Jörg Widmann: A mysterious sound of whisper

Jörg Widmann’s work Teiresias for six double basses is now available from Schott. Composed for the 75th Birthday of the conductor Claudio Abbado on behalf of the Berlin Philharmonic, the double bass ensemble of the orchestra premiered this “tribute to Claudio” in May 2009.

The enigmatic subject comes from the Greek myth of Teiresias, the blind seer, who was punished with blindness by the goddess Athena, after he saw her naked while bathing. Widmann called his composition “An oracle for six double basses”. The composer explains the connection between this work and the idea of a sound, which is a “mysterious murmur both blind and sighted.”

A work for the 75th Birthday of an artist such as Claudio Abbado should be anything but ordinary. This was also Jörg Widmann´s thought when he decided on the instrumentation for the commissioned work – ambitious, artful and anything but common.

1. Sample pages, further details and shopping opportunity
2. Jörg Widmann - Profile