiburg’s Mittelsächsisches Theater is now staging a new production of
the work (directed by Manuel Schöbel) under the musical guidance of Jan Michael Horstmann, with the first night on 30 Sep: www.mittelsaechsisches-theater.de
SCHILLINGS
Mona Lisa’s smile Excited by the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre, Beatrice Dovsky wrote her drama of jealousy and betrothal Mona Fiordilisa, which inspired Max von Schillings’ (1868-1933) most successful work: Mona Lisa, opera in two acts. In it Schillings blended impressionist, verismo and Wagnerian stylistic devices, which find their expression via a luxurious late romantic orchestral treatment. The Meininger Theater is staging Ansgar Haag’s new production of the work on 15 September, under General Music Director Alan Buribayev.
33
braunfels / schillings
SCHUMANN
in all but name UE is delighted to announce a new highlight in its catalogue: almost 150 years after the composer’s death, Robert Schumann’s Frauenliebe und –leben (op.42) has been reborn in a version for orchestra that is so authentic, all who have heard it believe that it might easily have come from Schumann’s own hand. Conrad Artmüller, realising the potential in the original song-cycle, created this masterful orchestral version and conducted its première in Vienna last autumn. Performed with Gabriele Sima, a mezzo-soprano, the orchestral material is also available, however, in a transposition for the alto voice. In composing these Lieder Schumann set poems by Chamisso, and, very much from a female perspective, they actually tell a story – one of longing for the loved one. They were completed in July 1840, just before (despite endless distressing attempts by Wieck, Clara’s father, to prevent Schumann’s marriage to his daughter) Clara and Robert were in fact finally wed (12 September, at Schönefeld near Leipzig). Artmüller’s orchestration is subtle, elegant and very much in keeping with Schumann’s orchestral trademarks. Always allowing the voice to shine out from the texture, this
34
schumann
gravesite of Clara and Robert Schumann
impressive addition to the repertoire is likely to become extremely popular. Another Schumann arrangement has been in the UE catalogue for a long time: Hans Pfitzner’s version of Acht Frauenchöre. Scored for women’s chorus and an orchestra (including organ), the work lasts 22 minutes.
HAYDN
Opera composer The 200th anniversary of the death of Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) in 2009 will turn the attention of the international music world increasingly to his many-sided oeuvre, where there’s plenty to discover – or rediscover.Who, for example, can honestly assert that they know all 105 of his symphonies? Not to mention his numerous operas …
Joseph Haydn - Operatic works: Lo Speziale Le pescatrici L'infedeltà delusa La vera costanza La fedeltà premiata Die reisende Ceres
Universal Edition publishes six of his stage works, edited by H. C. Robbins Landon and Eva BaduraSkoda, both internationally recognised experts on Haydn’s music. All six operas were composed during his decades of service for the Esterházy family and first performed between 1768 and 1781 at the Eszterháza Palace – except for Die reisende Ceres which, edited by Badura-Skoda, was finally heard in Salzburg in 1977. As we said above, much to discover and rediscover…
35
haydn
LIGETI
György Ligeti 1923-2006 After the Cologne première of Apparitions under Ernest Bour on 19 June 1960, the Western world now at last knew that this Hungarian – who had only succeeded in fleeing his homeland a few years before – had the capacity to make a radically new, original and personal contribution to music. This first impression was confirmed in the most convincing manner by the première of Atmosphères a year later in Donaueschingen. Both of these epoch-making orchestral works were published by
36
ligeti
Universal Edition. And there, unfortunately, the relationship ended – the works composed over the succeeding four decades appeared first from Peters in Frankfurt, then later from Schott in Mainz. But with his death on 12 June 2006, all that has finally passed into music history. Now the time has come for posthumous assessment, for memorial concerts, and only then will the years, decades and – so we believe – centuries of everyday musical life show what future generations consider of lasting value in György Ligeti’s rich, wonderful oeuvre. The Requiem, Lontano, Melodien, the Violin Concerto, Piano Concerto, the opera Le grand macabre, Aventures and Nouvelles Aventures, the chamber music, the piano études – all of them have had their conductors and soloists, who have created a real tradition of Ligeti interpretation: a tradition they will certainly keep alive and pass on. We are fortunate indeed to have been Györgi Ligeti’s contemporaries.
THE FUTURE'S BRIGHT
But who is going to embrace new music? ‘To meet the listener where they’re at’ – particularly where new music is concerned, this oft-repeated phrase implies the need for frank and intelligent mediation between two apparent extremes. Often it seems as though the music of today is confronting an audience which simply hasn’t grown used to its artistic and intellectual demands. This impression seems to be confirmed by practices in music education and performance. While programmes from Bach to Wagner fill concert halls, in some cases even young musicians themselves have never played a single note written after 1950 in their studies. But here the question inevitably arises, whether this implies that
music before 1950 demands a lower level of artistic and intellectual understanding, or to what extent these factors are really crucial for public acceptance. For example, how many concertgoers consciously perceive the prophetic musical achievements in Beethoven’s Eroica or Brahms’ First Piano Concerto? Presumably then some sort of discussion would be no less welcome here than it is, for example, in the case of Wolfgang Rihm’s Chiffren or Pierre Boulez’ Dérives. So possibly that muchavoided ghetto of new music is not so much further removed from the public than the classical repertoire. Rather, both should be brought within the same musical orbit, and in this way a unified musical education policy brought closer to the centre of musical life. The public will thank us for it.
37
the future's bright
2006 125th 70th 50th 80th 80th 80th 10th 60th 80th 75th 70th 80th 250th 80th 70th 100th 20th 70th
Anniversary Birthday Anniv. of Death Anniversary Birthday Birthday Anniv. of Death Birthday Anniversary Birthday Birthday Birthday Anniversary Birthday Birthday Anniversary Anniv. of Death Birthday
Béla Bartók * 25 March 1881 Richard Rodney Bennett * 29 March 1936 Bertolt Brecht † 14 August 1956 Earle Brown * 26 December 1926 Francis Burt * 28 April 1926 Friedrich Cerha * 17 February 1926 Gottfried von Einem † 12 July 1996 Michael Finnissy * 17 March 1946 Morton Feldman * 11 January 1926 Mauricio Kagel * 24 December 1931 Ladislav Kupkovic * 17 March 1936 György Kurtág * 19 February 1926 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart * 27 Jan 1756 Hans Otte * 03 December 1926 Steve Reich * 03 October 1936 Dmitri Shostakovich * 25 Sep 1906 Alexandre Tansman † 15 November 1986 Hans Zender * 22 November 1936
Anniv. of Death Birthday Anniversary Anniv. of Death Birthday Anniversary Anniversary Anniversary Birthday Birthday Birthday Birthday Anniv. of Death Anniversary
Eugen d'Albert † 03 March 1932 David Bedford * 04 August 1937 Walter Braunfels * 19 December 1882 Morton Feldman † 03 September 1987 Michael Gielen * 20 July 1927 Zoltán Kodály * 16 December 1882 Gian Francesco Malipiero * 18 March 1882 Joseph Marx * 11 May 1882 Richard Meale * 24 August 1932 Gösta Neuwirth * 06 January 1937 Paul Patterson * 15 June 1947 Thomas Daniel Schlee * 26 October 1957 Othmar Schoeck † 08 March 1957 Karol Szymanowski * 06 October 1882
2007 75th 70th 125th 20th 80th 125th 125th 125th 75th 70th 60th 50th 50th 125th
38
anniversaries
Karol Szymanowski † 29 March 1937 Julian Yu * 02 September 1957
70th Anniv. of Death 50th Birthday
2008 25th 90th 70th 80th 100th 60th 60th 70th 75th 80th 100th
Anniv. of Death Anniversary Birthday Anniversary Anniversary Birthday Birthday Birthday Anniv. of Death Birthday Anniversary
Cathy Berberian † 06 March 1983 Gottfried von Einem * 24 January 1918 Zygmunt Krauze * 19 September 1938 Gerhard Lampersberg * 05 July 1928 Olivier Messiaen * 10 December 1908 Nigel Osborne * 23 June 1948 Peter Ruzicka * 03 July 1948 Tona Scherchen * 12 March 1938 Max von Schillings † 24 July 1933 Karlheinz Stockhausen * 22 August 1928 Eugen Suchon * 25 September 1908
Anniv. of Death Birthday Anniv. of Death Birthday Anniversary Anniversary Anniv. of Death Anniv. of Death Anniv. of Death Birthday Birthday Anniversary Anniversary Anniv. of Death Anniversary Anniversary Anniv. of Death
George Antheil † 12 February 1959 Harrison Birtwistle * 15 July 1934 Frederick Delius † 10 June 1934 Edison W. Denisow * 06 April 1929 Joseph Bohuslav Foerster * 30 Dec 1859 Roman Haubenstock-Ramati * 27 Feb 1919 Josef Matthias Hauer † 22 September 1959 Joseph Haydn * 31 May 1809 Bohuslav Martinu † 28 August 1959 Henri Pousseur * 23 June 1929 Bernard Rands * 02 March 1934 Karl Scheit * 21 April 1909 Alfred Schnittke * 24 November 1934 Franz Schreker † 21 March 1934 Alfred Uhl * 05 June 1909 Roman Vlad * 29 December 1919 Eric Zeisl † 18 February 1959
2009 50th 75th 75th 80th 150th 90th 50th 200th 50th 80th 75th 100th 75th 75th 100th 90th 50th
39
anniversaries
VYKINTAS BALTAKAS (how does the silver cloud s)ou(nd?) for piano Festival Musica, soloist of the Remix Ensemble 24 September 2006 · Strasbourg/F GEORG FRIEDRICH HAAS Sayaka for percussion and accordion Johannes Schulin, perc, Kai Wangler, acc 29 September 2006 · Gläserne Manufaktur Dresden/D Hertervig-Studies for six voices Ultima Festival, Nordic Voices 15 October 2006 · Lindemansalen Oslo/N Concerto for lighting and orchestra Donaueschingen Music Days, SWR SO Baden-Baden/Freiburg Lighting: rosalie 22 October 2006 · Donaueschingen/D CRISTÓBAL HALFFTER Dortmunder Variationen II for orchestra Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, c. Günter Neuhold 06 October 2006 · Alfredo Kraus Auditorium Las Palmas/E JOSEPH MARX Berghymne for voice and piano Petra Labitzke, S, Gulia Glennon, pn 23 November 2006 · Christuskirche Leverkusen/D ARVO PÄRT Veni creator for mixed choir and organ Capella Cathedralis Fulda, Hans-Jürgen Kaiser, organist, Franz-Peter Huber, conductor 28 September 2006 · Kathedrale Fulda/D WOLFGANG RIHM Vigilia for six voices and ensemble Singer Pur, musikFabrik, c. Stefan Asbury 07 September 2006 · Philharmonie Berlin/D Séraphin-Sphäre for 14 players Ensemble Recherche, c. Titus Engel 29 September 2006 · Brussels/B
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world premières
WOLFGANG RIHM Das Gehege A nocturnal scene for soprano and orchestra Bayerisches Staatsorchester, c. Kent Nagano, Gabriele Schnaut, soprano dir. William Friedkin, set. Hans Schavernoch 27 October 2006 · Bavarian State Opera Munich/D
WOLFGANG RIHM Akt und Tag Two studies for soprano and string quartet Arditti String Quartet, Claron McFadden, S 21 October 2006 · Donaueschingen Music Days/D JAY SCHWARTZ Music for Chamber Ensemble Nyyd-Ensemble, c. Olari Elts 07 September 2006 · University Hall Tartu/EST MAURICIO SOTELO Tanquam centrum circuli for flute and orchestra RSO Saarbrücken, c. Josep Pons, Roberto Fabbriciano, fl, Elisabeth Chojnacka, cemb 24 September 2006 · Saarbrücken/D JOHANNES MARIA STAUD Portugal for percussion Festival Musica, soloist of the Remix Ensemble 24 September 2006 · Strasbourg/F
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world premières
150 CLASSICAL STUDIES from the famous Frans Vester Flute-Collection arranged for alto recorder by Irmhild Beutler and Sylvia Rosine UE 33029 MIKE CORNICK The Best of Mike Cornick for piano UE 21314 ROBERT HUDSON 30 Modern Studies for trumpet UE 21316 FRANK MARTIN Ballade for saxophone (or basset horn) and orchestra UE 32986 WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Rondo D major, KV 485 for piano UT 51022 ROXANNA PANUFNIK Deus, deus meus for boy treble (or soprano) and choir SSAATTBB choral score UE 70104 piano reduction UE 70105 ARVO PÄRT Cecilia, vergine romana for choir SATB and orchestra study score UE 31543 choral score UE 31719 JAMES RAE Introducing Saxophone - Trios for 3 Saxophones (S/A/T) UE 21360 EUGÈNE REUCHSEL La vie du Christ for organ UE 32972 WOLFGANG RIHM Zwei kleine Schwingungen for piano UE 32959 GEOFFREY RUSSELL-SMITH Easy Blue Recorder for descant recorder and piano UE 21354
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new releases
ALEKSEY IGUDESMAN
The Catscratchbook with CD for 2 Violins UE 33094
Wonderful Caterwauling 10 violin duets, all about cats, to challenge, provoke and above all, enjoy. In the words of Aleksey Igudesman himself… ‘…these are not the most conventional children’s pieces. But I do not believe that children are conventional either.’ The pieces are unusual – certainly, and they will undoubtedly make an impact on young players with the support of illustrations, poems, notes from the composer and a CD with inspiring demonstration performances and play-along tracks for both 1st and 2nd violins. The poems come with the recommendation to ‘read them out loud before you perform the pieces and you are guaranteed a smiling public!’… and with 10 pieces including: Cold Kitten ; Hot Cat; Crazy Cat; Pink Cat; Cat Lover; I Lost my Cat; Night Cat and Cat and Mouse to choose from, there is plenty of contrast. An inspiring and innovative choice for middle grade players.
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new releases
BÉLA BARTÓK Musik für Saiteninstrumente, Schlagzeug und Celesta SWR SO Baden/Baden and Freiburg, c. Michael Gielen Hänssler Classic CD 93.127 BÉLA BARTÓK The String Quartets Vermeer Quartet Naxos CD 8.557543-44 LUCIANO BERIO The Complete Sequenzas & Works for Solo Instruments Irvine Arditti, Rohan de Saram, Stefano Scodanibbio ua. mode records 4CDs 161/3 LUCIANO BERIO Sequenza I, IV, VIII, IXa, XIV, Musica leggera, Les Mots sont allés, Lied Ex Novo Ensemble Black Box / Codaex CD 1105 LUCIANO BERIO Sequenza XII Pascal Gallois, bassoon Stradivarius CD 33736 LUCIANO BERIO Sequenza XIV Rohan de Saram, cello edition zeitklang CD ez-25023 ALBAN BERG Sieben frühe Lieder GUSTAV MAHLER Symphony No. 4 Berliner Philharmoniker, c. Claudio Abbado, Renée Fleming, S Deutsche Grammophon DG CD 00289 477 5574 CLYTUS GOTTWALD Vocal Arrangements after Alban Berg Die Nachtigall Gustav Mahler Die zwei blauen Augen, Scheiden und Meiden, Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen KammerChor Saarbrücken, c. Georg Grün Carus CD 83.182 GEORG FRIEDRICH HAAS ... aus freier Lust ... verbunden, de terrae fine Barbara Lüneburg, violin and viola Coviello COV CD 60610 ERNST KRENEK Durch die Nacht, Gesänge des späten Jahres Liat Himmelheber, MS, Hanna Dóra Sturludóttir, S, Axel Bauni and Isabel Fernholz, pn Orfeo CD C 123 041 A JOSEPH MARX Italienisches Liederbuch Sarah Leonard, S, Jonathan Powell, pn Altarus Records Air-CD 9061 ARVO PÄRT Da Pacem Domine, Salve Regina, Magnificat, Dopo la vittoria, Nunc dimittis, Littlemore Tractus ua. Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Paul Hillier, Christopher Bowers-Broadbent, organ harmonia mundi HMU CD 907401 RESONANZEN PAUL SACHER: Conductor and Stimulator BÉLA BARTÓK Musik für Saiteninstrumente, Schlagzeug und Celesta LUCIANO BERIO Ritorno degli Snovidenia FRANK MARTIN Ballade für Violoncello und kleines Orchester Musiques Suisses MGB CD 6240
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new on cd
HEINRICH KAMINSKI Geistliche Chöre, Fuge, Motette, Triptychon orpheus chor münchen, c. Gerd Guglhör Oehms Classics CD OC 608
LUCIANO BERIO Sinfonia, Ekphrasis London Voices, Göteborgs Symfoniker, c. Peter Eötvös Deutsche Grammophon 20 - 21 CD 00289 477 5380
LUCIANO BERIO The Great Work for Voice Christine Schadeberg, S, with Musicians’ Accord mode records CD 48
KURT WEILL Quodlibet Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, c. Antony Beaumont Chandos CD CHSA 5046
WOLFGANG RIHM Ernster Gesang, Styx und Lethe, Musik für Oboe und Orchester, Dis-Kontur Lucas Fels, vlc, Alexander Ott, ob, c. Sylvain Cambreling, Hans Zender SWR music CD (www.SWR.de/faszination-musik) WOLFGANG RIHM Vier Studien zu einem Klarinettenquintett, "Vier Male" Jörg Widmann clar, Minguet Quartett Ars Musici CD 1385-2 WOLFGANG RIHM Passions-Texte Singer Pur Oehms Classics OC 354 ARNOLD SCHÖNBERG Gurre-Lieder Karita Mattila, Anne Sofie von Otter, Thomas Moser, Philip Langridge, Thomas Quasthoff, Berliner Philharmoniker, Rundfunkchor Berlin, MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig, Ernst-Senff-Chor, c. Simon Rattle EMI Classics CD 243 55 73032 (Gramophone Award)
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VICTORIA BORISOVA-OLLAS worklist
MUSIC THEATRE The Ground Beneath Her Feet music theatre (in preparation)
80’ 2007
ORCHESTRA Before the Mountains Were Born for orchestra Colours of Autumn for string orchestra The Kingdom of Silence for orchestra Open Ground for orchestra Symphony No. 1 for orchestra The Triumph of Heaven for orchestra
16’ 2005 10’ 2002 15’ 2003 10’ 2006 30’ 2001 11’ 2001
CHAMBER MUSIC "... im Klosterhofe" for cello, piano and tape Creation of the Hymn for string quartet In a World Unspoken for saxophone quartet and organ Roosters in Love for saxophone quartet Seven Singing Butterflies for clarinet and string quartet
11’ 1999 15’ 2006 10’ 2005 11’ 1999 13’ 2005
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borisovaollas
worklist
Berio
Complete Sequenzas Alternate Sequenzas & solo works
photo: © Annie Assouline
The Complete Sequenzas: I (1958) Paula Robison, flute II (1963) Susan Jolles, harp III (1965-66) Isabelle Ganz, voice IV (1965-66) Aki Takahashi, piano V (1966) Stuart Dempster, trombone VI (1967) Garth Knox, viola VI b (1967) Rohan De Saram, cello VII (1969) Jacqueline Leclair, oboe VII b (1995) Ulrich Krieger, soprano saxophone VIII (1976-77) Irvine Arditti, violin IX (1980) Carol Robinson, clarinet IXa (1980) Alain Billard, bass clarinet IXb (1981) Kelland Thomas, alto saxophone X (1984) Bill Forman, trumpet in C (with piano resonance) XI (1987-88) Seth Josel, guitar XII (1995) Noriko Shimada, bassoon XIII (1995-96) Stefan Hussong, accordion XIV (2002) Rohan de Saram, cello • XIVb (2004) Stefano Scodanibbio, double bass •
and Works for Solo Instruments: Chanson pour Pierre Boulez (2000) • Les mots son allés... (1978) Rohan de Saram, cello
Comma (1987) Carol Robinson, eb clarinet Fa-Si (1975) Gary Verkade, organ Gesti (1975) Lucia Mense, recorder Gute Nacht (1986) Brian McWohrter, trumpet Lied (1983) Carol Robinson, clarinet Psy (1989) Michael Cameron, double bass Rounds (1964-65) Jane Chapman, harpsichord with Enzo Salomone, reciter (Sanguineti)
•
Indicates first recordings
• The FIRST COMPLETE RECORDING of the Sequenzas: including the world premiere recording of Sequenza XIV for solo cello — written for, and performed by, ex-Arditti Quartet cellist Rohan de Saram. • The first COMPLETE recording of the ALTERNATE SEQUENZAS: This set compiles all of Berio’s alternate Sequenzas for the first time, including first recordings. • Plus all of Berio’s WORKS FOR SOLO INSTRUMENTS: Also collected together for the first time, Berio’s solo works and personal arrangements (with the exception of the numerous works for solo piano). • An INTERNATIONAL ALL-STAR CAST OF PERFORMERS: Mode began this set with the help of Mr. Berio, who suggested some of the performers here — including members of The Arditti Quartet and Ensemble Modern along with other distinguished soloists. • Each Sequenza is preceded by a short spoken verse of poet Edoardo Sanguineti, a collaborator of Berio’s, written to accompany the works. • Extensive notes and biographical information in a 104-page book packaged with 4-CDs (mode 161/3) in deluxe slipcase. Available from quality sources worldwide or direct from Mode Records for $44.97 plus shipping. http://moderecords.com/order.html
www.moderecords.com PO Box 1262 New York, NY10009 USA mode @ moderecords.com
UNIVERSAL EDITION Austria: A-1015 Vienna, PO Box 3 tel +43-1-337 23 - 0, fax +43-1-337 23 - 400. UK: 48 Great Marlborough Street, London W1F 7BB tel +44-20-7437-6880, fax +44-20-7292-9173. USA: European American Music Distributors LLC 35 East 21st Street, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10010 tel +1-212-871-0230, fax +1-212-871-0237. Web: www.universaledition.com Chief Editors: Angelika Dworak and Eric Marinitsch Contributors: Bálint András Varga, Angelika Dworak, Eric Marinitsch, Rebecca Dawson, Marion Hermann and Nick Cutts Design: Egger & Lerch, Vienna Photo Credits: Eric Marinitsch (8), Frank Helmrich, Manon Praetorius (2), Wiener Konzerthaus (2), Angelika Dworak, Eva Smirzitz, Breitkopf & Härtel Wiesbaden / Melisande Bernsee, EMB Music Publisher / Judit Kurtág, Martina Holmberg, Hamburgische Staatsoper / Joachim Thode, UE Archiv, Lucerne Academy/ Priska Ketterer, Maria-Luise Bodvisky, ONB, Portland Opera, Staatstheater Braunschweig / Christian Bort, Österreichische Johannes-Brahms-Gesellschaft, Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, Bayerische Staatsoper; CDs: Oehms Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, mode records, Chandos Records.