World première: vergehn wie Rauch by Benjamin Schweitzer in Berlin

Benjamin Schweitzer
vergehn wie Rauch
for mixed choir (SSAATTBB) and optional brass (2010-2011)
on texts by German baroque poets

17’

I Hofmannswaldau I (ruhig fließend) - II Gryphius (zügig) · Interludium (senza tempo) - III Opitz (äußerst langsam) - IV Harsdörffer (mäßig bewegt) - V Brockes (leicht) - VI Hofmannswaldau II (fließend) - VII Logau (geschwind)

Commissioned by the RIAS Kammerchore, an ensemble of the Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre GmbH Berlin

• 21 October 2011 · Berlin (D)
Philharmonie, Kammermusiksaal
RIAS Kammerchor
Conductor Kaspars Putninš

The acerbic and bizarre opulence of Baroque lyrical poetry sets the tone for vergehn wie Rauch (vanish like smoke). The interlinked themes running through the poems, expressed with similar linguistic devices, enables the interlacing of the various texts. The choral timbre remains ’intact’ in the traditional sense of the term. An absence of spectacular effects focuses the attention on the fine-tuned differentiation in harmony, dynamics, vocal coupling and the textual structure in the individual vocal parts. The optional brass ensemble blends almost throughout with the choral texture: this enables vergehn wie Rauch to be performed a capella according to both the modern and original meanings of the term. (Benjamin Schweitzer)

• Details on the performance
• Benjamin Schweitzer - Profile