Work of the week

On 22 May, Toshio Hosokawa’s one act opera, Hanjo, will open in a production by Florentine Klepper with the Berner Symphonieorchester and Kevin John Edusei at the Concert Theatre Bern. The work was commissioned for the festival d’Aix-en-Provence in 2004 and has since been staged in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Japan.

Hanjo centres around the love story between a geisha girl Hanako and a young man called Yoshio who, forced to part with each other, exchange fans as a symbol that they would one day be together again. After Yoshio leaves, Hanako is bought by Jitsuko, a spinster. Hanako waits every day at the train station in hope that Yoshio might come to find her but as the newspapers begin to gossip about her strange behaviour, Jitsuko begins to worry that Yoshio will come to take her away. One day, Yoshio arrives at Jitsuko’s house with a fan but Hanako says the man before her is not Yoshio. Does she not recognise him? Or is she afraid to leave her life of endless waiting?

“Between dream and reality”

Hosokawa describes his opera as something between dream and reality: a development out of traditional Japanese Noh theatre in which ideas of fantasy and reality are explored.

"I wanted to illustrate with the music a drama that explores the boundaries between dream and reality, between insanity and reason. Sometimes that which exists only in the universe of dreams can be expressed more intensely through music than in theatre alone. I wanted to show the point of view of someone who sways between dream and reality. In the background the atmosphere in the orchestra changes gradually, like a picture on silk that one rolls out. The silence is woven slowly, but competently in the pattern of that silk roll, like a white dot in the middle of the picture." – Hosokawa

Hanjo will run from 22 May to 5 June in Bern. On 14 June, Ensemble Resonanz will give the world premiere of Sorrow River for recorder and strings alongside Voyage VII for trumpet and strings at the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg.

• Toshio Hosokawa - profile


• Hanjo - workdetails


• Konzert Theater Bern - informations about the performance

On 15 May, the world premiere staging of Peter Eötvös’ opera Senza sangue will open at Opéra d'Avignon in France conducted by Eötvös himself as part of Festival d’Avignon. Senza sangue was premiered in concert last year by the New York Philharmonic in Cologne.

Based on the novel of the same name by Alessandro Baricco, the opera is set during the Spanish Civil War. A young man and his comrades murder the family of a young girl, but when his eyes meet the young girl’s gaze, he decides to spare her life. The girl spends her life seeking revenge, killing the men who murdered her family one by one, except for the man who saved her. She longs for the gaze that changed her life so many years ago, in the hope that it might save her again.

Peter Eötvös on writing Senza sangue

“Senza sangueis my tenth opera. I have prepared myself like a film director, who wants to shoot his next film in black and white. In my earlier operas I wanted to show a colourful range of sounds; now I’m looking for sharp contrasts and shadings of black, grey and white. I based the orchestral score on sound collaboration, not on the independence of the different voices. Many instruments are playing the same melodies producing a powerful sound, similar to the Japanese calligraphy where with the stroke of a brush, one big line is made.” – Peter Eötvös

Senza sangue will be performed in new productions across 2016-17 including at Armel Opera and Hamburg State Opera, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra will give the UK concert premiere at the Barbican in 2017.

• Peter Eötvös - profile


• Senza sangue - workdetails

photo: Klaus Rudolph

 

On 3 May, Alexander Glazunov’s Cantata for mezzo soprano, tenor, mixed choir and orchestra will be performed by the Orchestra and Choir of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia under the direction of Juraj Valèuha at the Sala Santa Cecilia in Rome.

Also known as the ‘Memorial Cantata’, Cantata was premiered on 6 July 1899 in celebration of the centenary of Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. The work is based upon text written by the Grand Duke Constantine Romanov, a lover of Russian art and a talented pianist, who also had a close friendship with Peter Iljitsch Tschaikowsky.

Cantata's Jubilant Character

Cantata consists of five movements, each with an air of ceremony: Chorus, Cradle Song, Chorus, Aria and Hymn. The jubilant character runs throughout the work building to the final hymn in which the soloists and choir come together for a brilliant finale.

This work is far more than just an occasional piece, it is full of warmly lyrical ideas, with Glazunov’s inspired flow of invention more than compensating for the doggerel poetry he was forced to set by the ‘unrefusable’ Grand Duke Constantine Romanov... This is one of those happy works, full of melody, that makes you feel glad to be alive. – Ivan March (Gramophone Magazine)

Later this month, Mikhail Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar, revised by Glasunow and Nikolaj Rimskij-Korsakow, will be performed in concert on 8 May in the Metropolitan Theatre in Tokyo and the Berlin Philharmonic will perform Glasunov’s scoring of Alexander Borodin’s Fürst Igor at the Philharmonie on 25 May.

• Aleksandr Glasunow - profile


• Kantate - performance details 

photo: Orchestra and choir of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

On 1 May, Paul Hindemith’s opera Mathis der Maler opens in a new production by Jochen Biganzoli at the Semperoper Dresden conducted by Simone Young, with Markus Marquardt in the title role.

The story of Mathis der Maler is based on the painter Mathis Grünewald, who served Cardinal Archibishop Albrecht of Brandenburg during the German Peasants' War (1524-25). The opera begins with Mathis meeting the peasant leader Schwalb and his daughter Regina, and helping them both to escape from the Federal Army. Mathis realises that his actions are in vain and is torn between pursuing his art and his duty. After the death of Schwalb, Mathis flees to the mountains with Regina, far away from political complications, but Albrecht orders him to return to his art and from this he creates his most famous work, the Isenheim Altarpiece. When Regina falls ill and dies, Mathis feels he has lost everyone close to him and despite Albrecht’s offer of work and stability, he withdraws with resignation into solitude.

Mathis der Maler and Paul Hindemith: An ideological drama

In many ways, the story of Mathis der Maler, for which Hindemith himself wrote the libretto, mirrored Hindemith's own experience during the rise of the Nazi party. The success of his earlier Symphony 'Mathis der Maler' provoked a massive propaganda campaign against Hindemith, preventing the premiere of the opera. After a failed attempt by Wilhelm Furtwägler to defend the composer, Hindemith left Germany in 1938 and emigrated to Switzerland, where Mathis der Maler was finally premiered in Zürich. One can imagine that the composer's own thoughts and emotions may have closely resembled to those of Mathis: a symbol of the suffering artist who wonders, torn between hope and desperation during times of conflict and change, whether his art still has a right to exist.

"Plagued by agonies of his disbelieving, seeking soul, Mathis experiences the beginning of a new era with the overthrow of the previous rulers. During this time he resisted the pressure of the state and the church but in his paintings he translates how this eventful period with all its misery, disease and war caused him much distress." –Hindemith

Mathis der Maler will run until 20 May at the Semperoper Dresden. Next season, the opera can be seen again at the Staatstheater Mainz.

• Paul Hindemith - profile


• Mathis der Maler - work details


• More videos and informations on the website of the Semperoper

photo: Frank Höhler

On 21 April a revival of the 2010 Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar production of Christian Jost’s opera Angst -Five gateways of a journey into the interior of angst, will open at the Staatstheater Darmstadt.

Scored for mixed choir and ensemble, the opera is based on the human experience of fear. Where does it come from? What are the reasons for it? Jost uses the many voices of the singers to embody these questions across five episodes titled ‘Fallen’, ‘Hölderlin’, ‘Kalt’, ‘Amok’ and ‘Ab’.

Angst was inspired by the experiences of English mountaineer Joe Simpson, who was the first person to climb the West Face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985. On his descent, he broke his right leg in a zero visibility storm. His partner, Yates, used a rope to lower him down the mountain, but along the way he unknowingly lowered him over a cliff edge. After nearly an hour of holding him up he eventually had to cut the rope. Simpson survived the fall and against all odds, crawling back to the safety of their camp.

 

Christian Jost’s experience of fear

 

Jost’s work is not only informed by the story of these two mountaineers, but also by personal experience. He describes a crucial event in his life:

After I finished my opera Vipern, I had a physical collapse. In the middle of the night we had to call the ambulance, which brought me straight to the hospital where I lay for two hours while my wife was waiting. Of course she was afraid that she would never see me again, and I too was thinking this. But the emergency admission was so dismal that I decided: “Ok, you are at the end of your tether – but not here! You have to change quite a lot of things in your life, but this cannot be the end.” I wanted to show in Angst some of the sobriety I experienced in this moment. – Jost

Angst will run from 21 April to 18 June at the Staatstheater Darmstadt. Jost’s first opera Death Knocks can also be seen this month at the Staattheater Gießen on 23 April.

 

• Christian Jost - profile


• Angst - work details

 

photo: Maik Schuck - szene photo of the production at the German National theater in Weimar with the Opera Chorus of the DNT and State Orchestra Weimar, premiere: 24.09.2015 in the E-Werk (musical direction: Stefan Solyom, stage direction: Karsten Wiegand, stage designer: Bärbl Hohmann, costumes: Andrea Fisser, choir production: Markus Oppeneiger/Andreas Klippert)

To mark Pēteris Vasks’ 70th birthday on 16 April, Sinfonietta Rîga and the Latvian Radio Choir will give the premiere of his new work Da pacem, Domine in Riga cathedral.

Vasks was born in Latvia in 1946, the son of a Baptist priest. He began studying the double bass at the Lithuanian Conservatory and later went on to study composition the Latvian Music Academy. During the Soviet period Vasks suffered under the repressions of Russian cultural doctrine due to his beliefs and artistic convictions, but his works went on to achieve widespread recognition.

Describing his compositional style, Vasks writes:

It all comes from my father. How expressive his language and his gestures were while he was preaching. He worked hard on the preparations and when he delivered a sermon, it seemed as if it was created in that moment for the people, with so much expression. It is about ideals, faith and love. Those are the messages of my music which I have to tell the people.  And so I do that. – Vasks

A desire for peace is a common theme in many of Vasks’ works and this is particularly present in Da pacem, Domine. The text ‘Da pacem, Domine in diebus nostris’ has been set to music countless times since its adaptation by Martin Luther in 1529 and the musical settings frequently comment on the political situation of their own era warning future generations of the danger of religious division, war and terror.

Sinfonietta Rîga and the Latvian Radio Choir will also perform Pater Noster, The Fruit of silence, Einsame Engel, Musica appassionata and Musica serena conducted by Sigvards Kïava and Normunds Ðnç.

• Peteris Vasks - profile


• more performances at his birthday

photo: Mélanie Gomez

On 7 April, Buenos Aires Philharmonic will give the Argentinian premiere of Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Concerto for oboe and small orchestra with soloist Néstor Garrote under and conductor Zhang Guoyong at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

The Oboe Concerto was written in 1952 and premiered the same year at the Donaueschingen Festival. Zimmermann was a lecturer in music theory at the University of Cologne at the time, before his career became more heavily weighted towards composition. Throughout his career he struggled with the conflict between the security of a permanent position and the freedom of being a composer. He referred to himself a ‘restless spirit’ and although this was often a burden to him, it also inspired his compositions.

Zimmermann’s homage to Stravinsky

Zimmermann’s work presents a virtuosic oboe part, highly demanding of the soloist. The Concerto comprises three movements: 'Hommage à Stravinsky', 'Rhapsodie' and 'Finale'. Zimmermann explained:

In the first movement, 'Hommage à Stravinsky', motifs and themes of the first movement of Stravinsky's Symphony in C are quoted in both overt and hidden ways. All the movements of my concerto are based on the same 12-note row, which is still flexible flexible enough that – an aversion for all ultra orthodox dodecaphonists – themes by Stravinsky can be quoted without “breaking ranks”. It will be possible for the audience to discover these little jokes from time to time.

The Argentinian premiere of Zimmermann's opera Die Soldaten will also be given this year in a production from 12-20 July directed by Pablo Maritano at the Teatre Colón.

• Bernd Alois Zimmermann - profile


• Konzert für Oboe und kleines Orchester - work details and online score


• Teatro Colón

Photo: HalloweenHJB

On 19 March the European premiere of Andrew Norman's Play: Level 1 will be performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel in Paris as part of their 2016 tour across the USA and Europe.

Play: Level 1 is part of a larger work, Play, made up of three movements or 'Levels' where levels 1 to 3 can also be performed as stand-alone works. The complete work was premiered by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project in 2013.

Music reaching the next level

In his work, Norman draws on the many meanings and connotations of the word 'play'. He explores the idea of 'play' being fun and child-like, but also considers how it could be part of the darker side of interpersonal relationships consisting of control and manipulation. For Norman, once the orchestra is on stage it assumes a theatrical quality. He is fascinated with the moving parts of individual instrumentalists playing with and against each other at different times, led by a conductor who pulls the strings like a puppeteer.

Much of this piece is concerned with who is playing whom. The percussionists, for instance, spend a lot of their time and energy "playing" the rest of the orchestra (just as they themselves are "played" by the conductor, who in turn is "played" by the score). Specific percussion instruments act as triggers, turning on and off various players, making them (sometimes in a spirit of jest, sometimes not) play louder or softer, forwards or backwards, faster or slower. They cause the music to rewind and retry things, to jump back and forth in its own narrative structure, and to change channels entirely, all with an eye and ear toward finding a way out of the labyrinth and on to some higher level. - Norman

The Los Angeles Philharmonic continue their tour with national premiere performances of Play: Level 1 in Luxembourg on 21 March and the UK on 22 March.

• Andrew Norman - profile


• Play: Level 1 - work details and online score


• Los Angeles Philharmonic

On 15 March composer, conductor and clarinettist Jörg Widmann will perform the world premiere of his own arrangement of the Andante from Mendelssohn’s Clarinet Sonata with the Irish Chamber Orchestra at Limerick University Concert Hall.

Originally clarinet and piano, Mendelssohn wrote his Clarinet Sonata in E flat major at the age of fifteen. The middle movement, Andante, is described as a touchingly simple song without words. United in their adoration of Mendelssohn, Widmann dedicates his arrangement, scored for clarinet and string orchestra, to Aribert Reimann who recently celebrated his 80th birthday.

Widmann composes an homage to Mendelssohn

Andante opens with a cantabile theme in the clarinet which is joined by the orchestra playing soft pizzicato notes. A celesta joins later with contrasting fast semiquaver passages which stand out from the rest of the ensemble. The piece is characterised by chant-like passages and variations in tempo and concludes with a G minor chord which is repeated as an echo.

I have long dreamed of arranging this wonderful music for clarinet, string orchestra, harp and celesta. This wish has now been fulfilled within the framework of the Irish Chamber Orchestra’s Mendelssohn Project. - Jörg Widmann

Irish Chamber Orchestra will perform Andante again alongside Widmann's Hunting Quartet on 16 March in Dublin. The German premiere of Andante will take place at the Heidelberger Frühling festival on 20 April in the Stadthalle Heidelberg.

• Jörg Widmann - profile


• Andante - work details and online score


• Irish Chamber Orchestra

Foto: Marco Borggreve

On March 10, Christoph Eschenbach (photo) leads the National Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere of Tobias Picker’s Opera Without Words, a major new work for orchestra. The premiere takes place at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, with repeat performances on March 11 and 12.

Picker’s Opera Without Words was co-commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra, through a grant from the John and June Hechinger Commissioning Fund for New Orchestra Works, and by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. The work is a remarkable and unusual musical drama that explores a mysterious narrative through five scenes: "The Beloved," "The Minstrel," "The Idol," "The Gladiator," and "The Farewell." Picker elaborates on the work’s unique genesis:

Opera Without Words is a music drama about some of the fascinating people I have known. In beginning to compose this work, I found myself reviewing the differences and similarities between a concerto for an orchestra and an opera. As a result, I approached this new orchestral work as I would an opera; I hired a librettist, Irene Dische, and set her words not to voices but to musical instruments, unfettered by considerations of vocal range and technique. When I finished the opera with words, I removed the text, leaving but a few traces and artifacts of the deleted libretto in the score. - Picker

• Tobias Picker - profile


• Opera Without Words - work details and online score


• The Kennedy Center

Photo: Luca Piva