13 Wolfgang Rihm. I am a mistake with Jan Fabre
14 Luciano Berio. Four valuable miniatures
22 Kurt Weill / Bertolt Brecht. Mahagonny: ‘Berlin sin’
36 Gustav Mahler. Mahler Years 2010 / 2011
Morton Feldman Morton Feldman Festival in Amsterdam
newsletter
Contents
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= World Première
COMPOSERS Pärt — 4 Staud — 5 Haddad — 7 Schwartz — 7 Luke Bedford — 8 Panufnik — 8 Sotelo — 9 Baltakas — 11 Lentz — 11 Haas — 12 Rihm — 13 Berio — 14 Bennett — 14 Cerha — 15 Birtwistle — 16 Sawer — 16 Boulez — 17 Stockhausen — 18 Borisova-Ollas — 18 Halffter — 19 Ligeti — 19 Feldman — 21 Mahagonny: Berlin sin — 22 Schnittke — 24 Messiaen — 24 Shostakovich — 24 Milhaud — 25 Martin — 25 Korngold — 27 Kodály — 27 Bartók — 28 Eisler — 28 Szymanowski — 29 Schoeck — 29 Braunfels — 30 Foerster — 30
Schreker — 31 Krenek — 31 Zemlinsky — 32 Martinu — 32 Webern — 33 Schönberg — 34 Berg — 35 Mahler — 36 Janácek — 37 von Einem — 37 REDISCOVERIES Zádor — 26 Apostel — 26 ANNIVERSARIES — 38 - 39 WORLD PREMIÈRES — 40 - 41 NEW RELEASES — 42 - 43 NEW ON CD — 44 - 45 WORKLIST Martinu — 46 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS — 48
Dear Readers, One of the most hackneyed phrases in our profession is the concept of ‘artistic licence’. It’s true that, without it, there can be no further development of artistic content or aesthetic form. However, though obviously necessary, this concept is also very readily invoked when it’s a question of reinterpreting a composer’s original intentions and giving a work a new look. In the case of a classic such as The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht (see p. 22–23), this same ‘artistic licence’ can sometimes bear extremely strange fruit indeed – in fact, it can even find itself in opposition to the authors, for whom ‘artistic licence’ translates as ‘wilful caprice’. It’s here that, as publisher – and therefore representative of composers and their work – we are obliged to intervene where their rights are being violated. The composer takes the liberty of insisting on an authentic performance of their work. Does this ‘composer’s licence’ carry less weight than the ‘artistic licence’ of a director? The Editorial Team
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PÄRT
Two new choral works and Fratres In autumn 2003 Arvo Pärt received an honorary doctorate from Durham University (UK). His link with the university has now borne fruit in the shape a choral work, written for their 175th anniversary: Morning Star for a cappella choir, based on the prayer inscribed on the tomb of the Venerable Bede in Durham Cathedral. The first performance takes place on 10 Dec at St Martin-in-the Fields in London.
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A different story – that of St Patrick – inspired Pärt’s choral piece The Deer’s Cry. Thanks to St Patrick’s prayer (the Lorica of St Patrick), his enemies were unable to recognise him and his followers, seeing only deer. The Deer’s Cry for a cappella choir receives its first performances on 13 Feb in Dundalk and Drogheda (Ireland). Shortly afterwards Pärt is the central focus of the RTE Living Music Festival, directed by James MacMillan. Between 15–17 Feb, 23 of his works will be presented to the Irish public. Details to follow soon at www.rte.ie/livingmusic
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Arvo Pärt has repeatedly reworked his Fratres for different instrumental forces. The most recent, and from a technical point of view most challenging, is for 4 percussionists. The first US performance was given on 20 Nov in New York by the famous New York percussion ensemble So Percussion. Details: www.sopercussion.com
STAUD
Im Lichte In the Light The title – taken from Nietzsche’s Ecce Homo – already awakens curiosity about this new piece for 2 pianos and orchestra, commissioned by the International Mozarteum Foundation, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the ZaterdagMatinee Amsterdam and the Musica Strasbourg festival. First performance of Im Lichte by Johannes Maria Staud is on 31 Jan in Salzburg; soloists are Tamara Stefanovich and PierreLaurent Aimard, with Jonathan Nott conducting the Camerata Salzburg. ‘The pianos are treated absolutely equally and occupy a central role in the work; the piece is more about fusion than dialogue, of textures which couldn’t be realised using one piano alone. This was extraordinarily exciting for my imagination, but also challenging,’ says composer Staud. The celesta, placed in the centre behind the pianos, plays an important pivotal role between them and frequently expands the pairing into a triangular relationship. After a short introduction, with germinal ideas hinting at things to come, Im Lichte begins with music which seems to cascade from on high like a
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rainbow, in order gradually to condense into a heady vortex of sound. After the successful Japanese première of Apeiron in September, Franz Welser-Möst is now conducting its US première on 28 Feb with the Cleveland Orchestra (further performances on 1 and 2 March), as a kind of overture to Staud’s Daniel Lewis Composer Fellowship, which will also result in a new commission. Viviane Hagner is playing Towards a Brighter Hue for violin in Berlin on 2 Dec, and Stefan Blum performs Portugal for percussion on 12 Dec in Munich.
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FEB 16–23 2008 TRADITION IN TRANSITION
Saturday 23 The Stockholm Concert Hall KammarensembleN Cond. Franck Ollu Elia Khoury, oud Anders Kilström, piano Saed Haddad (World Premières) One Love II for piano and ensemble La Mémoire et l´Inconnu for oud and ensemble
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HADDAD
The KammarensembleN is conducted by its artistic leader Franck Ollu.
On Love II
SCHWARTZ As a Christian Arab and a WP Western contemporary music composer, the Jordanian composer Saed Haddad identifies himself as an ‘other’ both within the Western cultural context and within his own cultural heritage (where contemporary music does not exist). On his new work, On Love II, he writes ‘On Love II is an experience of an Arabic love; a love which longs for unity however remains in the realm of rupture, lamentation and separation.’ This is one of two works being given their world première at the Stockholm New Music festival on the 23 Feb. The second piece is La Mémoire et L’Inconnu, a concerto for oud (Arabic lute) and ensemble. It is based on two lines from Khalil Gibran’s collection ‘Sand and Foam’: ‘Remembrance is a form of meeting. Forgetfulness is a form of freedom.’
Three-dimensional sounds As part of their ‘Love Songs’ event in Stuttgart on 15 Nov, the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart gave the first performance of Jay Schwartz’s arrangement of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Roberta Flack and Ewan MacColl, arranged for six voices. Music for 12 Cellos (2002) explores the spatial possibilities of an ensemble arranged in a circle. By surrounding the audience, the performance becomes audibly ‘threedimensional’, the musicians’ sound journeying through the performance space. The work was performed on 23 Nov by the cellists of the RSO Stuttgart under Erik Nielsen.
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Jay Schwartz, Teatro la Fenice Venice
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BEDFORD
Wreathe We mentioned this new work in our last newsletter, but now it has a title. Unusually for Luke Bedford, there was no literary inspiration; instead the composer chose the C16th word Wreathe (possibly from the Old English word for ‘to writhe’) as its title because it highlights the structure of the piece in that the musical ideas twist, intertwine and ‘wreathe’ themselves from the background to the foreground and vice versa. The word also has a
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particular resonance that appealed to Bedford. Honing his language for smaller forces than the BBC National Orchestra of Wales’ usual line-up, the central section of the piece utilises the lower registers of all the instruments concerned, including a contrabass clarinet. The world première of Wreathe takes place on 7 Dec. in the Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford-on-Avon, with Thierry Fischer conducting the BBC NOW. PANUFNIK
Daughter and father Roxanna Panufnik’s The Conversation of Prayer – a flute solo inspired by Dylan Thomas’ poem – has its première (by Elisabeth Möst) on 3 Feb 2008 in Stade/Ger.
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Luke Bedford
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Just prior to that, the première of Modlitwa (by Andrzej and Roxanna Panufnik) in a new version for string orchestra will be given by the Isis Ensemble and Jacques Cohen at St. James’s, Piccadilly on 31 Jan 2008, when a new CD (incl. Modlitwa) will be launched. Panufnik’s 40th birthday falls on 24 Apr 2008 and will be celebrated widely. Details at: www.roxannapanufnik.com
SOTELO
Endless listening ‘You hear only endless listening’ – this is how Spanish poet José Angel Valente characterises the music of Mauricio Sotelo. For the Festival de Música de Canarias, Sotelo has written Como llora el viento, a concerto for guitar and orchestra which will be premièred on 18 Jan in Las Palmas de Canaria by the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest under Yakov Kreizberg. Soloist is the well-known guitarist Juan Manuel Canizares, and there is a further performance on 20 Jan in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
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Madrid, Granada and Seville play host to musikFabrik from 18–20 Feb, who are giving the first
Spanish performances of Night for percussion and ensemble (2007) and Wall of light black for Sean Scully (2006) for saxophone and ensemble. Sotelo found inspiration for these pieces in the works of Irish painter Sean Scully, which for him rank as some of the most intense in modern painting. For the composer, the picture entitled Wall of light black is like a ‘black scream’. On 16 and 17 Feb there are further performances in Barcelona of the children’s opera Dulcinea (2004–6), based on Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quijote. With this work Sotelo has succeeded in writing colourful music that is easy for children to grasp, yet still challenging. 12,600 schoolchildren attended the 7 performances in June at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville alone, showing how great the need for good children’s operas really is.
Mauricio Sotelo Dulcinea Teatro Real Madrid 2006
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sotelo
LENTZ
Bright starry night BALTAKAS
Casting a spell on Stuttgart In response to a commission from the Neue Vocalsolisten, Lithuanian composer Vykintas Baltakas has written a piece with the title Instructions for casting an ancient love spell, which will bind your lover to you at once and for ever, taking inspiration from an old ‘magic formula’. The composer assures us, however, that the audience will remain unharmed! ‘It isn’t witchcraft, a magic ritual or theatre piece and it certainly isn’t psychotherapy.’ The première is on 14 Feb in Stuttgart.
A commission from the Philharmonie Luxembourg, Georg Lentz’s large work for solo electric guitar is, once again, a highly personal work. According to Lentz, Ingwe (‘Night’) is a cry of despair, as well as ‘a meditation on the inability to pray. Ingwe, the bright starry night and the “inner night”, is like darkness in personal life. Pain. Depression.’ Ingwe forms part of the cycle ‘Caeli enarrant …’, begun in 1989, which Lentz describes as an ongoing ‘downhill journey’. With Ingwe the cycle has ‘for the time being’ reached its ‘gloomy, demonic final destination’. The first performance with Zane Banks is on 8 Dec in Luxembourg. Ngangkar (1998/2000) has had two further performances in Japan: Christian Arming conducted it on 15 and 16 Jul with the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra. It was also thanks to him that the work received its Japanese première on 28 Feb 2007.
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HAAS
‘Overtone Poetry’ Following the rich collection of performances of Georg Friedrich Haas at the Wien Modern festival in Vienna, his works continue to enjoy numerous performances throughout the winter. Following its première in Vienna on 7 Nov., the Piano Concerto, performed by Thomas Larcher, is travelling to Basel, Luxembourg and Munich (1, 2 and 14 Dec.). On 28 Nov. the String Quartet No. 5 will be heard for the second time, this time in Vienna. The German première is planned for 20 Jan in Berlin with the Arditti Quartet. After the première in Schwaz/A, Der Standard newspaper spoke of its astonishment that new forms of discovery in sound can still be found – even more so in such a limited instrumentation as a string
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quartet: ‘Haas achieves a simply poetic effect via expanded islands of harmony. …’ REMIX, a commission for the Remix ensemble in Portugal, is just that, an amalgamation of musical elements already used in earlier works. Haas writes “I only wanted to take elements that I had already tried out, and with which I had been able to gain experience, and place them in a different relationship.” The première was on the 12 Nov in Vienna with Klangforum Wien under Enno Poppe. Audiences in Porto, Portugal, have the unique possibility of hearing performances of the same work by two ensembles in as many days. It’s Klangforum Wien with Sylvain Cambreling on 29 Nov versus Remix and Peter Rundel on 30. The German première of Open Spaces II takes place in Berlin on the 1 Dec with Ensemble Resonanz.
RIHM
Schrift– Um–Schrift The title of his latest work, SchriftUm-Schrift (Writing-re-writing) for 2 pianists and 2 percussionists, first performed on 3 Nov in Cologne, could sum up Wolfgang Rihm’s whole working method; for those who know his work, associations with the ensemble piece Nachschrift or Über-Schrift for two pianos readily spring to mind.
In 1984 Rihm wrote the 4-minute orchestral work Fusée to celebrate Pierre Boulez’ 60th birthday a year later. According to the programme note this homage derives from the Chiffre cycle (which then still consisted of 5 works); the title came from a bundle of intimate drawings (lightning, rockets) by Charles Baudelaire. David de Villiers is conducting the piece in Essen on 29 Jan. Verwandlung can be heard in Chemnitz under Anu Tali (16, 17 Jan) and under Christian Arming in Tokyo (29 Feb).
Meanwhile, the hybrid formed by crossing two ‘families’ of pieces (Séraphin and Sphere), I am a Mistake – a collaboration between Rihm and Jan Fabre – goes on extended tour in December after its Athens première (29 Nov). The ensemble recherche under Lucas Vis calls at Vienna, Amsterdam, Birmingham, London, Luxembourg, Brussels, Cologne and Paris. Also in Amsterdam, at the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Fabrice Bollon and the Orchester Holland Symfonia are presenting Tutuguri I, music after Antonin Artaud (1981) on 11 Dec, while the DoelenKwartet is performing Akt und Tag, two studies for soprano and string quartet on 27 Jan in Veerle and 1 Feb in Amsterdam.
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Richard Rodney Bennett All the King’s Men Opera Omaha 2007
longing for a new kind of music theatre, richer in fantasy. The new production by the Städtische Bühnen, Münster (under Ernö Weil’s direction, with Fabrizio Ventura conducting) has its première on 1 Feb.
BERIO
Four valuable miniatures Because of their brevity, Luciano Berio’s four short orchestral works Entrata, Fanfara, Festum and Encore, written between 1978 and 1989, have so far received little attention from concert programmers; instead they have found their way into other Berio works in one form or another. Pierre Boulez has now brought these works together under the title 4 Dédicaces (dur. ca. 12’) and is giving the first performance on 31 Jan (also 1 and 2 Feb) with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Chicago, and then on 26 Feb in Carnegie Hall and in Lucerne during summer 2008. Un re in ascolto – Berio’s ‘azione musicale’ in two parts, reflects his
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BENNETT
Humpty-Dumpty in Omaha In January 2008 Opera Omaha will be producing Richard Rodney Bennett’s children’s opera All the King’s Men with a cast of young children from the city alongside players from the area’s youth orchestras. There will be five performances in total on 24, 25, 26 (two) and 27 Jan at the Rose Theater in Omaha, New England. With a libretto by Beverley Cross, this hugely enjoyable opera takes as its theme the English Civil War of the C17th, and specifically the invention of a new siege engine nicknamed Humpty-Dumpty.
CERHA
Art Aid Friedrich Cerha’s Les Adieux (Elegie) for ensemble, written in 2005 and first performed on 7 Oct by Klangforum Wien and Johannes Kalitzke at the Venice Biennale, is to receive its Swedish and Austrian premières with the same performers: on 16 Feb at the Stockholm Festival for New Music, and three days later at the Vienna Konzerthaus. The composer writes: ‘Les Adieux demands attentive listening
to sustained sounds of changing timbre and resonance chords, such as those produced by the piano’s “artificial pedal” when keys are silently depressed before sounding notes in another register.’ Momente for orchestra, also written in 2005 to a commission from musica viva Munich, has its Viennese première on 20 Feb, with a followup performance on 22 Feb (RSO Wien/Bertrand de Billy). ‘I am tired of the monomaniac spinning-out, the “worked-out” proliferation of musical ideas …’ says Cerha by way of explaining how he didn’t approach this work. An earlier work is being performed by Ingo Metzmacher and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra on 8 Jan: the orchestral piece Monumentum für Karl Prantl (1988/9), dedicated to the highly regarded Austrian sculptor, a close friend of Cerha’s. ‘Prantl once said: “art is a form of aid”. The simple, concentrated stillness and power of his sculptures was an aid to me in finding the language of Monumentum. I would be happy, and regard it as an act of gratitude, if I could pass such aid on.’
Ingo Metzmacher
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BIRTWISTLE
Energetic fantasia On 28 Feb 2008 Alarm Will Sound performs Harrison Birtwistle’s classic Carmen Arcadiae Mechanicae Perpetuum – now very much part of the repertoire – in the Zankel Hall, cond. Alan Pierson. An ‘energetic, exuberant fantasia on ostinatos’, the work is an homage to Klee and sounds as fresh now as it did in 1978. Harrison Birtwistle’s 75th birthday falls in July 2009, and plans to
mark this are accordingly being made worldwide. Two festivals in the UK include one planned by EMFEB in and around Manchester and another by the Royal Academy of Music, but prior to 2009, Settembre Musica in Italy plans a major retrospective of Birtwistle’s works. Meanwhile, Cortege continues to be performed worldwide: the German première was played by musikFabrik in November, and the Asko Ensemble, under Reinbert de Leeuw has programmed the Dutch première for Sept. 2008. SAWER
An imaginary forest
Harrison Birtwistle
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On 24 Jan 2008 Jac van Steen conducts the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in the Welsh première of David Sawer’s Byrnan Wood at St. David’s Hall, Cardiff. This wellestablished work is divided into three large sections, each of which begins with the same opening material but develops it in a different way. This was to make audible the idea that during the course of the music, the listener was coming across the same clearing in an imaginary forest before then moving off on a new path.
BOULEZ
A delayed première It is scarcely believable: Tombeau, the fifth part of Pli selon pli by Pierre Boulez, has had to wait 47 years to reach the Norwegian concert platform. Its well overdue première is now taking place on 6 Dec in Oslo, with Peter Szilvay conducting the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. Three further sections of this great musical portrait of Mallarmé can be heard in Paris the day before: all three Improvisations are being performed by the Orchestre de Paris under Christoph Eschenbach, with soloist Valdine Anderson. It is fascinating to be able to hear the works of the French composer – some of which already have a performance history of several
decades, and have long since joined the repertoire – in numerous different interpretations, including live performances with the composer himself. Dérive 1 is receiving three performances – with Boulez, Eschenbach and Peter Wiegold. Boulez conducts the EIC in Éclat / Multiples and … explosante-fixe … on 12 and 16 Dec at the Cité de la Musique. The same venue also plays host on 16 Dec to performances of Mémoriale and Messagesquisse with Vicen Prats, fl, Éric Picards, vlc and members of the Orchestre de Paris under Christoph Eschenbach. And in the UK, the London Contemporary Music Group played Improvisé for 5 instruments on 12 Nov under the baton of Michael Francis, the first time it has been heard in this form in England.
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STOCKHAUSEN
Intuitive music
22 August 2008, Stockhausen is celebrating his 80th birthday! BORISOVA-OLLAS
‘I have called this music, which is born out of the musicians’ spiritual state with the aid of short texts, intuitive music. … It is a question of using these texts to discover different archetypes of musical processes, each of which leads to quite individual musical events …’ This was how, in 1969, Karlheinz Stockhausen described his 15 text compositions Aus den sieben Tagen for indeterminate forces. Ensemble recherche is giving its interpretation of the work on 10 Jan in Freiburg. More Stockhausen works are being performed on 22 Feb at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome: the Piano Pieces 7 and 8 with Maurizio Pollini and Kontra-Punkte and Zeitmasse with Klangforum Wien under Peter Eötvös. It’s hard to believe, but on
Journey to the Beyond Victoria Borisova-Ollas wrote her orchestral piece The Kingdom of Silence in 2003, as a reaction to the death of her teacher Nikolai Korndorf. In this work her music does not strike dramatic poses, nor depict any struggle: it is much more like a smooth transition, a passage through various emotional states. ‘The mysterious place to which we all go after our lives has many names. The Kingdom of Silence is one of them.’ The Swedish RSO is playing the work in Stockholm on 10 and 11 Jan, conducted by Lionel Bringuier.
Victoria Borisova-Ollas
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stockhausen /
Dresden HALFFTER
Effective soundscapes 63 years, almost to the day, after Dresden was destroyed in World War II, Cristóbal Halffter’s orchestral work Memento à Dresden (1995), commissioned by the Dresden Philharmonic, is being performed in the Dresden Kulturpalast (12 and 13 Feb). In it Halffter attempts ‘to reflect the annihilation of Dresden using musical means … The work derives its impetus from effective soundscapes, an expansive percussion section, extreme rhythmic demands and rare, highly effective melodic phrases and harmonic elements’ (Sächsische Zeitung). In Madrid, the Orquesta Sinfonica de RVTE under Adrian Leaper is
playing Palimsesto (1956/2004) for timpani and orchestra at the Teatro Monumental on 24 and 25 Jan. Here Halffter superimposes sound textures of varying dynamic density on a work from 1956, so that both old and new elements can be heard. Also in Madrid, Jesús Amigo is conducting the Orquesta de Extremadura in Obertura festiva (2006) for brass and timpani.
LIGETI
Studio experiences Composed in 1958/9, two years before Atmosphères, the orchestral work Apparitions is a product of the Cologne years, when György Ligeti was working in the electronic studio and spending a lot of time with Karlheinz Stockhausen. ‘I applied my studio experiences to orchestral music – albeit in modified form – in the second movement of Apparitions in 1959, immediately after my time in Cologne,’ wrote Ligeti. Ivan Volkov conducts the work on 13 Dec with the BBC Scottish SO in Glasgow.
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MORTON FELDMAN FESTIVAL SIX CONCERTS BY THE IVES ENSEMBLE
FEBRUARY 7 - 10, 2008
WORKS BY MORTON FELDMAN TO BE FEATURED AT THE FESTIVAL For Stefan Wolpe Rothko Routine Investigations Three clarinets, cello and piano For Frank O’Hara Violin and String Quartet Crippled Symmetry Words and Music
PIET HEINKADE 1, AMSTERDAM THE NETHERLANDS | WWW.MUZIEKGEBOUW.NL
FELDMAN
Labour of love In 1961 Samuel Beckett wrote Words and Music for BBC radio, a play featuring the two characters “Words” and “Music” (also referred to as Joe and Bob). The work was withdrawn following the première due to Beckett’s dissatisfaction. 20 years later, Beckett suggested that Morton Feldman should compose the music, resulting in the first complete performance in 1987 (the year of Feldman’s death), produced for the American Beckett Festival of Radio Plays. In Feldman’s words: ‘It was a huge amount of fun to do something for Beckett, a sort of tribute to him, i.e. someone who has been part of my life since the ‘50’s … it was to some extent a labour of love, which I happily undertook.’
second performance of the work there on 13 Feb. The Bruges audience can also attend a second concert of Feldman’s music on 15 Feb, with the Prometheus Ensemble and the Vlaams Radio Koor conducted by Etienne Siebens. See Tim Conley’s site on Words and Music here: www.tinyurl.com/2geopo
From 7 to 10 Feb, the Ives Ensemble and the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ are presenting a four-day festival of music by Morton Feldman, presenting a wide portrait of Feldman’s musical output. This includes performances of For Stefan Wolpe, Rothko Chapel, Routine Investigations and the Dutch première of Violin and String Quartet, Crippled Symmetry. The festival closes with a staged performance of Words and Music. The Ives Ensemble makes the short trip across the border to Bruges and gives a
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WEILL
Mahagonny: ‘Berlin sin’ The huge success that Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht had enjoyed in 1928, with the première of the Threepenny Opera, gave rise to false expectations in the audience – and, in part, the press – when the Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny was first performed in Leipzig in 1930. Many were expecting another play with music, but for Mahagonny Weill had a new, original style of opera in mind – a first attempt at which he had already tried out even before the Threepenny Opera in Baden in 1927 in the shape of the Mahagonny Songspiel, and which came to maturity in the opera The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Weill regarded the song style he had used in the Threepenny Opera or Happy End as non-repeatable, and in Mahagonny he made a final break from it. Fortune did not smile on the work’s première, which took place on 9 March 1930 in Leipzig to the accompaniment of fierce uproar. These disturbances were mostly politically motivated and, in the growing climate of anti-Semitism, directed to a large part against the Jewish composer Weill and the
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communist Brecht. The more serious music critics, however, realised well enough that this was a groundbreaking event for opera. To counteract the false assessments of style that were already emerging, Weill repeatedly stressed at the time that The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny was a ‘song opera’ which could not be performed with actors, and which as a through-composed work must not be subjected to any alteration. Because of the worsening political climate in Germany, it soon became clear that no Berlin opera house dared stage the piece. The only possibility on offer was the privately run Theater am Kurfürstendamm. In this production, using a mixed cast of singers and singing actors, Lotte Lenya took the role of Jenny, which required some changes to make it singable for her. This was ultimately a compromise that Weill saw himself forced to make because of the political situation, and cannot be taken as a precedent. It took 30 years after this production to purge the world of the ‘Berlin sin’ and establish the work on the world’s operatic stages in the form originally intended by Weill and Brecht.
Kurt Weill / Bertolt Brecht The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny Spoleto Festival 2007
Even today, we are still haunted by the spectre of the misunderstanding that the Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny is a kind of Singspiel, and therefore to be performed with singing actors rather than opera singers. Here, as Kurt Weill’s publisher, Universal Edition is already performing valuable explanatory work at the preparatory stage, by clearly setting out the general conditions under which the opera may be performed.
Brecht are violated by disregard for these general conditions (as was necessary recently in Madrid). In the years when Mahagonny was composed, political persecution forced Weill to make unpleasant compromises in order to see his work performed at all. It is not acceptable that, under the protective cloak of ‘artistic freedom’, he should be subjected to similar pressures today.
A further part of this explanatory work is securing the general agreement of all those involved in a production that the work remains protected in its authentic form as intended by Weill and Brecht. It is then also the publisher’s responsibility to check the progress of productions and, if need be, also intervene with appropriate rigour, if the rights of Kurt Weill or Bertolt
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SCHNITTKE
(K)ein Sommernachtstraum Adorno once said of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 that it was like one long ‘“as though” from first note to last’. Something similar could also be said of Alfred Schnittke’s (K)ein Sommernachtstraum. The music – a model of polystylistic writing – begins quite harmlessly in the style of a Mozart minuet, but then – with stylistic ‘forgeries’ and ironic distancing – gradually assumes the character of the type of musical joke whose mood threatens to lurch into nightmare at any moment (16–17 Dec, Brunswick Staatsorchester under Georg Mark). MESSIAEN
Exotic birds
episodes and piano cadenzas are cited by Boulez as characteristic of the work. He performs it in Paris on 3 Dec with the Ensemble Intercontemporain. SHOSTAKOVICH
The Golden Age suite Three performances of the suite of The Golden Age, the composer’s first ballet were given by the Wichita SO in Wichita/USA on 6, 7 and 8 Nov. Composed when Dmitri Shostakovich was very young (it was premièred in 1930) and exploring all aspects of dramatic music, the ballet itself takes as its theme the tour of an heroic Soviet football team to the decadent West, and as such is full of all the popular dances of the day, such as foxtrots, charlestons and tangos, all orchestrated with characteristic flair and wit.
In his colourful, eloquent Oiseaux exotiques for piano and small orchestra, written in 1955–6 at Pierre Boulez’s suggestion, Olivier Messiaen incorporates a total of 47 different types of exotic birdsong from India, China, Malaysia and both Americas. Homogeneity of musical language, compact formal organisation and the constant balance between instrumental
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schnittke / messiaen
MILHAUD
Viola concerto The Concerto for Viola Op. 108 by Darius Milhaud, dedicated to Paul Hindemith, appeared in 1929 in two versions: for 15 solo instruments and for symphony orchestra. The latter was heard in Amsterdam in May 2007, with Suzanne van Els as soloist. Now she is playing the version for 15 solo instruments in Gouda on 2 Dec, accompanied by the Schönberg Ensemble. The piece has certainly not managed to establish a fixed place for itself in the repertoire, but viola players still keep returning to it …
Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna. ‘The kinship between the work and this art is obvious: statically conceived main figures (soloists) against a glittering, colourful background (orchestra). The influence of Gregorian chant can also be felt. This impression of an archaic atmosphere was certainly intentional.’ Peter Dijkstra is conducting the work in Berlin with the Deutsches SO, the Berlin Radio Choir, Cathedral Choir and Berlin Staatschor on 22 Dec.
MARTIN
Glittering background The title Cantate pour le temps de Noël was devised by Maria Martin, widow of the composer Frank Martin. At the suggestion of the conductor Alois Koch she completed the unfinished manuscript, begun in 1929–30 by her husband, and thus enabled the first performance to take place in Lucerne in 1994. We know from Maria Martin that her husband was inspired by the
Ravenna Basilica di San Vitale
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ZÁDOR
A true rediscovery Born in Bataszék, Hungary in 1894, Eugen Zádor, who died in the USA in 1977, was in recent decades doomed to an existence only as a dictionary entry. However, in his lifetime he enjoyed great success, both before his emigration in 1939 with his stage and orchestral works, and later in Hollywood with his film music – a (sadly) typical career path for many composers of ‘entartete Musik’. His opera burlesque X-mal Rembrandt, composed in 1928/9, was first performed in 1930 in Gera, and then enjoyed several productions in Germany in the following years, before it more or less sank without trace. Curiously the piece is now being resurrected in 2 productions at the same time: at the Cologne Opera (première 16 Dec)
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum Köln
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and in Giessen (10 May). Since the plot unfolds in an art gallery, director Uwe Hergenröder has transferred the Cologne production to the Wallraf Richartz Museum. APOSTEL
So clear, so witty When you read the unanimously positive reviews of the 7-minute string quartet 6 Epigrams (1962) by Hans Erich Apostel, you wonder why it is so seldom heard. ‘An outstanding work’ was the judgement of the Österreichische Musikzeitschrift in 1964. ‘Seldom is music so clear, so witty, so succinct’ wrote Die Presse on 1 Mar 1972. Apostel himself, who died 35 years ago in Vienna, regarded it as his best work. The Athena Quartet’s Cologne audience will be given a fresh chance to reach its own verdict on 26 Jan.
KODÁLY
125th Anniversary
KORNGOLD
Little Korngold The pantomime Der Schneemann (1908), written when Erich Wolfgang Korngold was only 11, was first performed at the Vienna Hofoper on 4 Oct 1910 in the orchestration by his teacher Alexander Zemlinsky. The sensational success of this evening made ‘the little Korngold’ known far beyond the boundaries of Vienna. The music is thoroughly charming, full of refined melodic and harmonic ideas, and does not sound at all childish. A concert performance is in the programme of the Anhaltisches Theater in Dessau on 8, 14 and 22 Dec.
On 16 Dec Zoltán Kodály’s birthday comes round for the 125th time. In Budapest the celebrations start as early as 12 Dec, with concerts in the large and small halls of the Academy of Music lasting from morning until night-time. The best Hungarian soloists, ensembles, choirs and orchestras will all be taking part. Then on 16 Dec there is a birthday concert in the large hall. The whole musical world celebrates Kodály by continuing to programme his works as a matter of course, with a regularity enjoyed by few 20th century composers. In the coming months listeners in Heidelberg can hear the Háry János Suite (2 Dec), while the Dances of Galánta are being played in Oldenburg, ’s-Hertogenbosch and Breda (6–12 Dec). The Serenade can also be heard at the Berlin Konzerthaus (2 Dec).
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BARTÓK
Turning point The number of staged and concert performances of Béla Bartók’s The Miraculous Mandarin in the last 10 years has already far exceeded 500. In the next three months alone the piece is being played 7 times – in Glasgow, The Hague, Essen, Wuppertal, Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. And yet this epoch-making masterpiece did not escape the fate of being severely censured at its Cologne première in 1928 – indeed, shame and abuse were heaped on it. In Bartók’s homeland The Miraculous Mandarin could not be performed at all before 1945 – the breakthrough did not occur until 1955/6. György Kroó sees the Mandarin as a turning point in Bartók’s work and asserts: ‘It is a conscious settling of the accounts
with the outlook and the music of his youth … Here language and technique are transformed completely into expressive tools of the 20th century.’ EISLER
Ballads 1930 was a productive year for Hanns Eisler. He composed a whole series of works, including Die Massnahme to a text by Brecht, the Suite for orchestra, and two works for voice and ensemble, the Ballade vom Nigger Jim and the Ballade von der Krüppelgarde to texts by David Weber (pseudonym of Robert Winterfeld). HK Gruber has now taken these up and incorporated them into the programme of his concert with the Zankel Band. The concert took place on 8 Nov at the Zankel Hall in New York.
Béla Bartók The Miraculous Mandarin Grand Théâtre de Genève 2007
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Othmar Schoeck Notturno Theater St Gallen 2007 SZYMANOWSKI
Refined sounds Driven into isolation by World War I, for some years Karol Szymanowski composed at his family’s estate in the Ukraine, drawing on memories of his travels in the Mediterranean region, which provided inspiration for several of his works. In Masques, three pieces for piano (1915–6), dreamy sounds alternate with resolute rhythms and multilayered tonality. The Polish pianist Piotr Anderszewski is performing the work in Berne (9 Dec) and Paris (12 Dec). In his Mythes and Violin Concerto No. 1 (1916), Szymanowski created his own unique style of ‘violin impressionism’. The solo part of the Violin Concerto is extraordinarily virtuosic, and an unusually richly scored orchestral accompaniment shimmers with every possible
colour. The Munich Philharmonic Orchestra under Markus Poschner, with Christian Tetzlaff, vln, is performing the work on 19 and 20 Jan in Munich. SCHOECK
Notturno on stage The Theater St Gallen is commemorating the 50th anniversary of Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck’s death with a staged production of his Notturno for low voice and string orchestra, composed in 1931/33. A setting of texts by Nikolaus Lenau and Gottfried Keller, it lasts 45 minutes. The director is Aurelia Eggers, Philipp Egli is responsible for the choreography and Peter Tilling conducts, with Thilo Dahlmann (baritone) and the dance company of the Theater St Gallen (until 16 Jan 2008).
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szymanowski /
BRAUNFELS
A provocation?
the oppression that Braunfels himself suffered under the Nazis. FOERSTER
Walter Braunfels’ opera, Scenes from the Life of St Joan is being presented for the first time ever on stage at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin in April 2008, directed by the critically acclaimed theatre producer and artist Christoph Schlingensief. Simply to describe him with the cliché ‘enfant terrible’ hardly does justice to his artistic talents. The press expects provocation, but is curious to see what is coming. The opera deals with the life of Joan of Arc, and reflects unavoidably
The Great Night The Czech composer Joseph Bohuslav Foerster was one year older than his friend Gustav Mahler and yet survived him by 40 years. His extensive output has been overshadowed by Janácek’s, but still has many staunch supporters. Jiri Belohlávek, for example, is conducting his Concerto for Violin on 8 Dec at the Barbican in London, with Ivan Zenaty and the BBC SO. Written in Vienna in 1911, the work presents the soloist with extreme musical and technical challenges. It belongs to the tradition of Brahms and Dvorák, though in its treatment of the solo part and in the relationship of violin and orchestra it emerges as thoroughly original. Hermann Bäumer has scheduled the Symphony No. 4 (1905) for performance with the Osnabrück SO (10/11 Dec). It bears the title The Great Night, reflecting a personal experience of Christ’s message and of the Easter tradition in Bohemia.
J.-A.-D. Ingres Jeanne d’Arc
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braunfels /
Ernst Krenek Jonny spielt auf Vienna State Opera 2002 SCHREKER
Dance Creations James Conlon conducts the Juilliard Orchestra in New York in a new production of contemporary dance, set to 3 ‘Recovered Voices’: Schreker's Prelude to a Drama: Die Gezeichneten is performed to a new choreography by Adam Hougland; Zemlinsky's Sinfonietta to a choreography by Nicolo Fonte; and Schulhoff's Ogelala (Ballettmysterium) to a new choreography by Robert Battle. The Neue Philharmonie Westfalen also presents Schreker’s music, ahead of the 75th anniversary of his death in 2009. They perform the Phantastische Ouverture in Recklinghausen on 29 February 2008 and then in Gelsenkirchen and Kamen (all Germany). Schreker’s Der Wind, after a scenic design for a dance performance by
Grete Wiesenthal, is a programmatic expedition into the vivid character of a stormy wind. The work will be performed in Basel on 17 Feb by soloists from the Bern SO. KRENEK
Box-office hit During his long and productive career Ernst Krenek passed through several changes of style and aesthetic attitude. However, his fame has been largely influenced by the success of his opera Jonny spielt auf (1925–6), for which he also wrote the libretto. First performed in Leipzig on 10 Feb 1927, the opera quickly established itself as a box-office hit and enjoyed 421 performances in 45 different cities in the 1927–28 season. It is in repertory at the Pfalztheater in Kaiserslautern from 16 Feb.
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ZEMLINSKY
Conlon conducts It is thanks to the utter commitment and unbounded enthusiasm of James Conlon that Alexander Zemlinsky’s music is now also receiving increasing numbers of performances in the USA. Since 2006 James Conlon has been musical director of the Los Angeles Opera, where he quickly established a programme emphasis on the music of composers expelled by the Nazis (Recovered Voices: A Lost Generation’s Long-Forgotten Masterpieces). On 17 Feb a new production of Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg takes to the stage in a production by Darko Tresnjak, with James Conlon conducting. As early as December (13) Conlon is conducting an evening with the Juillard Orchestra in New York, with three new dance works using pieces by defamed
composers: Schreker’s Prelude to a Drama, Schulhoff’s Ogelala (US première) and Zemlinsky’s Sinfonietta. MARTINU
Guest appearance in China As part of the Year of Greek Culture in China, three extracts from the original version of Bohuslav Martinu’s opera The Greek Passion are receiving their concert première in Beijing on 14 Dec. Miron Michaelidis conducts the Thessaloniki State Orchestra, with Marina Fideli and Aris Argiris in the leading roles. Les Fresques de Piero della Francesca for orchestra is being performed by the Munich Philharmonic with Markus Poschner on 19 and 20 Jan, and Jaap van Zweden is conducting it on 14 Feb in Brussels with deFilharmonie.
Alexander Zemlinsky Der Zwerg Opera Frankfurt 2007
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WEBERN
Masterpieces of concentration It is impossible to imagine the concert repertoire today without the works of Anton Webern, whose 125th birthday falls on 3 Dec 2008. During Salzburg’s Mozart Week 2008 sacred works by Mozart can be heard in counterpoint with modern and contemporary music, with the works of Webern in particular occupying a central place. Some of Webern’s sacred works will be programmed alongside Mozart, as well as masterpieces from his chamber music output – tiny miniatures of great resolution and intensity, often of only a few minutes’ duration, which with the most extreme clarity and concentration seem to hold sound transfixed. Between 27 Jan and 2 Feb the programme includes the 5 Canons op. 16, 5 Spiritual Songs op. 15, Kantate No. 2 op. 31, various other Pieces (op. 7, op. 10 and op. 11) and Songs (op. 4, op. 12 and op. 25), as well as Variations op. 30 for piano and the arrangement of Bach’s Ricercare. The Berliner Philharmoniker under Bernard Haitink is performing Webern’s arrangement of the Bach Ricercare on 10–12 Jan, while under Sir Simon Rattle’s direction it is
Sir Simon Rattle
performing the Variations for orchestra in Berlin on 9 Feb and the 4 Songs op. 13 for voice and orchestra, with Dorothea Röschmann, in Berlin on 16 Feb. James Levine and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra are performing the 6 Pieces op. 6 for orchestra on 17 Feb in New York, and Susanna Mälkki is conducting the reduced version of the 6 Pieces with the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris on 26 Jan. The 5 Pieces op. 5 for string orchestra can also be heard in Paris, on 5 Dec with the Orchestre de Paris under Christoph Eschenbach.
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SCHÖNBERG
El Gran Èxit No, it’s nothing to do with the way out: èxit is simply the Catalan word for success. ‘El Gran Èxit de Schönberg’ is the title of a concert given by the Orquesta Simfònica de Barcelona in January and featuring Arnold Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder. In Krefeld, Germany, this last spring, Schönberg’s monodrama Erwartung was presented in an innovative and surprising context: in the middle of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Schönberg’s work was placed in the final scene of Dido, just before the famous aria ‘When I am laid in earth’. The action on stage was frozen, and Kerstin Brix gave a critically acclaimed performance as ‘Die Frau’ in Erwartung. The opera then continues and comes to its dramatic end. The press applauded a bold connection of two contrasting works which can so often go the wrong way. Erwartung shines of course on its own, and does so on 12 Dec in Helsinki, with Susan Bullock as the soloist with the Finnish RSO under Lothar Zagrosek. Duisburg enjoys an evening with Maeterlinck on 13 and 14 Feb, when three musical interpretations of his play Pelléas et Mélisande are given
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Arnold Schönberg Erwartung Theater Krefeld 2007
in one concert. Schönberg’s symphonic poem was composed in 1902, just before the première of Debussy’s opera in Paris – a fact Schönberg was unaware of at the time. The Duisburger Philharmoniker is conducted by Jonathan Darlington. In Tychy, Poland, the AUKSO Chamber Orchestra, founded in 1998, gives a performance of Verklärte Nacht on 12 Dec. The conductor is Marek Mos.
BERG
Discovery Concerts Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto ‘To the Memory of an Angel’ is on the programme at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig three nights in a row in January. The first concert is part of the Gewandhaus Orchestra’s series of Discovery Concerts. In these one-hour concerts the conductor, in this case Riccardo Chailly, presents key elements on the works in question and then gives a full performance. With an entrance price
of EUR 10, discovery doesn’t have to burn a whole in your pocket. As Chailly says: ‘I want to give the audience the chance to overcome their fear [of unknown, new and contemporary music] and to discover new music as well as composers who in my opinion are central to the musical profile of a whole century.’ The soloist on 16, 17 and 18 Jan is Benjamin Schmid. Jürgen Flimm (current director of the Salzburg Festival) produced Berg’s opera Wozzeck at La Scala in Milan in 1997. This acclaimed production – ‘intelligent enough to allow the actions to become vivid without lapsing into naturalism’ – returns for seven performances on 19 Feb. Daniele Gatti follows in the footsteps of Sinopoli (1997) and Conlon (2000).
Alban Berg Wozzeck Staatstheater Wiesbaden 2003
At La Monnaie Theatre in Brussels, a new Wozzeck is being produced by David Freeman, and will be premièred under the baton of Mark Wigglesworth on 26 Feb. A musical echo of the opera can be heard in Paris on 29 Feb, when the Orchestre du Conservatoire de Paris and Ensemble Intercontemporain perform the Wozzeck Bruchstücke.
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MAHLER
Mahler 2010/11 – the handbook for concert programming In preparation for the two Mahler memorial years 2010 (150th birthday) and 2011 (100th anniversary of death), Universal Edition has just produced a brochure which gives an overview of the works of Gustav (and Alma) Mahler, and also draws attention to several interesting
Gustav Mahler
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arrangements, some the work of famous hands. In addition, the brochure also presents works by other composers which make direct or indirect reference to Mahler. You can download the brochure as a PDF file or order it at www.universaledition.com/mahler The many interesting new releases include several reduced versions of large-scale Mahler works which can help them reach small and medium-sized concert halls (the Symphony No. 4 for chamber orchestra, Das Lied von der Erde for chamber orchestra or chamber ensemble, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen for chamber orchestra, either by Schönberg/Riehn or Eberhard Kloke); the new Critical Edition of the Symphony No. 2 (ed. Gilbert Kaplan); and the reconstruction and re-orchestration of the complete Symphony No. 10 by Rudolf Barshai. The fact that Das Lied von der Erde – whose texts, after all, derive from Chinese poetry – can now also be sung in Chinese will surprise many and may justifiably awaken their curiosity. The brochure will tell you, however, why this Chinese version is more than just a curiosity. Mahler is, and remains, a fascinating subject.
JANÁCEK
Across the Atlantic Following the acclaimed success of Leos Janácek’s opera From the House of the Dead, produced by Pierre Boulez and Patrice Chéreau, the work crosses the Atlantic to the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, where a new production is taking place in February. The director is Dmitri Bertman, artistic director of the Helikon Opera in Moscow. His recent Traviata in Toronto was described both as exciting and controversial and ‘had opera audiences on fire’ according to Opera Now. Jenufa comes to the Opéra de Toulon for three performances in February. Friedrich Pleyer conducts and Ruth Orthmann produces a staging by Jean-Louis Martinelli. The Cunning Little Vixen returns to the Deutsche Oper Berlin for four
performances in Katharina Thalbach’s acclaimed production from 2000. Her staging ‘is crawling with ideas like a forest with animals’, as the Berliner Zeitung wrote. VON EINEM
Genuine joy in music-making On 24 Jan 2008 Gottfried von Einem (1918–1996) would have celebrated his 90th birthday. The performance of his Serenade for double string orchestra (1949) by Ernst Kovacic and his Wroclaw Chamber Orchestra Leopoldinum in Wroclaw on 7 Oct could therefore be seen as an advance birthday tribute to the great Austrian composer. The fourmovement, tonal Serenade, with its melodic and harmonic beauty, is ‘a work born out of genuine joy in music-making’ (Die Furche).
Leos Janácek From the House of the Dead Vienna Festival 2007
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2008 25th 125th 90th 70th 80th 100th 60th 60th 75th 70th 75th 80th 100th 125th
Anniv. of Death Anniversary Anniversary Birthday Anniversary Anniversary Birthday Birthday Birthday Birthday Anniv. of Death Birthday Anniversary Anniversary
Cathy Berberian † 06 March 1983 Alfredo Casella * 25 July 1883 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 R. Murray Schafer * 18 July 1933 Tona Scherchen * 12 March 1938 Max von Schillings † 24 July 1933 Karlheinz Stockhausen * 22 August 1928 Eugen Suchon * 25 September 1908 Anton Webern * 03 December 1883
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
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2010 50th 75th 80th 80th 100th 150th 75th 80th 125th
Anniv. of Death Anniv. of Death Birthday Birthday Anniversary Anniversary Birthday Anniversary Anniv. of Death
Hugo Alfvén † 08 May 1960 Alban Berg * 24 December 1935 Paul-Heinz Dittrich * 04 December 1930 Cristóbal Halffter * 24 March 1930 Rolf Liebermann * 14 September 1910 Gustav Mahler * 07 July 1860 Arvo Pärt * 11 September 1935 Toru Takemitsu * 08 October 1930 Egon Wellesz * 21 October 1885
2011 75th Birthday 75th Birthday 100th Anniversary 75th Birthday 80th Birthday 75th Birthday 100th Anniv. of Death 75th Birthday 75th Anniv. of Death 50th Birthday 50th Birthday 125th Birthday 50th Birthday 25th Anniv. of Death 75th Birthday
Gilbert Amy * 29 August 1936 Richard Rodney Bennett * 29 March 1936 Paul Burkhard * 21 December 1911 Cornelius Cardew * 07 May 1936 Mauricio Kagel * 24 December 1931 Ladislav Kupkovic * 17 March 1936 Gustav Mahler † 18 May 1911 Steve Reich * 03 October 1936 Ottorino Respighi † 18 April 1936 David Sawer * 14 Seotember 1961 Daniel Schnyder * 12 March 1961 Othmar Schoeck * 01 September 1886 Mauricio Sotelo * 02 October 1961 Alexandre Tansman † 15 November 1986 Hans Zender * 22 November 1936
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VYKINTAS BALTAKAS Information für die Durchführung einer alten Liebesbeschwörung, die Ihre/Ihren Geliebte(n) auf einmal und für immer an Sie binden wird for 6 voices, Festival Éclat, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart 14 February 2008 · Theaterhaus Stuttgart/D LUKE BEDFORD Wreathe for orchestra BBC National Orchestra of Wales, c. Thierry Fischer 07 December 2007 · Wiltshire Music Center Bradford-on-Avon/GB LUCIANO BERIO 4 Dédicaces for orchestra Chicago SO, c. Pierre Boulez 31 January 2008 · Symphony Center Chicago/USA GEORG FRIEDRICH HAAS Open Spaces II for string instruments and 2 percussion players version for four spatially distributed instrument groups Ensemble Resonanz, Ulrich Grafe, Roland Neffe, perc. 01 December 2007 · Ballhaus Naunynstraße Berlin/D SAED HADDAD La Mémoire et l'Inconnu concerto for oud (Arabic lute) and ensemble On Love II for piano and ensemble Stockholm New Music Festival KammarensembleN, c. Franck Ollu, Elia Khoury, oud 23 February 2008 · Philharmonic Concert Hall Stockholm/S GEORGES LENTZ Ingwe for el. guitar, Zane Banks, el. guit 08 December 2007 · Philharmonie Luxembourg/LUX ARVO PÄRT Morning Star for choir (SATB) a cappella c. Jeremy Dibble 10 December 2007 · St Martin-in-the-Fields London/GB The Deer’s Cry for mixed choir a cappella State Choir Latvia, c. Fergus Sheil 14 February 2008 · Louth/IRL
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MAURICIO SOTELO Como llora el viento for guitar and orchestra Festival de Música de Canarias, Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest II, c. Yakov Kreizberg, Juan Manuel Cañizares, guit 18 Jan 2008 · Auditorio Alfredo Kraus, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria/E
ROXANNA PANUFNIK The Conversation of Prayer for solo flute Elisabeth Möst, fl 03 February 2008 · Stade/D Modlitwa for string orchestra Isis Ensemble, c. Jacques Cohen 31 January 2008 · St. James Cathedral London/GB JAY SCHWARTZ / ROBERTA FLACK / EWAN MACCOLL The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face for 6 voices Love Songs, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart 15 November 2007 · Theaterhaus Stuttgart/D JOHANNES MARIA STAUD Im Lichte for 2 pianos and orchestra Mozartwoche, Camerata Academica Salzburg c. Jonathan Nott, Pierre Laurent Aimard and Tamara Stefanovich, pno 31 January 2008 · Mozarteum Salzburg/A
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JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Suite 1 for cello solo Urtext Edition, newly ed. by Ulrich Leisinger UT 50260 LUCIANO BERIO 6 Encores for piano (new edition) UE 33013 MIKE CORNICK Blue Baroque Violin for violin and piano UE 21397 FRANZ HABÖCK (HRSG.) Die Gesangskunst der Kastraten Eine Stimmbiographie in Beispielen for voice (counter tenor) and piano UE 7032A ROXANNA PANUFNIK Ave Maria for choir SSA and organ score UE 70293, choral score UE 70294 ARVO PÄRT Da pacem Domine for string orchestra study score UE 33664 ARVO PÄRT Summa for choir SATB or soloists vocal score UE 33686 JAMES RAE Play it Cool – Saxophone with CD for alto or tenor saxophone and piano UE 21404 RICHARD STRAUSS Sonata Eb-Major op. 18 for violin and piano UE 33385 ANTONIO VIVALDI Complete Sonatas for cello solo, harpsichord (piano), vcl. continuo (ad lib.) Urtext Edition ed. by Bernhard Moosbauer UT 50175
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UNIVERSAL EDITION
Piano Project for piano ed. by Anne-Lise Gastaldi and Valerie Haluk UE 33662 New contemporary pieces for teaching and the concert platform Language classes in music!
together on an exciting and varied expedition through the musical languages of our time. ‘Eureka’ moments included!
It’s Greek to some people, for others it’s simply mumbo jumbo. But for those who can master the language of contemporary music, it’s the passport to fascinating worlds of sound. And the earlier you learn this language, the more fun it is speaking it. This is why, for Piano Project, some of the most important composers of our time have placed their talents entirely at the disposal of the young. Taking as model those works such as Anton Webern’s Kinderstück or Béla Bartók’s Mikrokosmos, Georges Aperghis, Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, Ivan Fedele, Cristóbal Halffter, Michael Jarrell, György Kurtág, Luis de Pablo and Salvatore Sciarrino have each introduced young pianists to their characteristic musical language. In 11 original compositions specially written for this album musiciansto-be and great masters can set off
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BÉLA BARTÓK Der wunderbare Mandarin RSO Bavaria, c. Mariss Jansons Sony BMG CD 0886971236323 SAED HADDAD Joie voilée Donaueschinger Musiktage 2006 Vol.1, Arditti Quartet NEOS Music CD 10724 CRISTÓBAL HALLFTER Parafrasis RSO Berlin, c. Cristóbal Halffter RCA RED SEAL CD 74321 73613 2 ERNST KRENEK Alpbach Quintett, Symphonische Musik Petersen Quartett, Rosetti Bläserquintett Capriccio CD 67176 ERNST KRENEK String Quartets No. 3 and 5 Petersen Quartett Capriccio CD 67197 GYÖRGY LIGETI Atmosphères Vienna Philharmonic, c. Claudio Abbado Deutsche Grammophon DG 4 CDs 477 644-3 PAUL PATTERSON Missa brevis op. 54 London Philharmonic Choir, c. Owain Arwel Hughes EMI Classics British Composers series CD 505 9212 STEVE REICH Piano Phase London Steve Reich Ensemble cpo 777 CD 337-2 WOLFGANG RIHM Chiffre Zyklus musikFabrik, c. Stefan Asbury cpo CD 777 169-2 WOLFGANG RIHM Akt und Tag Arditti Quartet, Claron McFadden, soprano NEOS Music CD 10724 WOLFGANG RIHM Umriss – Aufzeichnung RSO Berlin, c. Gerd Albrecht RCA RED SEAL CD 74321 73611 2 WOLFGANG RIHM Ungemaltes Bild RSO Saarbrücken, c. Leonid Grin RCA RED SEAL CD 74321 73612 2 WOLFGANG RIHM Im Innersten DoelenKwartet Attacca 2 CDs 27108-109&110 ROBERT SCHUMANN Symphonies No. 2 and 4 (arr. Gustav Mahler) Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, c. Riccardo Chailly Decca CD 4758352
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FRIEDRICH CERHA Concerto for cello Heinrich Schiff, vcl, Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra ECM New Series CD 1887
MORTON FELDMAN String Quartet Ives Ensemble hat (now) ART CD 167
GEORG FRIEDRICH HAAS Hyperion SWR SO BadenBaden/Freiburg Rupert Huber, rosalie (Licht) NEOS Music CD 10725
DAVID SAWER Sounds: Three Kandinsky Poems Exmoor Singers of London, c. James Jarvis Classical Recording Company CD CRC 1716
KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN Stimmung Theatre of Voices, Paul Hillier harmonia mundi usa HMU 807408 / LC 7045 ALEXANDRE TANSMAN Le Serment Orchestre Philharm. et Choeur de Radio France, c. Alain Altinoglu Harmonia mundi 90 FRF 001 KURT WEILL Matrosen-Song, Seeräuber Jenny, Bilbao-Song, Alabama Song Christiane Oelze, Eric Schneider, pno Capriccio CD 71062 FELIX WEINGARTNER Aus ernster Zeit Ouverture Sinfonieorchester Basel, c. Marko Letonja cpo 777 101-2 SACD IAN WILSON Veer, In fretta, in vento, … wander, darkling, Lyric Suite The Callino Quartet Riverrun RVR CD 77
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BOHUSLAV MARTINU (1890–1959) Worklist
Concerto 17’30’’ 1935 for harpsichord and small orchestra Concerto da camera 24’ 1941 for violin and string orchestra with piano and percussion Concerto grosso 16’ 1937 for chamber orchestra Les Fresques de Piero della Francesca 19’ 1955 for orchestra Das Gilgamesch-Epos 50’ 1955 Oratorium for soli, mixed choir and orchestra (Soli: soprano, tenor, baritone, bass; choir: SATB) The Greek Passion Music drama in 4 acts 130’ 1957 Text source: Christ Recrucified by Kazantzakis Libretto: Bohuslav Martinu 1st version (London version) edited by Ales Brezina Musicological edition and reconstruction of the original version Die griechische Passion Opera in 4 acts 170’ 1957–1959 2nd version (Zurich version) Concerto No. 5 in Bb-Major 23’30” 1957–1958 Fantasia concertante for piano and orchestra 2 Pièces 7’ 1935 for harpsichord The Rock Prélude symphonique for orchestra 13’ 1957 String Quartet No. 2 20’ 1925
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paint it black rainy days 23.11.–09.12.2007 Festival de musique nouvelle «…zum einen die leuchtende Sternennacht in der Wüsten-Stille, zum anderen … die ‹innere Nacht›» (Georges Lentz) Samstag 01.12.2007 18:00 & 20:00 opera silens: «see my songs» Vadim Karassikov, Jochen Neurath
Sonntag 02.12.2007 20:00 basel sinfonietta / Emilio Pomarico / Thomas Larcher Ferruccio Busoni, György Ligeti, Claude Debussy Georg Friedrich Haas: Konzert für Klavier und Orchester (Auftrag basel sinfonietta, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Wien Modern)
Freitag 07.12.2007 19:00 & 20:00
(Bock-Kasematten & Église Saint-Michel) Schüler des Conservatoire Luxembourg / Brice Pauset Leitung Noise Watchers Unlimited James Tenney, Salvatore Sciarrino, Claude Lenners (UA), …
Samstag 08.12.2007 19:30 & So. 09.12.2007 18:30 «the moon in the moonless sky.» United Instruments of Lucilin / Claudia Doderer Raum Klaus Lang: the moon in the moonless sky. (UA)
Samstag 08.12.2007 21:00
«Nocturne» – Marcus Weiss Saxophon, Zane Banks E-Gitarre Giorgio Netti: Necessità d’interrogare il cielo Georges Lentz: Ingwe für E-Gitarre solo («Caeli enarrant…» VII) (UA) (Auftrag Philharmonie Luxembourg
Sonntag 09.12.2007 20:00
«I am a mistake» – Jan Fabre Text, Choreographie, Bühne, Leitung Wolfgang Rihm Musik Chantal Akerman Film Matthias Horn, Johannes M. Kösters, Hilde van Mieghem Stimme ensemble recherche / Lucas Vis Troubleyn /Jan Fabre actors & dancers (Commissioned and produced by the European Concert Hall Organisation ECHO)
Tickets 0–25 € Festivalpass 45 € (<27 Jahre: 27 €) www.rainydays.lu – www.philharmonie.lu
UNIVERSAL EDITION Austria: PO Box 3, A-1015 Vienna, Austria 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 254 West 31st Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10001-2813 tel +1-212-461-6940, fax +1-212-810-4565. Web: www.universaledition.com Chief Editors: Angelika Dworak and Eric Marinitsch Contributors: Bálint András Varga, Angelika Dworak, Eric Marinitsch, Jonathan Irons, Rebecca Dawson, Marion Dürr and Kieran Morris Design: Egger & Lerch, Vienna Photo Credits: Barbara Monk-Feldman, Eric Marinitsch (5), Jonathan Irons, Teatro Real / Javier del Real, Marion Kalter, Astrid Karger, Opera Omaha, ROC Berlin, UE Archiv (6), Spoleto Festival, Basilica di San Vitale, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Grand Théâtre de Genève / Mario del Curto, Theater St Gallen / Lukas Unseld, Musée du Louvre Paris, Wiener Staatsoper / Axel Zeininger, Oper Frankfurt / Monika Rittershaus, Berliner Philharmoniker / Cordula Groth, Vereinigte Städtische Bühnen Krefeld-Mönchengladbach / Stutte, Staatstheater Wiesbaden / Martin Kaufhold, Internationale Gustav Mahler Gesellschaft, Wiener Festwochen / Ros Ribas, Festival de Música de Canarias; CDs: ECM, hat (now) ART, NEOS, CRC. DVR: 0836702