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With its images of spring and renewal, Aribert Reimann's new song cycle for voice and string quartet will keep the cold at bay this winter. Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht was written for soprano Moja Erdmann and the Kuss Quartett who will give the world premiere on 14 December at the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam.

Commissioned jointly by the Muziekgebouw and Musik 21 Niedersachsen, Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht is based on songs by the Romantic composer Theodor Kirchner setting six poems by Heinrich Heine. The images of sprouting and growing plants in spring are perfect for lyrical expressions of love, however two of the poems also touch on loneliness and the winter cold of a snowy landscape.

Aribert Reimann – Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht: a connection to the Romantics

Having never been published, Kirchner’s song cycle for voice and piano remains relatively unknown. Reimann intersperses his arrangements of the songs with seven instrumental interludes. This is not the first time Reimann has worked in this way: in his cycle “…oder soll es Tod bedeuten”, he intersperses songs by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy for voice and string quartet with his own six Intermezzi. There are also plans for the seven instrumental sections from Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht to be available as a stand-alone work entitled 7 Bagatelle.

While composing I always have a sound in mind, which I cannot express in words because there are no words for it. Of course I can describe the sound, but it is not the same. For me it is the most complicated and the most important to be able to grasp and organise this sound that I hear within me. – Aribert Reimann

Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht will be given its German premiere on 16 December in Hannover as part of the concert series Musik 21 at NDR, and further performances with Mojca Erdmann and the Kuss Quartett will take place on 18 December in Berlin and 13 May 2018 in Zurich.

• Aribert Reimann - profile


• Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht - work details


• Die schönen Augen der Frühlingsnacht - concert detail

The Passacaglia from Krzysztof Penderecki’s 3. Sinfonie features in choreographer Goyo Montero’s latest dance piece, Dürer’s Dog. Inspired by the paintings of German renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer, the premiere will be on 25 November at the Staatstheater in Nuremburg.

In the 1980s, Penderecki was commissioned to write a symphonic work but although he began writing immediately, only the current fourth movement, Passacaglia, and a Rondo, which would become the second movement, were completed by the premiere in 1988. It would take until 1995 for the work to be performed in its entirety. The piece is rooted firmly in the tradition of the genre with its five movements connected by overarching themes and structures.

Krzysztof Penderecki – 3.Sinfonie: Passacaglia’s life of its own

Passacaglia made its way into the conscience of millions of filmgoers when it featured in Martin Scorsese’s thriller Shutter Island (2010) starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Penderecki’s use of constant repetition and harsh rhythmic fragments were a perfect accompaniment to the film’s atmosphere of apprehension and discomfort.

One cannot simply plant a few trees, it needs order and a shape. It is similar to music: all my works have a clear form - I am not an improvisator. - Krzysztof Penderecki

Dürer’s Dog will run from 25 November until 9 February 2018. Penderecki’s 2. Sinfonie (Christmas Symphony) can be heard on 14 December in Budapest with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra and Keri-Lynn Wilson.

• Krzysztof Penderecki – profile


• 3.Sinfonie – information


• Dürer’s Dog – information

Toshio Hosokawa’s music straddles two cultures, with influences from traditional Japanese music and the world of European art music. This is evident in his new chamber opera, Futari Shizuka (The Two Shizukas), which will be premiered on 1 December at the Autumn Festival in Paris by Ensemble Intercontemporain with conductor Matthias Pintscher, soprano Kerstin Avemo and Nô performer Ryoko Aoki.


Futari Shizuka is a 12th century play from the Nô tradition, one of the four Japanese theatre traditions alongside Kyogen, Kabuki and Bunraku. Nô combines sets, dance, chanting, and masks with a fixed narrative structure to convey the story to audiences. With a new libretto by Japanese author Oriza Hirate, Hosokawa’s version of Futari Shizuka tells the story of Shizuka, a dancer whose ghost takes possession of a young refugee girl at the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Helene.

Futari Shizuka by Toshio Hosokawa: a fusion of the traditional and contemporary

Two musical cultures come literally face to face in Hosokawa’s opera with the role of Helene sung by a classically trained opera singer and Shizuka performed by a Nô artist.

Many artists in Japan want new art that shows underlying influences from Europe and America. Many Japanese intellectuals think it is remarkable when I talk about my Japanese influences. They say you do not need to do this because the world is one…but traditional Japanese music is very different and I stand between Japan and Europe, which I find hard and I feel alone. – Toshio Hosokawa

On 3 December, the German premiere of Futari Shizuka will be presented at the Cologne Philharmonie. Hosokawa’s companion piece, the one-act opera The Raven, can be seen on 7 and 10 December at the Théâtre National in Luxembourg.

• Toshio Hosokawa - profile


• Futari Shizuka – concert information


• Futari Shizuka – workdetails

Although known predominantly for his operas, Richard Wagner’s oeuvre includes many orchestral and chamber works. Among these is Wesendonck-Lieder for voice and piano, which will be performed this week in the version orchestrated by Felix Mottl in Luxembourg and in the arrangement for ensemble by Hans Werner Henze in the UK, Switzerland and Germany.
While in exile in Zurich, Wagner met the silk merchant Otto Wesendonck, who quickly became his friend and sponsor. Between 1857 and 1858 Wagner became infatuated with Otto’s wife, Mathilde, as is documented in copious correspondence between the two. The affair inspired Wagner to write a piano sonata and the Wesendonck-Lieder, a setting of five of Mathilde’s poems. The relationship only ended when a letter was intercepted by Wagner’s then wife, Minna.

Richard Wagner and Mathilde Wesendonck: ‘Our songs’

This song cycle gives an insight into Wagner’s tormented mental state at the time, alternating between exuberant euphoria and delusional distress. Mathilde also inspired a soft lyricism that is not widely observed in his operatic works. Wagner revisited some of the material from the Wesendonck-Lieder in his opera Tristan and Isolde which he was concurrently writing: the third and fifth songs in the cycle are subtitled “Studie zu Tristan und Isolde”.
There have been many versions of the song cycle, with Felix Mottl’s orchestration for large orchestra being the most popular. Hans Werner Henze didn’t consider his 1976 version for alto and chamber ensemble an arrangement, as it allows for a larger range of creativity in the voice part and introduces modern harmonic structures to the accompaniment.

I have not written anything better than these songs and very few of my works will be remembered besides them. – Wagner in a letter to Mathilde

Henze’s version of the Wesendonck-Lieder can be heard on 20 November in Stadthalle Braunschweig with soprano Jelena Kordiæ, on 21 November in Geneva with alto Sara Mingardo and on 25 November in Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh with mezzosoprano Cheryl Forbes. The Felix Mottl version for large orchestra will be performed by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe with Bernard Haitink and soprano Eva Maria Westbroek on 21 November at the Philharmonie in Luxemburg.

• Richard Wagner – profile


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  • Wesendonck-Lieder version by Henze – workdetails and score
  
  
  • Wesendonck-Lieder version by Wagner – workdetails and score
  
  

  
  

  
  

Hans Werner Henze’s oratorio, Das Floß der Medusa, with a text by Ernst Schnabel, will be performed by the SWR Symphonieorchester and Peter Eötvös on 15 November at the Konzerthaus in Freiburg and again on 17 November at Hamburg Elphilharmonie. The work was inspired by the 1816 maritime disaster and shares a name with Théodore Géricault’s painting of the event.

In 1816, the French frigate Méduse ran aground off the west coast of Africa. A shortage of lifeboats meant a hastily constructed raft was used in an attempt to ferry 150 survivors to shore. However, soon after setting off on the 30 mile journey, it became clear that towing the raft was impractical and the decision was made to cut the connecting ropes. The rudderless and ill equipped raft was abandoned to its fate.

Henze uses the tragic events to explore the moment where morality, law and social convention dissolve. In today’s climate, the work resonates as a critique on the response to the refugee crisis in Europe, with parallels to the thousands of lives lost at sea.

Hans Werner Henze: Das Floß der Medusa: A fight for survival

The stage is divided in two between the living and the dead. On the side of the dead is a soprano who attempts to lure survivors with her siren song. Jean-Charles, a cabin boy, represents the living and their struggle to remain alive. In the course of the performance the chorus crosses the stage from the side of the living to the side of the dead. Charon, named after Hades’ ferryman in Greek mythology, is the narrator and slips frequently between the two worlds.

Henze transfers the mood and characters from Géricault’s iconic painting to his music, for example using the woodwind section to underscore the living chorus, with ‘breath like noises’ and screams. The journey to the side of the dead is accompanied by the string section.

I had Théodore Géricault’s magnificent painting, The Raft of the ‚Medusa‘, clearly in my mind’s eye when I started work on the music. The pyramid-like pile of human figures in the painting, which is now in the Louvre in Paris, is surmounted by our hero, the mulatto Jean-Charles, waving a fragment of tattered red cloth at a boat that is seen sailing past the distance and that signifies hope and perhaps also salvation – an idea present in our own piece from the very outset. – Hans Werner Henze

As part of ‘Elbphilharmonie+’ there will be a lecture-performance on 16 November featuring a string quartet made up of musicians from the SWR Symphonieorchester who will trace the experience of escape through the music of Béla Bartók and Emin František Burian interjected with readings from texts written by refugees. The concert featuring Henze’s Das Floß der Medusa will be broadcast on SWR 2 on 26 November. In March 2018, Dutch National Opera will present staged performances of the work.

 

• Hans Werner Henze – profile


• Das Floß der Medusa – workdetails


• Elbphilharmonie Hamburg - program information


• Konzerthaus Freiburg - programinformation

Atsuhiko Gondai’s Omnia Tempus Habent for piano and string orchestra will have its world premiere on 9 November 2017 at a concert celebrating composer Valentin Silvestrov’s 80^th Birthday. Conductor Yuta Shimizu will be joined by pianist Alexej Ljubmov at the Musashino Civic Cultural Hall, Tokyo for a programme which also includes Silvestrov performing a selection of his own piano and chamber works.

In his music, Gondai seeks to create a cultural dialogue between Europe and Asia by reconciling new compositional techniques with traditional philosophical ideas. In order to do this, he studied Catholic Church music and worked with the Buddhist priest Shomyo to explore new ways of integrating the musical traditions of these religions.

Atsuhiko Gondai – Omnia Tempus Habent: an attempt to capture a moment

Sound is ephemeral; it fades quickly without leaving a trace. In Omnia Tempus Habent, Gondai attempts to capture the moment sound is produced. The title Omnia Tempus Habent (‘Everything has its time’) is a reference to a parable. Everything passes: every activity, every action, every feeling.

“Music is time. There is always a beginning and an end. To compose is to listen to ‘that moment’ along with the progression of sounds, in other words ‘the fixed moment’ within the irreversible and limited time that was cut out, with an eternal ear that only exists within your heart.” – Atsuhiko Gondai

Like Silvestrov, Gondai returns regularly to certain themes in his works. In his 2015 work for orchestra, Vice Versa, he rejects notions of reconciliation to explore musical contradictions and opposites. Find out more about Vice Versa below.

• Atsuhiko Gondai – profile 


• Vice Versa – workdetails


• Work of the Week - Vice Versa

Jörg Widmann’s Au cœur de Paris (“In the heart of Paris”) was written in celebration of Orchestre de Paris’ 50th anniversary. The piece will be premiered on 1 November at the Philharmonie in Paris with Daniel Harding. The concert will also feature Widmann, who is their Artist in Residence, performing his Fantasie for solo clarinet.



Paris is the city of love: one can easily conjure images of lovers walking hand in hand along the Seine, the silhouette of the Eiffel Tower behind them. Accordion music wafts through the midsummer air and you can almost taste the red wine. Widmann was inspired by two Edith Piaf chansons about being in love, La vie enrose and La ciel de Paris. In La vie en rose, a woman sings about her immortal love to a man, while La ciel de Paris is a declaration of love to the city.

Jörg Widmann – Au cœur de Paris: a musical expression of love

Piaf’s melodies linger in the mind long after the song has finished playing. Widmann teases the audience by quoting these melodies, orchestrating them to pair the deep emotion with a musical lightness.

There are always sounds at the beginning. These sounds gradually solidify over weeks, they compress. During this time I do not write. Then suddenly…I cannot stand it so I write, I write furiously until the piece is finished. – Jörg Widmann

The concert will be repeated on 2 November at the Philharmonie in Paris and broadcast live. It will be available for viewing on Arte Concert for six months.

• Jörg Widmann - composer profile


• Orchestre de Paris

March 2018 marks the centenary of Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s birth. Among the performances in celebration of this occasion are two concerts on 29 October featuring Sinfonie in einem Satz in its two versions, one with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern and Peter Hirsch, and the other with the Gürzenich Orchester Köln conducted by Harmut Haenchen.



When approached by the Nordwestdeutcher Rundfunk Köln to compose a symphony, Zimmermann extensively deliberated on the form. He settled for a continuous 18 minute-long movement scored for large orchestra with extra woodwind, harp, organ, and a solo string septet.

Sinfonie in einem Satz was premiered in 1952 by the Kölner Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester and Hans Rosbaud. Unfortunately the piece was slammed by critics who cited the inclusion of the organ as old fashioned. Unfazed, Zimmermann reworked the piece with Rosbaud’s assistance, removing the organ and rewriting the long and complex bars. This revised version was premiered a year later in Belgium. 

Bernd Alois Zimmermann – Sinfonie in einem Satz: a reworking of the symphonic form

The innovation in Zimmermann’s symphony lies in the protracted growth of its single movement, which ensnares the audience from the opening. Sinfonie in einem Satz maintains a nervous tension punctuated by unexpected accents, culminating in an explosive finale.

The thematic material develops by linking various musical germ cells to create an organic structure of the whole…with each cell passing through all stages of musical development via heavy dynamic evolution. - Bernd Alois Zimmermann

More performances of the revised version of Sinfonie in einem Satz by the Gürzenich Orchester will take place on 30 and 31 October. The original version can be heard again on 2 March 2018 at the Staatstheater in Mainz and on 5 May 2018 at the Köln Philharmonie. An award winning 2016 recording of the original version with conductor Peter Hirsch is available on the WERGO label.

• Bernd Alois Zimmermann - profile


• Sinfonie in einem Satz (1. Fassung) – workdetails and score


• Sinfonie in einem Satz (2. Fassung) – workdetails and score


• Saarbrücken Concert (1. Fassung)


• Cologne Concert (2. Fassung)

Chaya Czernowin’s inspiration for her new cello concerto, Guardian, grew from her in depth research of the human experience of time. The work is dedicated to cellist Séverine Ballon who along with the SWR-Sinfonieorchester and Pablo Rus Broseta, will give its world premiere at the closing concert of the 2017 Donaueschingen Festival on 22 October.



In our dreams, the brain creates its own worlds using fragments from our waking reality combined with figments of our imagination. In the same way, Czernowin creates works using fragments from the natural world expressed through her own creative voice. Guardian creates a gloomy alternative reality, in which time is elongated and compressed like an accordion.

Chaya Czernowin – Guardian: exploring the elastic quality of time

On the surface, Czernowin seems to adhere to traditional concerto form: a distinct solo line is supported by an orchestral accompaniment, interspersed with orchestral tuttis and a final cadenza.  But if we look more closely, the roles are anything but traditional.

Guardian is a floating exchange between the merging and parting of two sound bodies.  In one instance, the cello emerges from the orchestra but increasingly pulls away, getting louder and louder. At times the orchestra acts as a single cello.  The wind instruments for example are instructed to create breathy tones instead of distinct clear notes in order to resemble the bow being pulled on a string. The resulting dense clusters, played at pianissimo, create the illusion of a unison sound.

Two speakers amplify the solo cello, which ranges in sound from plaintive cantabiles to roaring like a wild animal. In the orchestra, extended techniques add shade and colour to Czernowin’s alternative world.

The field of Open Form in algorithmic visual computer work enables a multi-dimensional development of objects […], at any moment one or the other parameters of the shape takes over, impacting the overall form. This is the way in which this concerto thinks. – Chaya Czernowin

Guardian will be performed again at the rainy days festival in Luxembourg on 17 November with Roland Kluttig conducting the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg with Séverine Ballon.

• Chaya Czernowin – profile


• Guardian – workdetails and score


• Donaueschinger Musiktage

When Yuri Gagarin became the first human to journey into space in 1961, he sparked a generation’s interest in the mysteries of the universe. This included a young Peter Eötvös, whose latest work, Multiversum for concert organ, Hammond organ, and orchestra, sets out to explore this theme. The composer himself will conduct the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and soloists Iveta Apkalna and László Fassang in the world premiere on 10 October 2017 in the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.

Peter Eötvös: Multiversum - creating a universe out of sound

Eötvös was inspired to compose a piece that would envelope the listener in the same way the universe envelopes the earth.  A three-dimensional sound is created by the staging: the strings are placed to the left of the audience and the woodwinds to the right, while the brass and percussion are spread over the stage alongside the Hammond organ.  A carefully placed Leslie rotary speaker creates a Doppler effect that obscures the Hammond organ’s location, allowing it to seemingly float above the whole audience. Even immovable instruments are presented in a different light - the Klais organ, which is built into the wall of the Elbphilharmonie behind a section of the audience, is played at a keyboard at the front of the hall. The overall effect is a visual break from traditional orchestral staging and an immersive sound experience for each audience member.

I try to describe the world with sounds, just like writers do it with words, painters with a brush, and directors with a camera. We often describe the same thing; only the medium is different. – Peter Eötvös

Eötvös will conduct Multiversum again on 11 October at the Philharmonie Köln, 12 October at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brüssel, 14 October at the Müpa Budapest and 19 and 20 October at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

• Peter Eötvös – profile


• Multiversum– details and score


• Elbphilharmonie Concert