UE Newsletter Winter 2009 English by Universal Edition

05 New Study Score Series Now available

07 David Sawer Beauty’s source

11 Friedrich Cerha Powerful percussion at the Gewandhaus

13 Arvo Pärt Symphony No. 4 – world première in Los Angeles

20 Harrison Birtwistle Bells from the garage ...

David Sawer Skin Deep in Leeds

newsletter 01/09 • winter 2008/2009

Contents

NEWS UE Digitally Remastered — 5 Newsletter Archive online — 5 COMPOSERS Sawer — 7 Haas — 9 Cerha — 11 Staud — 12 Pärt — 13 Schwartz — 14 Borisova - Ollas — 14 Rihm — 15 Luke Bedford — 16 Halffter — 17 Eichberg — 17 Boulez — 19 Birtwistle — 20 Kagel — 21 Liebermann — 21 Berio — 22 Weill / Brecht — 23 Stockhausen — 24 Schnittke — 24 Music in Israel — 25 Cello Solo Works — 26 Martin — 27 Messiaen — 27 Marx — 28 Nick — 28 Martinu — 29 Braunfels — 29 Szymanowski — 30 Schulhoff — 30 Kodály — 31 Bartók — 31 Zemlinsky / Beethoven — 32 Korngold — 32

= World Première

contents 01/2009

Berg — 33 Webern — 34 Satie — 34 Schönberg — 35 Mahler — 36 Janáček — 37 Haydn — 37 ANNIVERSARIES — 38 - 39 WORLD PREMIÈRES — 40 - 41 NEW RELEASES — 42 - 43 NEW ON CD AND DVD — 44 - 45 WORKLIST Pousseur — 46 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS — 48

Dear Readers, I don’t know if you have any space left on your bookshelves. I do. I want works that have had a major influence on my appreciation of music to share my home, I want to see them, communicate with them and thank them for the impact they have had on my emotions and perspective. There is no doubt that collecting can be therapeutic if it means owning things that have made us what we are. UE’s new study score series (see pages 4–5) aims to supply an important piece of the jigsaw that makes up the musical tableau of life. We can rely on the works with which we define ourselves – they are with us and we with them. Isn’t it wonderful to be able to reach out and touch your emotions?! The Editorial Team

UNIVERSAL EDITION

Newsletter

UE Digitally

Archive online

Remastered Classic recordings of the great artists lose none of their magic over the years, which is why various record labels remaster old recordings with today’s technology and re-release them according to our current quality standards. This is exactly what Universal Edition is doing with its new study score series. Each work has been ‘revisited’, cleaned and printed in full quality offset. Care has been taken to include all additional information (prefaces, introduction etc.) where applicable in two or more languages. The first collection of twenty study scores is available now, and can also be purchased as a complete set for 429 Euros. A list of the first collection can be seen on the opposite page. See also www.universaledition.com/ studyscores for more details and all prices.

We have just published digital copies of all newsletters dating back to 2004 (the launch of the current format). You can now browse the full content of every issue in a comfortable online viewer made by issuu.com, allowing you to zoom and navigate without having to download a PDF file. We will be adding each new issue as they are published. For a full overview, go to www.tinyurl.com/news-en Have a look also at the search function on www.issuu.com – try searching for Arvo Pärt or Wolfgang Rihm.

news

SAWER

Go Skin Deep ‘Where are the new, exciting operas emerging in Britain from art composers?’ asks Charlotte Higgins in her ‘Culture’ blog on the Guardian’s website. A good question indeed, but perhaps one that will be answered in the new year. David Sawer’s Skin Deep is set to open at Opera North’s Grand Theatre in Leeds on 16 January – a spectacle that even the above commentator writes she is ‘really looking forward to’! – where it will then receive four further performances before heading south to Salford Quays and Sadler’s Wells, then returning north to Newcastle and finally Glasgow. The story takes us on a journey of physical perfection, to a place where beauty is created: Dr Needlemeier’s Alpine Clinic – Putting right what nature got wrong. We meet his family, patients and even the odd Hollywood celebrity in a tale that charts desire, spans continents and, ultimately, asks the question: What is the real price of perfection? Librettist, multiple-British Comedy Award winner Armando Iannucci (The Thick of It, Time Trumpet), and David Sawer have recently been interviewed for Opera Now magazine – to appear in the January

issue – with additional national coverage in the months leading up to the premiere. Richard Farnes conducts the orchestra and chorus of Opera North, with soloists Amy Freston, Janis Kelly, Heather Shipp, Geoffrey Dolton, Andrew Tortise and Mark Stone. Later in the year, the production will receive European performances from its other commissioning partners: Bregenzer Festspiele, Det Kongelige Teater, Copenhagen and Komische Oper Berlin. Sate your appetite for Sawer’s wickedly satirical Skin Deep at Opera North’s new mini-site: www.goskindeep.com

David Sawer

sawer

Georg Friedrich Haas HAAS

Time Torn Apart Georg Friedrich Haas’ latest piece, Les Temps Tiraillés (Time Torn Apart), was commissioned by IRCAM and the Centre Pompidou and will première in Paris on 21 Jan, with choreography by Myriam Gourfink. Haas says of his composition: ‘The electronics are contrasted with three instruments: a bassoon (Pascal Gallois) and two violas (Geneviève Strosser, Garth Knox). In the first part of the piece, the instruments become islands in the stream of electronic sound. Part two is extremely quiet, on the very edge of audibility and with the musicians moving around the room, whilst part three multiplies the instrumental parts to create a dense, almost orchestral sound.’ 21–24 Jan, Centre Pompidou, Paris. Information: www.ircam.fr

in vain for 24 instruments (2000) will receive its US première on 6 Feb with the Argento Ensemble at New York’s Columbia University (Washington, 9 Feb). Two sections of this suggestive, floating piece, with its increasingly entangled lines, fermata and atmospheric mutations, are performed in total darkness. Opus 68, Alexander Skrjabin’s Klaviersonate Nr. 9, which Haas arranged for large orchestra in 2003, will be performed from 19–21 Dec by the Jenaer Philharmonie under Nicholas Milton in an evening of light and art. The composition will take on a completely new aesthetic character with a spectacular light and space installation by Stuttgart artist rosalie. The delicate sound structures and unsettling images of Melancholia, an opera in three parts with a libretto by Jon Fosse, will be performed on 12 and 14 Feb in Bergen in Stanislas Nordey’s successful production.

haas

Martin Grubinger CERHA

Eruptive drumming Friedrich Cerha co-founded the Ensemble die reihe and led the group for a long time as conductor and curator of the group's collective artistic gifts. To mark the 50th birthday of the ensemble, he has composed Serenade, commissioned by the Festspielhaus St Pölten, which will première on 12 Feb with the Ensemble die reihe under HK Gruber. In the finale, allusions to a work of which Cerha is particularly fond can be heard: Schoenberg's Serenade op 24.

solo part has its own instrumentation in each of the three overlapping movements, causing the performer to change position each time, before finally returning to the first. Eruptive blocks of sound, dominated by drums, shape the opening. In the slow and lyrical second movement, sporadic pianissimo statements from the solo drum shine out of a tapestry of sound woven out of instrumental echoes. The racing tempo of the final movement is characterised by light, high sounds, transitioning to an interplay between solo and orchestral percussion, before the eruptive drumming of the opening ends the piece’ (Cerha). The première takes place in Leipzig on 27 Feb where HK Gruber will lead soloist Martin Grubinger alongside the Gewandshausorchester.

Cerha wrote his new Konzert für Schlagzeug und Orchester for the exceptional young percussionist Martin Grubinger, one of the finest performers of his generation. ‘The

cerha

STAUD

Precise outbursts Johannes Maria Staud’s music stands out ‘due to its intensity, both on a small and large scale. Its impact is never brutal, but always subtly structured. Here one feels the hand of the composer, whose outbursts are controlled, in contrast to the spontaneous explosions of the improviser – but which, sure enough, hit their mark even more precisely as a result.’ (Gunther Schneider)

His Segue, Musik für Cello und Orchester was commissioned by Peter Ruzicka, at the Salzburg Festival and premièred in Salzburg in 2006 under Daniel Barenboim with Heinrich Schiff and the Vienna Philharmonic. ‘Segue indicates that the music continues on the next page. The phrase is a poetic image for my intention of composing without having to have an anachronistic formula in front of me ... but it is also a reference to the fact that there will always be new and unusual things in art’ (Staud). Recently, he has produced a new version of the work which will be christened by Lothar Zagrosek in Berlin, when he conducts the Konzerthausorchester with JeanGuihen Queyras as soloist on 20 and 21 Feb.

staud

Johannes Maria Staud

The Wiener Klaviertrio presents Staud’s four miniatures Für Bálint András Varga on 16 Dec in the Wiener Konzerthaus, and will then tour the work to Taunton/GB (première 9 Jan) and Wiesbaden (première 13 Jan). The German première of Lagrein, for violin, clarinet, violoncello and piano, takes place at the Munich Gasteig on 10 Dec, with Stefan Schneider (clar), Daniel Giglberger (vln), Rupert Buchner (vlc) and Jan Philip Schulze (pno).

PÄRT

Two World Premières Arvo Pärt will be seeing off 2008 with a world première and welcoming in 2009 on the same note. AlleluiaTropus for choir and eight cellos was inspired by the festival Le Voci dell'Anima in Bari/I where the remains of St. Nicholas of Myra are preserved. It will be heard for the first time at a portrait concert in Bari on 20 Dec. For Alleluia-Tropus, Pärt took a text from the Christian liturgy that is dedicated to St. Nicholas. The concert is a new collaboration with Tallinn’s Vox Clamantis choir and the cello octet Conjunto Ibérico, which premièred O-Antiphonen for eight cellos in Amsterdam this October and is presenting the Italian première of

the work in Bari. L’Abbé Agathon will also be heard for the first time in Italy at the same concert with Arianna Savall as soloist. www.princigalliproduzioni.it Commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra (co-commissioner: Canberra International Music Festival), Pärt’s Symphony No. 4 ‘Los Angeles’ is now finished. This large-scale work is arranged for large string orchestra, harp, timpani and percussion, and will receive its world première on 10 and 11 Jan at the Walt Disney Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen. www.laphil.com Arvo Pärt and Tõnu Kaljuste have been invited by the association ‘Musik der Jugend’ to take part in the choir conductors’ forum in Limburg/D from 23–25 Jan, to familiarise participants from all over Germany with Pärt’s work for choir. www.amj-musik.de

Arvo Pärt and Momo Kodama 2004

pärt

SCHWARTZ

ensemble[:E:]uropa Following Jay Schwartz’ latest world première on 29 Nov (Music for Voices and Orchestra), we are looking forward to the composer’s second work written for the Nyyd Ensemble from Talinn. The new work, a commission by WDR Radio, will receive its first performance in Cologne on 24 Jan as part of the WDR concert series ‘ensemble[:E:]uropa’. On Schwartz’ first work for Nyyd – Music for Chamber Ensemble (2006) – Estonian critic Märt-Matis Lill wrote: ‘The work convincingly unites several important currents of European music from recent decades. … Two opposing poles are treated in an extremely interesting way. Both layers remain clear and recognisable while confrontation for confrontation’s sake is never the object, but

rather a much deeper search for a common denominator between two contrasting fundamental substances.’ Information: www.universaledition.com/schwartz BORISOVA-OLLAS

Swedish Awards We are proud to announce that Victoria Borisova-Ollas’ work, The Ground Beneath Her Feet (for orchestra, soloists, narrator, band, and film), has won the Swedish Music Publishers’ Award 2008 for classical music in the category large works/opera. The prize was announced at a ceremony in Stockholm on 7 November. This May, Victoria Borisova-Ollas was also appointed a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Music. The Academy praised her leading position as a young composer in Sweden today.

Jay Schwartz

schwartz / borisova-ollas

Wolfgang Rihm RIHM

Nocturne by Rihm The Philharmonie Essen is using new concepts to present new music this season with 17 opportunities to get to know Wolfgang Rihm and his music. Rihm wrote his String Quartet No. 11 as composer in residence for the Takács Quartet and the Philharmonie Essen. The world première will take place in Essen on 18 Jan, with the Takács Quartet then taking the work for its UK première at the Southbank Centre on 20 Feb. www.philharmonie-essen.de

‘When Daniel Barenboim asked me to create a piece for his Mozart programme, I absolutely wanted to extend the idea of employing Daniel Barenboim as soloist to encompass the wonderful pianissimo sound he produces on the piano. I had listened to him several times already and was always captivated by these uniquely played pianissimi. Therefore I wrote a nocturne in which I filled this piano experience with thoughts about the possible or impossible invention of today’s artistic beauty.’ Such are Rihm’s words on the creation of Sotto voce, Notturno für Klavier und kleines Orchester (1999). The piece can be heard in Austria for the first time on 15 Dec in Vienna with the RSO Vienna under Bertrand de Billy with Marino Formenti as soloist. www.musikverein.at Séraphin-Sphäre für Ensemble (1993–1996/2006) receives two territorial premières: the Ensemble Fontana Mix will take it to Bologna/ Italy on 14 Dec, while the Collegium Novum Zurich is to perform it on 23 Jan in Zurich’s Tonhalle.

rihm

LUKE BEDFORD

into ... Europe Back in the summer we told you about the exciting new music project into …, headed by Ensemble Modern and the Siemens Arts Program. Luke Bedford and Vykintas Baltakas travelled to Johannesburg and Dubai respectively; each being commissioned to create a new work for Ensemble Modern based on their experiences. Bedford is well into the compositional process for the 20-minute work, which will premiere next March. Asked of his inspiration for the work and the project in general, Bedford said that he was ‘hoping to capture some of the energy of Johannesburg, and also its extremes … the piece will range from very delicate music to extreme fortissimo with two howling Tam-Tams!’ Before that excitement, though, we

see something of a European trend following July’s rapturously received premiere of On Time in Berlin. January sees Oliver Knussen conducting the Asko|Schönberg ensemble in the Dutch première (14 Jan: Vredenburg, Utrecht) and second performance (15 Jan: Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Amsterdam) of Bedford’s Royal Philharmonic Society Award-winning composition, Or voit tout en aventure. Not wanting to be left out, the Vienna Musikverein hosts its own Bedford première on 20 Feb. Hugh Wolff will conduct the RSO Vienna in the five-minute orchestral short, Outblaze the Sky, with Martin Grubinger taking the percussion solo. The work was recently recorded in the presence of Pierre Boulez as the culmination of the current LSO/ UBS Soundscapes scheme. Finally, we’re excited to learn that Wreathe has been nominated for a British Composer Award – we hope to report a success next issue!

Luke Bedford

luke bedford

Cristóbal Halffter Lázaro Theater Kiel 2008 HALFFTER

Magical attraction

para Madrid '92 for mixed choir and orchestra, where he will conduct the national première with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. EICHBERG

Cristóbal Halffter’s one-act opera Lazaro, premièred in May 2008 to rapturous applause at the Oper Kiel, sees its Spanish première on 28 Feb in Valencia, conducted by the composer himself. In this piece, Halffter, a humanist with the wisdom of maturity, poses the eternal human question of the border between belief and knowledge, clothed in music of eminent shades of colour which develops an almost magical attraction in its richness of nuance. The Greek concert première is planned for March 2009 in Athens. Halffter conducts his 2000 stage work Don Quijote in a concert performance on 14 and 16 Jan in Madrid. Halffter has been invited to the Philippines on 5 Dec with his Preludio

Ritual for the violin Soren Nils Eichberg's violin concerto Qilaatersorneq had its Chinese première in Dec 2007, followed by the South Korean première in Macau with Dennis Kim and the South Korean Philharmonic Orchestra. Based on a shamanic ritual from Greenland, the soloist rises from the elegy of the opening into a state of intoxicating ecstasy, which eventually pulls the orchestra along with it and culminates in a collective exaltation. We look forward to the next performance in Denmark, May 2009.

halffter / eichberg

Pierre Boulez BOULEZ

Boulez global This January, the London Sinfonietta takes Pierre Boulez’ Dérive 1 to the USA for the International Chamber Orchestra Festival in Saint Paul Minnesota; Diego Masson conducts. The composer himself conducts Dérive 2 with the Ensemble Intercontemporain at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on 11 Dec and again two days later in Grenoble. Daniel Harding takes the Mahler Chamber Orchestra to Austria and Spain for performances of Mémoriale (… explosante-fixe … Originel) in February. Chiara Tonelli is the flute soloist in Salzburg, Madrid, Valladolid and Zaragoza. Zubin Mehta is conducting three performances of Notations I-IV in Israel this coming February, with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

(28 Jan and 7 Feb in Tel Aviv, 1 Feb in Haifa). Boulez’ une page d’éphéméride is an extract from an unfinished cycle of works for piano that the composer started in 1999. The work was first published in the collection Piano Project (UE33662), which also contains original compositions by Cristóbal Halffter, Arvo Pärt, György Kurtág and others. Hidéki Nagano gives the Austrian première of the work at the Mozartwoche 2009 in Salzburg (31 Jan) in a Boulez programme also including Dialogue de l'ombre double for clarinet and tape, Sonata No. 1 for piano, Dérive 2 for 11 instruments and Anthèmes 2 for violine and live electronics. Mitsuko Uchida performs the 12 Notations for piano on 30 Jan, also at the Mozartwoche. The new study score of Le Marteau sans maître is now available (see page 5).

boulez

BIRTWISTLE

Bells from the garage Harrison Birtwistle’s Chronometer for two asynchronous four-track tapes was written in 1971/72. It is the only major electronic piece in which he integrated recordings of the sounds of different bells (Big Ben, the Science Museum). The original tapes, long thought to be lost, were recently discovered in a garage and have now been fully restored and digitally remastered. The result was presented by the British Music Information Centre in London on 19 Nov as a compilation DVD offering 40 years of ‘surround electro-acoustic music from the UK’ with all the composers present. Birtwistle’s Cortege will be performed by the London Sinfonietta during the International Chamber

Orchestra Festival in Saint Paul/USA (15/18 Jan). Resembling a dance, this piece is indulgent and modern in character: 14 musicians alternate between solo and accompanying passages. Birtwistle’s Tombeau in memoriam Igor Stravinsky will also be heard with the Ensemble Resonanz in Quickborn (13 Dec) and Hamburg (14 Dec). In Vienna, Ensemble Kontrapunkte will perform Songs by Myself at the Musikverein on 26 Jan. Birtwistle’s dramatic pastoral Down by the Greenwood Side, which received its world première at the Brighton Festival in 1969, will share a programme at the Wilhelma Theater in Stuttgart with Ernst Krenek’s Der Diktator. Birtwistle’s work is based on a folk pantomime, the Mummers’ Play, which once took place at Christmas and is now performed to mark the beginning of spring. The première is on 6 Feb.

Peter Zinovieff (Abbey Road Studios) and Harrison Birtwistle

birtwistle

Mauricio Kagel Ludwig van KAGEL

Mauricio Kagel 1931–2008 The German-Argentinean composer Mauricio Kagel died in Cologne this September. Universal Edition publishes over 50 of his compositions, including groundbreaking works for stage such as Staatstheater and Ludwig van, his extraordinary homage to Beethoven. Born in Buenos Aires in 1931, Kagel is now a contemporary music icon. His name is linked to instrumental theatre in particular, upon which he exerted a profound influence. He created films, radio plays and essays, as well as works for stage, orchestra and chamber music. Originality, imagination and, above all, humour are the hallmarks of his oeuvre. With his great ingenuity, Kagel used a range of different

means of expression that often had an ironic and provocative effect. Universal Edition mourns one of the most original and productive composers of our time. LIEBERMANN

Stage rage ‘Rolf Liebermanns Furioso for orchestra is completely true to its name, with raging, stamping and roaring timpani forming an incessant organ point; screaming ascending string figures; screeching brass accents; all designed to terrorise us. … It is an absolutely understanddable contemporary outburst of rage – an evocative accusation which has found a convincing, impressive musical form.’ (Karl Heinrich David on the 1949 Zurich performance). Vassili Sinaiski conducts the Rundfunk-Sinfonie-orchester Berlin on the 13 Dec.

kagel / liebermann

BERIO

Transcribing a genre Luciano Berio wrote Concerto for two pianos and orchestra in 1972/73. He used the piece to develop innumerable different relationships between soloists and orchestra. The two pianos change their roles constantly, even becoming a simple accompaniment to other soloists in the orchestra. For Berio, Concerto – he used the term ‘concerto’ only as a metaphor for a genre that he considered obsolete in the conventional sense – was almost a transcription of the ‘concerto’ genre itself: a journey through a huge variety of roles, relationships, functions and processes which each piano experiences, but always in a different way. The sisters Katia and Marielle Labèque, with whom Luciano Berio often worked, will perform Concerto on tour with the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden/Freiburg under Michael Gielen, starting in Freiburg on 24 Jan, before heading to Las Palmas, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Valencia and San Sebastian. Mode Records’ recording of Berio’s ‘Complete Sequenzas, Alternate Sequenzas and Solo Works’ was voted the best contemporary music release by Italian music

berio

Luciano Berio

magazine Amadeus in 2008 (Premio del Disco Amadeus 2008), the fourth major accolade for this CD album. Further information: www.moderecords.com

WEILL/BRECHT

Der Jasager The school opera Der Jasager goes back to the Japanese fable Tanikô, a play from the centuries-old Nôh theatre. A shortened English version of the Noh play was translated into German by Elisabeth Hauptmann and made its way to Kurt Weill and Bertholt Brecht. Weill composed Der Jasager in the first half of 1930, pausing only for the turbulent première of Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny on 9 March 1930. The term ‘school opera’ gave Weill a number of possibilities for combining the concepts of ‘education’ and ‘opera’: the opera teaches the composer – or a whole new generation of composers – to approach the operatic genre in a new way. But it is also a question of re-training the process of operatic performance, with the end goal of staging the work so

naturally and simply that children become the ideal performers. And finally, Weill also considered ‘school operas’ as meant for use in schools: ‘it is thus essential that a piece for schools should give children the opportunity to learn something, beyond the joy of making music ‘ (Weill). Der Jasager will be performed by the Opera National du Rhin, as part of a special series for young people, in Strasbourg on 24 and 25 Jan, in Colmar on 5 Feb and in Mulhouse on 20 Feb, together with the Mahagonny Songspiel. More information see: www.operanationaldurhin.fr

Kurt Weill

weill

Karlheinz Stockhausen STOCKHAUSEN

New musical atlas

Kreuzspiel is performed by Collegium Novum in Zurich on 25 Feb. SCHNITTKE

Following the performance of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Gruppen at the Berliner Musikfest in Berlin's Tempelhof airport, Volker Hagedorn wrote in Die Zeit that we now know ‘why the musical atlas had to be redrawn after Gruppen ... now we can discover avant-garde music as generations before us discovered the baroque.’ Hopefully the audience can experience Kontra-Punkte similarly, in its interpretation by the Los Angeles Philharmonic on 9 Dec in LA. This piece is also scheduled for performance on 17 Jan in London, performed by the Guildhall New Music Ensemble. In the same concert the BBC Singers will also present Choral and the rarely sung Chöre für Doris, based on poems by Paul Verlaine. Nicolas Hodges also plays a selection from the Klavierstücke.

Ingenious techniques Alfred Schnittke’s orchestral piece (K)ein Sommernachtstraum is to be performed in Leipzig (15 and 16 Nov) by the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Instead of following Felix Mendelssohn or any of the other Shakespeare composers, Schnittke ingeniously makes use of familiar forms of composition, laying them on top of each other and then rearranging them. His Concerto for oboe, harp and strings will be presented in Prague on 15 Dec. The innovative oboe playing techniques used throughout make it particularly captivating.

stockhausen / schnittke

ISRAEL

Musical Israel Many people are surprised to learn that Israel's music scene is so active. The many ensembles and festivals stand up proudly to comparison with their colleagues in the traditional strongholds of western music, in terms of both quality and dedication. First among these ensembles is the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Zubin Mehta. The orchestra celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2007 and is equally at home in the repertoire of the 20th or 21st century. The orchestra performs Pierre Boulez’ Notations I–IV under Mehta in Tel Aviv on 28 Jan and again the following week on 7 Feb, heading to Haifa in between on 1 Feb. Leoš Janáčeks Taras Bulba is performed from 6–15 Jan in Tel

Aviv, on 8 Jan in Jerusalem and on 11 and 12 Jan in Haifa. The Israeli musical landscape is also shaped by the presence of the Israel Symphony Orchestra – performing Janáček's Das schlaue Füchslein, directed by David Pountney and conducted by Jonathan Webb, Israeli première 25 Feb–6 March, the Israel Sinfonietta – Zoltán Kodály’s Tänze aus Galanta, 21 and 23 Feb – and the Israel Chamber Orchestra – Richard Strauss’ Serenade, 16 Jan.

Israel Philharmonic 70th Anniversary Concert 2007

israel

UNIVERSAL EDITION

The magic of the solo cello The cello is without a doubt one of the most fascinating solo instruments, often standing in the spotlight at Universal Edition too. Naturally, our Wiener Urtext series includes an exemplary scholarly edition of Johann Sebastian Bach's 6 Suiten für Violoncello (UT50133). Another work tailored to the musical and technical gifts of a cellist is Luciano Berio's Sequenza XIV. Berio

wrote the piece in 2002 for Rohan de Saram, who has since played the Sequenza in innumerable international concerts to great acclaim. His friend Béla Bartók raved about Zoltán Kodály’s Sonate für Cello op. 8, calling it ‘no imitation of the polyphonous Bach style’, and thus neither old-fashioned nor German, but modern and Hungarian. Cristóbal Halffter works a Spanish folk-song into his SOLO – Klagelied eines verwundeten Vogels, a piece often played by Pablo Casals which became a kind of hymn for the resistance against Franco. Søren Nils Eichberg, born 1973, created a new benchmark in cello literature for the ARD competition in 2005 with Variationen uber ein Thema von Niccolo Paganini. Luigi Dallapiccola completed his Ciaccona, Intermezzo e Adagio in 1945, a month before the liberation of Florence. The piece reflects the composer's idiosyncratic dramaturgy, consisting of abstraction and scorn. This gripping example of motivic twelve-tone music is performed on 27 Jan in London's Wigmore Hall.

solo cello

Frank Martin Le vin herbé Ruhrtriennale 2007 MARTIN

French wine The music of Frank Martin is so diverse that it is difficult to categorise. It’s like conducting four composers at once, as a conductor recently remarked. Following the jubilant success of the Amsterdam performance of Der Sturm (Thierry Fischer and the Nederlands RPO) we now look forward to new performances of Le Vin Herbé. The Willy Decker production from the RuhrTriennale 2007 (the FAZ wrote ‘this work belongs on every stage’) travels to the Villeurbanne/F, where Friedemann Layer conducts the Lyon Opera Orchestra. The first of four performances is on 24 Jan. The Vienna Symphoniker present two performances of In terra pax under the baton of Fabio Luisi on 11 and 12 Dec at the Musikverein in Vienna. In Munich, Thomas Hengelbrock conducts Polyptyque

for violin and two small string orchestras with the Bavarian RSO (21–23 Jan). MESSIAEN

100th birthday To mark what would have been his 100th birthday on 12 Dec, a number of current programmes are dedicated to Oliver Messiaen. One of his most performed pieces is without a doubt Oiseaux exotiques for piano and chamber orchestra from 1955/6, which is heard in Paris, Montreal, New York, Seoul, Barcelona, Karlsruhe and Cardiff in the coming months. The work is based on birdsong collected and annotated by Messiaen on his travels around the world; incredibly, he could distinguish between approximately 700 types.

martin / messiaen

MARX

Far ahead of his time The most significant orchestral work by Joseph Marx, his largescale Herbstsymphonie, will receive its US première, on 7 Dec in New York, with Leon Botstein conducting the American Symphony Orchestra. In Riccardo Chailly’s words, Marx was ‘ahead of his time with this work’. Zubin Mehta will take the Vienna Philharmonic on tour in Feb/March 09 to Vienna, New York and Los Angeles with the Orchestral Songs. A new Chandos release of the orchestral songs and choral works will also be released in 2009: Marx is experiencing a renaissance that is long overdue.

do it!’. Over 30 stage performances and radio broadcasts followed. Ernst Theis conducted the work in Dresden this summer together with Kurt Weill’s Kleine Dreigroschenmusik as part of a recording project by MDR radio in Leipzig and the Staatsoperette Dresden. The series of productions also includes Franz Schreker’s Kleine Suite and Kurt Weill’s Berliner Requiem alongside works by Erwin Schulhoff, Ernst Toch, Pavel Haas and others. The series is being continued. For more information, see www.tinyurl.com/uenick

NICK

Radio music In 1929, Eric Kästner and Edmund Nick’s radio play Leben in dieser Zeit (Life in these times) was first broadcast – a collage of texts and music dealing with the modern metropolis and the human masses within them. Kästner originally asked Kurt Weill to set the text to music, but he turned down the offer, suggesting instead ‘Nick, you

Leon Botstein

marx / nick

Walter Braunfels MARTINU

Mark Elder conducts the work with the London Philharmonic Orchestra on 24 Jan at the Royal Festival Hall. Listen to a recording by the LPO on this website: ww.tinyurl.com/ue0109bm

BRAUNFELS

Italian frescoes Phantasmagoric performers ‘The world is a mystery … a great mystery … One cannot distinguish God from the demons … They often look so similar.’ (Giannakos in the novel The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kasantzakis). As previously reported, the ‘Zurich Version’ of Bohuslav Martinů’s opera The Greek Passion is now being performed at the Zurich Opera House in a new production by Nicolas Brieger The final performance is on 3 Dec. Martinů travelled to Italy in 1954, where he first saw the eight frescos by Piero della Francesca in the San Francesco church in Arezzo. The frescoes became the inspiration for his first work for full orchestra since the Symphony No. 6: Frescos of Piero della Francesca.

As part of its series Great Performers, with lectures, discussions and pre-concert recitals, Leon Botstein is giving a talk entitled Against the Avant-Garde: Romanticisms of the 1920s at the Lincoln Center New York on the 7 Dec. In the following concert, Botstein conducts Walter Braunfels’ Don Juan ‘a classical-romantic phantasmagoria’ with the American Symphony Orchestra, in a concert together with Joseph Marx’ Herbstsymphonie (Autumn Symphony) (see page 28). See www.tinyurl.com/uebraunfels for a full list of works.

martinu / braunfels

SZYMANOWSKI

Orchestral piano Karol Szymanowski, himself a virtuoso pianist, composed Masques in 1915/6: three pieces for piano with an impressionistic signature, in which the piano takes on an orchestral character. He dedicated the third of these pieces to Arthur Rubenstein, whom he had met in Warsaw. Szymanowski had a lot to thank Rubenstein and other perfomers for, as they provided exposure to an audience eager to see what Europe could produce in terms of new music. Masques

and 9 Preludes can be heard, interpreted by Christia Hudziy, on 2 Dec at the Musee D'Orsay in Paris. On 3 and 5 Dec Philippe Jordan conducts the Tonhalle-Orchester and Viviane Hagner in the Violin Concerto No. 1 in Zurich. Mariss Jansons interprets the Symphony No. 3: Das Lied von der Nacht with the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio in Munich (18 and 19 Dec) and Cologne (20 Dec). SCHULHOFF

Personal signature Erwin Schulhoff composed Concertino for flute, viola and contrabass in Prague, during a few days in 1925. It premiĂ¨red in Donaueschingen in 1926, and is performed in the Tonhalle Zurich on 15 Jan. In four short movements, each with a distinctive structure, Schulhoff explores the specific sound characteristics of each of the featured instruments. The result is a simulation of Czech folk music with an expressiveness that is all Schulhoff's own.

Arthur Rubinstein

szymanowski / schulhoff

KODÁLY

New study score Music by Zoltán Kodály joins that of Cristóbal Halffter and Béla Bartók at a concert by the Joven Orquesta Nacional de España this January. Miguel Romea conducts the Dances from Galanta at San Sebastian and Zaragoza (16/17 Jan). Amongst the performances of the work in the coming months is one by the Israel Sinfonietta in Beer Sheva/Israel (21/23 Feb), conducted by Imre Kollár, as part of their ‘Classi-Kal’ series. A new study score of the Dances from Galanta (UE34121) is now available as part of our new series. See page 5 for more information.

be for a composer – a living one, and a moderniser at that – had something moving about it.’ A new study score is now available (see page 5). Coming performances include the Concertgebouworkest under Iván Fischer in Amsterdam (17–21 Dec) and the ballet production ‘Solitaire’ by Stephan Thoss in Wiesbaden (14 Feb). Duke Bluebeard’s Castle joins Arnold Schönberg’s Erwartung at the Staatstheater Stuttgart on 24 Jan together with Heiner Müller’s Quartett. In Luxembourg, PierreLaurent Aimard performs Bartók’s Im Freien on 10 Jan.

BARTÓK

Unstoppable drive After the first performance of Béla Bartók’s Music for String Instruments, Percussion and Celesta in 1937, the Nationalzeitung Basel wrote: ‘Following the turbulent allegro, which effuses with an unstoppable drive and surprising diatonic clarity, the kind of applause normally reserved for stars erupted from the audience. That it should

Zoltán Kodály

kodály / bartók

ZEMLINSKY / BEETHOVEN

Fidelio à la Zemlinsky Universal Edition assigned Alexander Zemlinsky the task of editing major classical works for ‘universal use’ for piano in 1902–04. This is how his versions of Mozart’s Zauberflöte and Beethoven’s Fidelio for piano duet came about. Both have been released by CaviMusic in recordings by Dennis Russell Davies and Maki Namekawa. The Landestheater Linz has been staging a choreographed Fidelio in this version for piano duet since 18 Oct (until 17 Dec). The choreography is by Jochen Ulrich. Die Seejungfrau, a fantasia for orchestra, is both Zemlinsky’s most played and only programmatic orchestral work: 1 Dec in Hamburg (James Conlon), 3/4 Dec in Basel

(Xiang Zhang), 17/18 Dec in Aachen (Peter Ruzicka) and 30 Jan in Liège (Pascal Rophé). KORNGOLD

Early career The young Erich Wolfgang Korngold began his career with the piano version of the ballet Der Schneemann. Orchestrated by his teacher Alexander Zemlinsky, the pantomime had its world première in 1910. The success of this early piece was due to the original melody and extraordinary theme in particular. Hermann Bäumer is to perform the piece on 21 Dec with the Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester in Berlin. Excerpts will be presented in Norfolk/USA, Newport News/ USA (18 and 19 Dec) and in Saarbrücken/D (21 Dec).

Zemlinsky / Beethoven Fidelio Landestheater Linz 2008

zemlinsky / korngold

Alban Berg Wozzeck Bavarian State Opera 2008 BERG

Versions of Berg Andreas Kriegenburg’s new production of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck opened at the State Opera in Munich on the 10 Nov, and continues with three further performances this January. Michael Volle sings the lead role with Michaela Schuster as Marie, with Kent Nagano conducting. Olaf Schmidt’s new Wozzeck production opens in Regensburg using the reduced version by Erwin Stein. Raoul Grüneis conducts. The Stein version is one of three reductions available today. The reduction by Eberhard Kloke (for small orchestra) is smaller than the Stein, and John Rea’s version is for 21 instruments (last performed in Lille in 2007 with the Ictus Ensemble). For full instrumentation details, see www.tinyurl.com/uewozzeck

A new version of the Seven Early Songs, arranged for medium voice by Heinz Stolba, is now available for performance. This new material opens the work up to a range of singers who have not yet had the possibility to perform the work. Berg’s Lyric Suite, Violin Concerto and Five Orchestral Songs (Altenberg Lieder) have now been released in our newly edited study score series. See page 5 for further details. A new production of Lulu by the Catalonian producer Calixto Bieito opens at the Theater Basel on 15 Feb, with Gabriel Feltz giving his debut performance in Basel. Based on the three act version of the work completed by Friedrich Cerha, Bieito presents his personal stage interpretation of the finale of the work.

berg

WEBERN

Strictly constructive ‘By “art”, I understand the ability to express a thought in the clearest, simplest, most comprehensible way …’ wrote Anton Webern in 1928. Webern perfected this ability in his composing, developing a highly sophisticated (selective), strictly constructive form of twelvetone music. Webern's 125th birthday would have been on 3 Dec, and the Ensemble Contrechamps dedicate themselves to a detailed portrait of the composer – the ‘Journees Webern’ – in Geneva. Donald Runnicles conducts the Deutsche Sinfonieorchester in 6 Stücke op. 6 on 18 Jan and, one month later, on 22 Feb, Ingo Metzmacher conducts them in a performance of the Passacaglia op. 1 in Berlin. The Ensemble Phoenix Basel interprets Symphonie op. 21 in Basel and Bern (1 and 4 Dec); the Britten Sinfonia give three concerts with 5 Sätze op. 5 in Great Britain (5 and 9 Feb); and soloists of the Ensemble Intercontemporain can be heard in Paris in a performance of 6 Bagatellen op. 9 on 25 Feb.

Erik Satie Mercure Le Théâtre Saint Malô 2007 SATIE

Picasso's living pictures The ballet music Mercure, Poses plastiques – an ironic depiction of the adventures of Mercury – was one of the last works of Erik Satie. It arose through collaboration with Pablo Picasso, who designed the set, costumes and curtain for the première in 1924 in the Theatre Cigale in Montmartre, Paris. Anna Vita has choreographed the play, full of wit, spirit and charm, for the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Andersens Welt, ten performances in Oct and Nov in Duisburg and Dusseldorf).

webern / satie

SCHÖNBERG

Performance alternatives Arnold Schönberg’s monodrama Erwartung is available in 3 versions today, offering smaller instrumental alternatives to the original’s quadruple woodwind and full brass. The version by Paul Méfano and Michel Découstfrom 2001 has less than half the wind and single strings, and the Faradsch Karaew version from 2004 uses just 20 players. The original version of Erwartung comes to the stage in Stuttgart on the 24 Jan. Together with Béla Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle it flanks a performance of Heiner Müller’s Quartett. Marco Piollet conducts a new production by Thomas Bischoff. Bluebeard and Erwartung come to Seattle in February with the Robert

Lepage production from the Canadian Opera Company. Susan Piersen is the soloist in Erwartung, and Malgorzata Walewska makes her debut in Seattle as Judith, John Relyea sings Bluebeard. The reduced version by Méfano and Découst will be performed in Kotka and Kouvola/FIN on 3 and 4 Dec by the Kymi Sinfonietta, with Yasuo Shinozaki conducting. The Ballett Schindowski presents a Schönberg evening at the Musiktheater im Revier in Gelsenkirchen in February. Bernd Schindowski’s choreography tells of human encounters, giving space to the emotional tension contained in Schönberg’s Verklärte Nacht and Erwartung (version by Karaew). Bernhard Stengel conducts, Anke Sieloff is the soloist (première 7 Feb). A new study score of Arnold Schönberg’s Pelleas und Melisande is part of the new collection released this autumn. See page 5 for details.

Arnold Schönberg Erwartung State Opera Berlin 2006

schönberg

Gustav Mahler Toblach/I MAHLER

Mahler’s fourth for ensemble Gustav Mahler himself referred to his Symphony No. 4 as a ‘symphonic humoresque’, which has a cheerful yet ambiguous character. ‘The fourth dreamily returns to a childhood which, whilst mourned for, is no longer to be trusted’ (JensMalte Fischer). With Mahler’s anniversaries coming up in 2010 and 2011, a reduced version of the Symphony No. 4 has just been completed. Requiring fewer musicians than any of Mahler’s other symphonies and with a chamber music structure, it is particularly well suited to be performed in a reduced version. In 1920/21, Schönberg’s pupil Erwin Stein created a similar version, but for financial reasons left out the all-important

mahler

French horn and the bassoon. Klaus Simon has now completely re-edited the score of the Symphony No. 4. His version leaves Mahler’s music untouched, thus reproducing the character and sound colours of the symphony as faithfully as possible while following the concert customs of Arnold Schönberg’s Society for Private Musical Performances. Schönberg is the most important creator of reduced versions of orchestral works in the history of music. In its new reduced version, the Symphony No. 4 can be performed by 14 musicians with a solo soprano: wind quintet, percussion (2), harmonium, piano and string quintet.

JANÁČEK

Operatic success Leoš Janáček’s successful operas, foremost among them The Cunning Little Vixen, are already part of the repertoire the world over. A première, then, is a rarity – like the forthcoming Israeli première, in a new staging by David Pountney (Israel Opera, Tel Aviv, 25 Feb–6 Mar). In Germany, the Deutsche Nationaltheater Weimar (dir. Calixto Bieito, première 15 Nov) and the Oper Leipzig (dir. Dietrich Hilsdorf, première 29 Nov) will cast new light on Jenůfa. Angela Denoke takes the lead role in Die Sache Makropulos eight times at La Scala, Milan, from the 16 Jan, whilst Robert Carsen's staging of Katja Kabanowa sees 10 performances at the Teatro Real in Madrid (from the 2 Dec). The rhapsody Taras Bulba is set to receive eight performances in Israel in January, performed by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Tomáš Netopil.

mièred in 1770 to great acclaim at Eszterháza Castle in Hungary. Unfortunately, the dramma giocoso based on a libretto by Carlo Goldoni fell into oblivion after parts of the manuscript were destroyed in a fire in 1779. It was only in 1965 that the work could be revived, with additions by H. C. Robbins Landon and Karl Heinz Füssl. The Wiener Kammeroper will be presenting the reconstructed version of this rare gem in 2009, Haydn’s anniversary year, with a première on 21 Feb.

HAYDN

Comeback for the fisherwomen Joseph Haydn’s opera semiseria Le pescatrici (The fisherwomen) pre-

Joseph Haydn Le pescatrici Wiener Kammeroper 2009

janáček / haydn

2009 50th 75th 75th 80th 150th 90th 50th 200th 50th 50th 80th 75th 100th 75th 75th 100th 90th 50th

Anniv. of Death Birthday Anniv. of Death Birthday Anniversary Anniversary Anniv. of Death Anniv. of Death Anniv. of Death Anniv. of Death Birthday Birthday Anniversary Anniversary Anniv. of Death Anniversary Anniversary Anniv. of Death

George Antheil † 12 February 1959 Sir Harrison Birtwistle * 15 July 1934 Frederick Delius † 10 June 1934 Edison W. Denisow * 06 April 1929 Joseph Bohuslav Foerster * 30 Dec 1859 Roman Haubenstock-Ramati * 27 Feb 1919 Josef Matthias Hauer † 22 September 1959 Joseph Haydn † 31 May 1809 Bohuslav Martinu † 28 August 1959 Ennio Porrino † 25 September 1959 Henri Pousseur * 23 June 1929 Bernard Rands * 02 March 1934 Karl Scheit * 21 April 1909 Alfred Schnittke * 24 November 1934 Franz Schreker † 21 March 1934 Alfred Uhl * 05 June 1909 Roman Vlad * 29 December 1919 Eric Zeisl † 18 February 1959

Anniv. of Death Anniv. of Death Birthday Birthday Anniversary Anniversary Birthday Anniversary Anniversary Anniv. of Death

Hugo Alfvén † 08 May 1960 Alban Berg * 24 December 1935 Paul-Heinz Dittrich * 04 December 1930 Cristóbal Halffter * 24 March 1930 Rolf Liebermann * 14 September 1910 Gustav Mahler * 07 July 1860 Arvo Pärt * 11 September 1935 Ennio Porrino * 20 January 1910 Toru Takemitsu * 08 October 1930 Egon Wellesz * 21 October 1885

2010 50th 75th 80th 80th 100th 150th 75th 100th 80th 125th

anniversaries

2011 75th 75th 100th 75th 80th 75th 200th 100th 75th 75th 50th 50th 125th 50th 25th 75th

Birthday Birthday Anniversary Birthday Birthday Birthday Anniversary Anniv. of Death Birthday Anniv. of Death Birthday Birthday Birthday Birthday Anniv. of Death Birthday

Gilbert Amy * 29 August 1936 Sir Richard Rodney Bennett * 29 March 1936 Paul Burkhard * 21 December 1911 Cornelius Cardew * 07 May 1936 Mauricio Kagel * 24 December 1931 Ladislav Kupkovic * 17 March 1936 Franz Liszt * 22 October 1811 Gustav Mahler † 18 May 1911 Steve Reich * 03 October 1936 Ottorino Respighi † 18 April 1936 David Sawer * 14 September 1961 Daniel Schnyder * 12 March 1961 Othmar Schoeck * 01 September 1886 Mauricio Sotelo * 02 October 1961 Alexandre Tansman † 15 November 1986 Hans Zender * 22 November 1936

Anniversary Birthday Anniv. of Death Anniv. of Death Birthday Birthday Birthday Anniv. of Death Birthday Birthday Birthday Birthday

Kurt Atterberg * 12 December 1887 David Bedford * 04 August 1937 Hanns Eisler † 06 September 1962 Morton Feldman † 03 September 1987 Silvia Fómina * 1962 Peter Kolman * 29 May 1937 Richard Meale * 24 August 1932 Caspar Neher † 30 June 1962 Gösta Neuwirth * 06 January 1937 Bo Nilsson * 01 May 1937 Wolfgang Rihm * 13 March 1952 Rodion K. Schtschedrin * 16 December 1932

2012 125th 75th 50th 25th 50th 75th 80th 50th 75th 75th 60th 80th

anniversaries

FRIEDRICH CERHA Serenade for ensemble Ensemble die reihe, c. HK Gruber 12 February 2009 · Festspielhaus St. Pölten/A Concerto for percussion and orchestra Gewandhausorchester, c. HK Gruber Martin Grubinger, perc 26 February 2009 · Gewandhaus Leipzig/D GEORG FRIEDRICH HAAS ... in progress for chamber ensemble students of the Vienna Conservatoire 19 December 2008 · Konservatorium Wien Privatuniversität/A ARVO PÄRT Alleluia-Tropus for vocal ensemble (or chamber choir SATB) and 8 cellos (ad lib.) Cello Octet Conjunto Iberico, Vox Clamantis 20 December 2008 · Bari/I Symphony No. 4 ‘Los Angeles’ for string orchestra, harp, timpani and percussion Los Angeles Philharmonic, c. Esa-Pekka Salonen 10 January 2009 · Walt Disney Hall Los Angeles/USA WOLFGANG RIHM String Quartet No. 11 Takacs Quartet 18 January 2009 · Philharmonie Essen/D DAVID SAWER Skin Deep Operetta in 3 acts Libretto Armando Iannucci Orchestra and Chorus of Opera North, c. Richard Farnes Geoffrey Dolton – Doktor Needlemeier, Janis Kelly – Lania, Heather Shipp – Donna, Amy Freston – Elsa, Andrew Tortise – Robert, Mark Stone – Luke Pollock dir. Richard Jones, set. Stewart Laing 16 January 2009 · Grand Theatre Leeds/GB www.goskindeep.com

world premières

GEORG FRIEDRICH HAAS Les Temps tiraillés for 3 instruments and electronics Pascal Gallois, bsn, Geneviève Strosser, Garth Knox, vla Myriam Gourfink, choreography 24 January 2009 · Centre Georges Pompidou Paris/F

JAY SCHWARTZ Music for Chamber Ensemble Nyyd Ensemble 24 January 2009 · Funkhaus Walraffplatz Köln/D JOHANNES MARIA STAUD Segue Music for cello and orchestra (world première of the revised version) Konzerthausorchester Berlin, c. Lothar Zagrosek Jean-Guihen Queyras, vlc 20 February 2009 · Konzerthaus Berlin/D

world premières

Classic Solos for Flute 2 for flute solo incl. CD ed. by Mary Karen Clardy UE 70322 LUKE BEDFORD Catafalque for piano UE 21439 LEOŠ JANÁČEK Mährische Volkstänze for orchestra edition for violin and piano by Leoš Faltus UE 33728 WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART Wiener Sonatinen for flute and piano ed. by Peter Ludwig and Ulrich Müller-Doppler UE 33702 CARL REINECKE Undine Sonate for flute and piano ed. by Irmlind Capelle interpretation notes by Susanne Schrage fingering (piano) by Peter Roggenkamp UT 50242 GEOFFRY RUSSELL-SMITH Easy Blue Recorder Duets for 2 soprano recorders UE 21452 ROBERT SCHUMANN Works for four-handed piano Vol. 2 ed. by Joachim Draheim fingering and interpretation notes by Ljiljana Borota and Christian Knebel Urtext after the New Schumann Complete Edition UT 50079 MAURICIO SOTELO Green Aurora dancing over the night side of the earth for piano UE 33418

new releases

NICOLAI PODGORNOV

Romantic Piano Album incl. La Valse d’Amélie & Can You Feel the Love Tonight for piano UE 33937 Podgornov’s magic piano continues Arrangements of both Elton John’s Can you Feel the Love Tonight?, from The Lion King and Yann Tierson’s Amélie’s Waltz from the film Amélie feature amongst this collection of new piano solos from Nicolai Podgornov. Following the success of his first album, he has created an assortment of musical surprises for middle-grade pianists. The pieces range from dreamy to energetic but all provide stimulating and expressive moments at the piano. Nicolai Podgornov writes: ‘I hope that every romantic – no matter what age – discovers something of interest in this album and finds pleasure in playing these pieces.’

new releases

LUCIANO BERIO Chemins I, Chemins IIb, Concerto, Formazioni Anna Verkholantseva, hrp, GrauSchumacher Piano Duo RSO Wien, c. Martyn Brabbins, Bertrand de Billy, Stefan Asbury col legno CD WWE 20281 MORTON FELDMAN Coptic Light SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg, c. Michael Gielen Hänssler Classic CD 93.061 MORTON FELDMAN triadic memories Steffen Schleiermacher, pno MDG CD 613 1521-2 LEOŠ JANÁČEK Das schlaue Füchslein Orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin, c. Václav Neumann (1956) Edition Walter Felsenstein Edition, Arthaus Music DVD 101 305 MAURICIO KAGEL Acustica TAM-Theater Krefeld, c. Mauricio Kagel Zig Zag Territoires CD ZZT080403 ALMA MAHLER Lieder Maria R. Wesseling, voc, Nathalie Dang, pno Claves CD 50-2904 GUSTAV MAHLER Symphonies No. 2, 3 and 4 Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, c. David Zinman, Juliane Banse, Anna Larsson, Schweizer Kammerchor Sony RCA Red Seal GUSTAV MAHLER Das klagende Lied San Francisco Symphony and Chorus, c. Michael Tilson Thomas, Marina Shaguch, S, Michelle De Young, MS, Thomas Moser, T, Sergei Leiferkus, Bar SFS CD 821936-0017-2-5 GUSTAV MAHLER Das Lied von der Erde San Francisco Symphony and Chorus, c. Michael Tilson Thomas Stuart Skelton, T, Thomas Hampson, Bar SFS CD 821936-0019-2-9 GUSTAV MAHLER Klavierquartett; ARNOLD SCHÖNBERG Verklärte Nacht (arr. for piano trio) Wiener Klaviertrio, Johannes Fiedler, vla MDG CD 342 1354-2 JOSEPH MARX Klavierstücke Tonya Lemoh, pno Chandos Records CHAN CD 10479 JOSEPH MARX Eine Frühlingsmusik, Feste im Herbst, Idylle RSO Vienna, c. Johannes Wildner cpo CD 777 320-2 ARVO PÄRT Kanon Pokajanen (selection) Orthodox Singers, c. Valery Petrov Troubadisc TRO-CD 01432-1 ARVO PÄRT Memento; WOLFGANG RIHM Vigilia Singer Pur Oehms Classics CD OC 812 ARVO PÄRT Spiegel im Spiegel Dan Styffe, cb, Gonzalo Moreno, pno Simax Classics PSC CD 1288

new on cd + dvd

HALFFTER Cadencia, Ecos de un antiguo órgano, Formantes, u. a. Alberto Rodaso, Juan Carlos Garvayo, pn Verso CD VRS 2063

MARX Herbstchor an Pan, Ein Neujahrshymnus, Berghymne, u.a. BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, c. Jiri Belohlavek CHAN CD 10505

SOTELO Chalan, Wall of light black, Night J.M. Cañizares, Marcus Weiss, musikFabrik, c. Stefan Asbury, Brad Lubman KAIROS CD 0012832KAI

STAUD Towards a Brighter Hue Karina Buschinger, vln Classic clips CLCL CD 105

FRANZ SCHREKER Intermezzo, Scherzo; ERNST KRENEK Symphony No. 1 Dietrich Henschel, bar, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, c. John Axelrod Nimbus Records CD NI 5808 JOSEF SUK Ouvertüre zu Ein Wintermärchen Orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin, c. Kirill Petrenko cpo CD 777 364-2 KURT WEILL Berliner Requiem Jan Remmers, Christian Immler, Berliner Rundfunkchor, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, c. John Axelrod Nimbus Records CD NI 5807 ALEXANDER ZEMLINSKY / LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Fidelio (for four-handed piano) Maki Namekawa, Dennis Russell Davies, Waltraud Meier, Kurt Moll CAvi 2 CDs 8553085

new on cd + dvd

HENRI POUSSEUR (born 1929)

Worklist Apostrophe et six réflexions 1964–1966 for piano 18’ Apostrophe • Sur le tempo • Sur le phrasé • Sur le dynamique • Sur le toucher • Sur les sonorités • Sur les octaves Caractères 1961 for piano 9’ Écho I de Votre Faust 1965 for cello 3’ first movement from Échos de Votre Faust Échos de Votre Faust 1969 for mezzo soprano, flute, cello and piano 26’ texts by Michel Butor, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gérard de Nerval, Luis de Góngora, Christopher Marlowe, Francesco Petrarca La ligne des toits (cello solo) • Couleur de l'air A (trio, without flute) • Insinuations (quartet) • Grande loterie du labyrinthe des fantômes (quartet) • Les herbes des yeux (flute and piano) • Couleur de l'air B (trio, without piano) • Le tremble et le rossignol (trio, without voice) Électre 1960 action musicale, tape with spoken (French) text, instrumental and electronic parts 50’ text editor: Pierre Rhallys (after Sophokles); roles: Electre, Clytemnestre, Oreste, Egisthe, le Messager, choir, commentator (ballet) Madrigal I 1958 for clarinet 4’ Madrigal II 1961 for 4 old instruments 3’ Madrigal III 1962 for clarinet and 5 instruments 12’ Miroir de Votre Faust (Caractères II) 1964–1965 for piano and soprano ad. lib. 29’ Le tarot d'Henri (piano solo, 15') • La chevauchée fantastique (text by Goethe, piano solo and soprano ad libitum, 4') • Souvenirs d' une marionette (piano solo, 10') Ode 1960–1961 for string quartet 17’

pousseur worklist

Parade de Votre Faust 1975 for orchestra, arranged by Jean-Louis Robert 20’ Symphonies à quinze solistes 1954 for chamber orchestra 13’ Trait 1962 for 15 string players 10’ U oder E-Musik 1990/1991 for string quartet 2’ 7 versets des psaumes de la pénitence 1950 for mixed choir a cappella (SATB) or vocal quartet 3’40’’ 3 visages de Liège 1961 electronic music 20’ L'Air et l'eau • Voix de la ville • Forges Votre Faust 1961/1968 variable play in the manner of an opera (new version 1981) var. 150–180’ libretto by Henri Pousseur and Michel Butor roles: singers: Der Bassist / Die Altistin / Die Sopranistin / Der Tenor actors: Der Theaterdirektor / Henri / Maggy / Die Sängerin / Die Schauspielerin Arrangements: Anton Webern (1883–1945) Passacaglia op. 1 (1908) for small ensemble arranged by Henri Pousseur

1987 11’

More information available at: www.universaledition.com/pousseur

henri pousseur

UNIVERSAL EDITION Austria: Boesendorferstr. 12, A-1010 Vienna, Austria (Musikverein) tel +43-1-337 23 - 0, fax +43-1-337 23 - 400 UK: 48 Great Marlborough Street, London W1F 7BB tel +44-20-7437-6880, fax +44-20-7292-9173. USA: European American Music Distributors LLC 254 West 31st Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10001-2813 tel +1-212-461-6940, fax +1-212-810-4565. www.universaledition.com, promotion@universaledition.com Chief Editors: Angelika Dworak and Eric Marinitsch Contributors: Eric Marinitsch, Jonathan Irons, Angelika Dworak, Elisabeth Bezdicek, Daniela Burgstaller, Kieran Morris and Marion Dürr Design: Egger & Lerch, Vienna/Austria Photo credits: Eric Marinitsch (6), UE-Archive (5), Marcello Antico, www.lifepr.de, Marion Kalter, Hagen Rehborn, IMD Darmstadt, Struck-Foto, Holland Festival / Lieven Bertels, Stone / courtesy of the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music New York, Picture-Alliance, Neal Hecker, www.amatis.us, Ruhrtriennale / T. Schwede, Steve Pyke, Arthur Rubinstein International Music Society, Landestheater Linz / Paul Leclaire Köln, Bayerische STOP / Wildfried Hösl, Théâtre St. Malo, Staatsoper Berlin, International Gustav Mahler Society Vienna, Wiener Kammeroper / Holger Beck, sbcarlile, Patrice Vioisin; CDs: Verso, Chandos, KAIROS, Classic Clips. DVR: 0836702

thema