Today’s opening concerts that mark the start of a three-week festival celebrating the opening of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg can be watched in a 360 degree live stream.
Among the works performed is the world première of Wolfgang Rihm’s Reminiszenz | Triptychon und Spruch in memoriam Hans Henny Jahnn.
Watch the opening concert live here:
“While Bachtrack is yet to officially publish the statistics on its website, it has confirmed in a private tweet exchange that Pärt is, indeed, the world’s most performed living composer sixth year running.” (estonian world)
Congratulations Arvo Pärt!
It’s an impressive disc, the selections presenting the composer at his finest, and all performed with precision and feeling, and recorded at the high standards associated with the BIS label, still laudably loyal to the SACD format. (Gavin Dixon, Classical CD Reviews)
Gavin Dixon of Classical CD Reviews on “Franz Schreker: Orchestral Music from the Operas”.
The record is published by BIS Records and has recently been nominated for the Swedish Grammy Awards for classical music.
Today marks the birthday of Franz Schmidt, who was born on 22 December 1874 in Preßburg.
In his Guardian-article “How Franz Schmidt became the composer that history forgot” Gavin Plumley pointed out why it is time to listen to the composer’s works afresh.
You can view the full study score of Schmidt’s Symphony No. 2 on Universal Edition for free:
Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Gruppen for 3 orchestras will be performed on 23 December at the Miyakomesse in Kyoto by the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra with conductors Junichi Hirokami, Ken Takaseki and Tatsuya Shimono.
The work was performed for the very first time in March 1958 when it was conducted by Pierre Boulez, Bruno Maderna and Stockhausen himself.
If we want to understand other nations, we first must understand ourselves. There is no better means for this than folk music. Getting acquainted with the folk songs of other countries is the best way to get acquainted with other peoples. (Zoltán Kodály)
Happy birthday, Zoltán Kodály. The composer was born today in 1882.
Read Mihály Ittzés’ essay on Zoltán Kodály with the title “A patriot, not a nationalist” – from which the above quote is taken – on our MusikSalon:
José Luis López-Linares’ documentary film “Bosch: The Garden of Dreams”, produced by LópezLiFilms and the Prado Museum, features music by Arvo Pärt.
Watch the trailer here:
“It’s a bit of a patchy, self-indulgent work, but fascinating; the best of Krenek’s angular, expressionist score, mostly atonal though harking back to romantic tonality, is strikingly effective.” (Andrew Clements, The Guardian, 30 November 2016)
Andrew Clements of The Guardian has reviewed Ernst Krenek’s opera Orpheus und Eurydike, recorded at the Salzburg Festival in 1990 under Pinchas Steinberg and now released on Orfeo.
![30 years of Edition Zeitgenössische Musik [EZM]](tl_files/News_Bilder/Blog/2016/ezm-30.jpg "30 years of Edition Zeitgenössische Musik [EZM]")
This Saturday, 10 December, 30 years of Edition Zeitgenössische Musik [EZM]will be celebrated at the Deutschlandfunk in Cologne.
Join the event for a free symposium and a concert, including performances by Luís Antunes Pena and Pavlos Antoniadis, Ensemble Garage (cond. Mariano Chiacchiarini), leise dröhnung, Ensemble Musikfabrik, hand werk and Ensemble Modern.
The full programme is available on the website of the Deutscher Musikrat:
There’s something uniquely sensual and physical about string music that attracts me as a composer. […] It’s not just about pitches and rhythms – there’s also something in the quality of the sound, something about the effort it takes to produce the note that gives us clues as to the musical meaning. It’s the massive difference between an up-bow with its build up of tension and a down-bow - the release, the out-breath. This piece is all about the right arm – the bowing arm. (David Fennessy on his string quartet bow your head)
The RTÉ Contempo Quartet will perform David Fennessy’s bow your head as part of their “Bartók Project” on 1 Dec at the Limerick City Gallery of Art, on 3 Dec at the Triskel Arts Centre in Cork and on 4 Dec at the National Concert Hall in Dublin.
Prof. Dr. Martin Zenck’s book Pierre Boulez: Die Partitur der Geste und das Theater der Avantgarde was presented on 18 November at the Academy of Music in Mainz in a memorial concert for the great composer who passed away this January.
Pianist Pi-Hsien Chen performed both versions of Boulez’ Troisième Sonate pour piano.
Composer and conductor Hans Zender celebrates his 80th birthday today, 22 November 2016.
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!
A selection of works by the composer will be performed at this year’s Wien Modern festival on 28 and 29 November:
When Butor and I drafted the piece in the early 60s, we dreamt of a new form of theatre that would merge the characteristics of (modern) theatre and modern music, while at the same time approaching the baroque opera, the form of the operas of Brecht and Weill, the Japanese Noh and the théâtre de tréteaux, such as the l'Histoire du soldat – while still being completely different. (Excerpt from a letter from Henri Pousseur to Universal Edition)
The French première of Henri Pousseur’s Votre Faust takes place today, 17. November, at the Nouveau Théâtre de Montreuil. Laurent Cuniot conducts the Ensemble TM+.
Mut, Angst, Verzweiflung, Tyrannei: dieses Buch versucht herauszufinden, was in den Arbeitszimmern von Komponisten vor sich geht, welcher Kampf mit dem Material, mit den eigenen Grenzen, mit den tradierten Regeln, deren Überschreitung selbst für den 90jährigen György Kurtág einen mutigen Akt darstellt – also welcher Kampf hinter den Noten steckt, die man in den Konzerten zu hören bekommt. Noten, die einem „gefallen” oder „missfallen”, je nach Geschmack, Intelligenz, Offenheit, Neugier und Erfahrung.
Bálint András Varga’s latest book of interviews Der Komponisten Mut und die Tyrannei des Geschmacks has recently been published by wolke. View the full table of contents and the preface here – among the interviewees are UE composers Vykintas Baltakas, Friedrich Cerha, Paul-Heinz Dittrich, Georg Friedrich Haas, György Kurtág, Wolfgang Rihm and Johannes Maria Staud.
You can still listen to Bálint András Varga’s conversation with Albert Hosp on Ö1:
Es hätte kaum ein besseres Sujet gefunden werden können als das kindliche Dramolett um das Finden der Identität, um Wien Modern in diesem Jahr einzuleiten – aber auch um jene Kinder zu begrüßen, die noch nicht so lang in Österreich sind. (Daniel Ender, Der Standard, 31 October 2016)
Wien Modern has opened with the scenic première of Georg Friedrich Haas’ das kleine ICH BIN ICH.