On the Page 2012

CASA RICORDI

DURAND SALABERT ESCHIG

RICORDI MÜNCHEN

RICORDI LONDON

EDITIO MUSICA BUDAPEST

HI GH LI GH TS

OF SE LE CT ED CO M PO SE RS FROM OU R CL AS SI CA L CA TA LO GS • UN IV ER SA L M US IC PU BL IS HI NG

CL AS SI CA L:

GI VI NG M US IC A UN IV ER SA L PE RS PE CT IV E

Please contact our promotion team for any questions, perusal scores or recordings: Casa Ricordi, Milan annamaria.macchi@umusic.com Editions Durand – Salabert – Eschig, Paris eric.denut@umusic.com Ricordi Munich michael.zwenzner@ricordi.de mlochar@ricordi.de Ricordi London elaine.mitchener@umusic.com Editio Musica Budapest szitha@emb.hu Universal Music Publishing Classical Santa Monica, California silke.hilger@umusic.com

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Table of contents Foreword ........................................................................................................................................................................... 3 PÉter Eötvös on György Kurtág ..................................................................................................................... 4 Conducting Francesconi. An interview with Susanna Mälkki ................................................................... 8 The return of Moby Dick & Lulu. Two new operas by Olga Neuwirth .............................................. 12 Back to the Piano. An interview with Nicolas Hodges ................................................................................. 16 THE search for a voice. Ricordi London composers 2011 ...................................................................... 20 Discover, encourage, prospect. An interview with the artistic director of hcmf// ..................... 23 New from across Europe. UMPC Acquisitions and signings in 2011 ................................................. 26 What music has to say about Nietzsche. An interview with Pascal Dusapin on O Mensch! . ... 32 “Real-time”, a modern challenge. An interview with Philippe Manoury & Pierre Morlet . .......... 36 Four Quartets by Fabio Vacchi . ..................................................................................................................... 42 Essential Poppe .......................................................................................................................................................... 46 Andras Szöllösy ....................................................................................................................................................... 48 Donizetti’s Le Duc d’Alba by Giorgio Battistelli .............................................................................. 52 Giacomo Meyerbeer Critical Edition .......................................................................................................... 58 2012 World Premieres ............................................................................................................................................ 64

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The hoMe for coMPosers froM across The Globe The prominent globe in the Universal Music Publishing Classical logo is a very meaningful symbol. Universal Music Group consists today of a thriving record and publishing business with more than fifty offices throughout the world.

Therefore it should come as no surprise that the roster of our composers is as diverse and multi-cultural as their publisher’s name suggests.

For example: Liza Lim is an Australian of Chinese

Samir Odeh-Tamimi is half Israeli, half

György Kurtàg was born in Romania, is a

descent, lives in the UK, and is published

Palestinian, lives in Berlin, and is published

French-Hungarian citizen, lives in France, and

by Ricordi Munich, London and Milan.

by Ricordi Munich.

is published by Editio Musica Budapest.

Oscar Bianchi is Italian, lives in Amsterdam,

Wenjing Guo is Chinese, lives in China,

Dai Fujikura is Japanese, lives in London, and

and is published by Editions Durand in Paris.

and is published by Ricordi Milan.

is published by Ricordi Munich and London.

In this publication we have included selected essays that provide a deeper insight into some of our established, emerging and legacy composers through their own, their interpreters’, or distinguished musicologists’ voices.

We hope you enjoy the journey through the world of Universal Music Publishing Classical: our composers come from all over the globe, are world citizens, and we are committed to making their music heard throughout the Universe.

Antal Boronkay, Managing Director, Editio Musica Budapest Silke Hilger, International Promotion Director, UMP Classical Cristiano Ostinelli, General Manager, Casa Ricordi, Milan Reinhold Quandt, Managing Director, Ricordi Munich Nelly Quérol, General Manager, Durand - Salabert - Eschig, Paris

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A conversation with Péter Eötvös about György Kurtág

Bartók Seminar and Festival Szombathely,

PH OTO © Ká lm án Ga ra s

1989.

BY Tünde Szitha You are one of the musicians whom Kurtág regards as the most

and friendship when, together with Zoltán Jeney, Zoltan Kocsis, László

important and authentic living performers of his works. The strong

Sáry, László Vidovszky and Albert Simon, we founded in Budapest the

professional and personal relationship between you is demonstrat-

New Music Studio which, in the following two decades, played an

ed not only by first performances of significant orchestral works but

important part in the evolution of experimental music in Hungary.

also by dedications such as those of …quasi una fantasia, the Double

Among the “elders” it was perhaps Kurtág who best understood what

Concerto, the Homesickness movement of Hipartita and two pieces in

we were engaged in at that time. He listened to our concerts, knew

the Games series. How long have you known each other?

our works intimately, and indeed our pieces served as inspiration for

I can’t say exactly, but certainly our acquaintance dates back to

him too, as is reflected in the “homage” movements of the Games

my student years, to the beginning of the sixties. Kurtág at that time

series written for us and about us. We reciprocated with a jointly com-

hadn’t begun teaching at the Budapest Music Academy, yet somehow

posed work, Hommage à Kurtág, composed for his fiftieth birthday.

he belonged there and was “present’, mentally and physically. He was

As a conductor, when did you become involved with Kurtág’s work?

two decades older than us, and we students of composition kept a

From 1979 I worked in Paris with the Ensemble Intercontemporain.

curious eye on his work and opinions. His personality and intellectual

Sylvain Cambreling premiered Messages of the late Miss R.V. Troussova

radiance had a powerful influence on us.

with that ensemble, but before long I too was conducting the work

In the seventies all this developed into mutual professional empathy

more and more frequently. That was the first Kurtág work that occupied 5

me very seriously. Later, however, I conducted virtually all his chamber

Very strongly, but not in the stylistic sense. It is rather its freedom

correcting the Troussova parts, clarifying the characteristic “Kurtág”

that has influenced me, and its virtual “unstructuredness.” Scores writ-

style of writing, which reveals the inner freedom and emotional

ten by composers who compose in a strictly structured form tempt

extremes of Kurtág’s music, which despite its unfamiliarity neverthe-

one to the sort of analysis that reveals the composer’s way of thinking.

less with time becomes comprehensible to musicians.

Kurtág’s music is not of that kind. I don’t look for the “structure” in it,

Reading and interpreting Kurtág’s scores confronts every musician

because that would contradict its basic nature. It would be like locking

with peculiar and difficult tasks, both technical and intellectual. It is

a wild animal in a cage. Of course it has its own laws, but what is most

no accident that the best performers of his works are musicians who

important are the processes taking place, the imaginativeness of the

have worked a lot with him personally or have been his students.

ideas and their emotional expressiveness. From a composer’s point of

Kurtág’s scores are special because the performing instructions

view the spontaneity of Kurtág’s music has always captivated me; in

regarding tempo, tone-color, note-hierarchy and dynamics appear in

fact at the same time it has definitely liberated me. Just one example:

them as if they were precise comments on an interpretation exist-

my Windsequenzen, which I wrote for Kurtág’s fiftieth birthday and

ing in his imagination. His scores are reminiscent of the scientifi-

which was composed in every detail within a strict system, I made use

cally precise notation used by the folk music researchers Bartók,

of as the basic material for my orchestral work entitled Chinese opera,

Kodály and Lajtha, which for every note convey the fine shades

but there I dared to allow these same musical ideas to be imagina-

of intonation and articulation of the peasant singer’s performing

tively “free.” For me this marked

style. It is interesting, however, that as composers Bartók, Kodály

a change. Although I don’t be-

and Lajtha did not make use of this method of notation: they wrote

lieve there is any stylistic similar-

down their works in a manner adapted to musicians brought up

ity between his works and mine,

in the classical performing tradition. Kurtág’s idiosyncratic nota-

it was probably from him that I

tion is unusually brave even today, or rather it indicates that he

learned the courage of creative

has found the most appropriate method of notation for his own

freedom.

THE powerful effect of Kurtág’s art unfolds of its own accord...

musical style, which in a certain sense forces performers to ac-

You both come from Transylvania, both studied in Budapest,

commodate to his music and to that end widen their repertoire of

yet the genre focal points of your activity as composers differ sig-

expression. The powerful effect of Kurtág’s art unfolds of its own

nificantly, probably not only because of the generation gap but also

accord when his works are played with sensitivity and openness to

because of the different way in which your careers have developed.

their special demands, and a musician who senses this becomes a

Neither of you denies, however, what a strong influence Bartók’s

dedicated performer of this music.

music had on you, or that for you, folk music and Hungarian musical

Through studying and conducting his works I came to realize that it is not enough to analyze his scores for myself; I have to become

6

Has Kurtág’s music influenced you as a composer as well?

and orchestral pieces worldwide. I remember what a lot of work I did

traditions are important sources of inspiration. Does this mean there are points of contact that still lurk in the background today?

their interpreter, and I have to develop a method that enables me

These points are extremely important, not only in Kurtág’s music but

to mediate a dialogue between these very individual score images

in Ligeti’s also. I always feel that Bartók, as a primary source, belongs

and the musicians. For example, I vividly remember the difficulties

to the present, above all in vertical, harmonic relations. Kurtág’s har-

I encountered in the rehearsals preceding the 1988 Berlin premiere

monies to my ear are always natural, listening as I do not only as a

of …quasi una fantasia. Kurtág took part in those rehearsals, and the

composer but with a conductor’s ear as well. I hear the “hidden” funda-

excellent musicians of the Ensemble Modern, thoroughly experienced

mental notes in the same way he hears them, and the progression of

in every field of West European contemporary music, had to face the

his harmonies too is always natural to me. Probably a foreign musician

realization that with Kurtág interpretation of the written notes and

not brought up on this tradition immediately senses that somehow we

performing instructions doesn’t work in the customary way, and that

speak a shared but not West European language.

in order to give an authentic performance of his works it is necessary

How does the powerful expressiveness of Kurtág’s art affect you?

to be familiar with every gesture of his music and also, to a certain

Although in Kurtág’s vocal works there are a lot of melodramatic or the-

degree, its cultural roots.

atrical elements, he has only now, at the age of 85, begun to compose

Natalia Zagorinskaya, Peter Eötvös, György Kurtág and Ildikó Vékony. Rehearsal before the world premiere of Four

an opera. On the other hand, right from the start of your career the-

voices an opinion—and often only years later. But his comments are

Poems by Anna

ater music has been important to you, and in the last fifteen years

always relevant and thought-provoking, and whether positive or nega-

Akhmatova (left).

you have written nine operas.

tive they usually refer to technical aspects or methodology and are

—

In Kurtág’s music the emotional extremes are potent, which makes

always related to the questions he is mulling over at that moment.

What does it mean to you, as a conductor, to work with Kurtág? Do

First page

his style markedly gesticulative. In his vocal compositions all this fre-

of Kurtág’s

quently manifests itself as expressive textual depiction. He followed

Homesickness

this path very consistently from as early as the sixties, when this was

Our shared work is nowadays provided by international concert life,

(right).

by no means regarded as progressive in West European composition.

since Kurtág’s pieces have become part of the concert repertoire every-

I clearly remember, for example, in 1968 at the Darmstadt premiere

where. In 2009 at the Carnegie Hall in New York we premiered his Four

of The Sayings of Peter Bornemisza to what an extent the professional

Ahmatova-poems with Natalia Zagorinskaya and the UMZE Ensemble,

audience of the day failed to understand this music, and that to begin

and since then I have conducted the work several times. In 2012, I shall

with this very intense system of gestures was alien even to Boulez.

conduct Messages in Toronto and Stéle in Paris. The rehearsals at which

you have joint plans?

e © em b bm c / scOr PH OTO ©

But it seems that time has proved Kurtág justified, since it is by this

Kurtág himself is present are for me—and also for him—occasions for

means perhaps that his music has the greatest impact. The friend-

extremely intensive work, and at the same time friendly, affectionate

ship and untroubled cooperation in performance that has developed

cooperation.

between Kurtág and me may be partly due to the fact that expressiveness comes naturally to me as well.

Is his opinion of your works important to you?

Of course! Although with regard to this we are not in daily contact, each of us always knows what the other is working on. Kurtág rarely

Translation: Lorna Dunbar 7

by Marilena Laterza

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You have been working with Luca Francesconi now for a number of years. In 2007, before taking on the challenge of Quartett, you

the world premiere of Luca Francesconi’s Quartett, an opera in

conducted and then recorded for Kairos Etymo, Da capo, A fuoco

13 scenes, based on the play of the same name by Heiner Müller,

and Animus. Then, in 2010, Francesconi invited you to the Venice

drawn from Laclos’s Les liaisons dangereuses. A brilliant exponent

Biennale to conduct a concert featuring music by Berio and Romitelli.

of the Finnish conducting school and since 2006 musical director of

Could you tell us a little bit about your relationship with Francesconi

Ensemble Intercontemporain, Susanna Mälkki, still in her early for-

from an artistic, cultural and human point of view?

ties, is perfectly at home on the podium in front of the world’s most

Extremely rich and inspiring in every respect. I have chosen to per-

prestigious orchestras. Driven by a keen interest in the music of

form his music a lot, because it speaks to me very directly. My musical

today, she spoke to us on a sunny afternoon in Chicago about Quartett

instinct is very strong and almost without exception it knows which

and the music of Luca Francesconi.

way to jump. I’m sure it has to do with the fact that Luca Francesconi

Susanna Mälkki

photo © Sim on Fo wl er

In the spring of 2011, Susanna Mälkki, undertook the daunting task of taking up the baton at the Teatro alla Scala to conduct

An Interview with Susanna M채lkki

9

himself has had a background as a musician; he doesn’t forget (or wish to avoid!) the input of the performer: quite the contrary, his music actually calls for it. So I imagine that it’s something he values, and, of course, I was really honoured when he asked me to do the premiere of Quartett. And then, if by “cultural” you mean the general avant-garde framework, I certainly feel an affinity with his approach, which is less rigid and less dogmatic than that of many others. An artist must always “zoom out” and see the bigger picture.

So how would you place Francesconi’s music both in terms of the contemporary music scene and in terms of tradition?

It all depends on how we define “tradition.” Personally I think that there are still a lot of dimensions to be discovered even in so-called modernity… But yes, it is fascinating in Luca Francesconi’s case, because, having the necessary compositional skill, he is able to use even the strictest modernist vocabulary very well—if he chooses to (like in some parts of Quartett, perhaps more on that later), but he never feels obliged to. So there is definitely a little bit of a “mutant” in him too, in my opinion, thinking of the theme he has chosen for the Venice Quartett (left).

Biennale this year.

From your vantage point as an orchestral conductor, what are the

have to remember that any composer of an opera is also the dramaturg

—

salient technical and stylistic features that you see in Francesconi’s

of the piece as well, for the pace of the events is fixed in the score

Luca Francesconi

music?

(music happening in linear time which, compared to theater, is usually

(right).

If we start with three traditional elements—melody, harmony,

quite strictly proportioned). I found very impressive Francesconi’s way

rhythm—whatever the order of their importance in the particular

of giving musical “hints,” of making connections with different stories or thoughts in the text, not necessarily in the form of a leitmotiv but

something that could be considered “traditional”, but, as the propor-

definitely something of the kind, suddenly triggering memories and

tions change all the time, the music remains fresh. As for timbre and

giving references. Some of the most moving moments in the opera for

orchestration, well, that really depends on the piece. All in all there is

me were just these. So there is definitely a deep psychological insight

quite a broad range, with Ligeti-like microstructures at one end and

present in the score. The other important thing to note is the use of

at the other big symphonic landscapes that remind me at times of

different kinds of music in order to highlight different “manners” of

Sibelius! So I would say that he has a very large musical vocabulary.

interaction between the two personas, or to highlight the difference

This is what I would define as “writing techniques.” More interesting,

between their exterior façade and their hidden vulnerable personality,

however, is to observe how these are used—or not used—in order to

as in the “dream” sequences.

serve the dramaturgy of the piece.

What type of relationship does the music establish with the text

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Luckily, from the performer’s point of view, music technology has advanced at such an incredible speed over the last few decades that

Actually, I think that with this score Luca Francesconi has given a

most things in electronics can now be done in real time—as was the

complete interpretation of the play as he reads it. If you read the orig-

case in Quartett too—and this is really revolutionary and fantastic,

inal Müller text, there are very few markings apart from the spoken

because it means that the flexibility of time and timing is not limited;

words: no question marks, no exclamation marks, just words. Also, we

the music can breathe just as it needs to, which is especially important

a al la Sc al © Te at ro

and dramaturgy of Quartett?

What contribution do the electronics and the technology make?

no Ru dy Am isa photo by

musical context, I think they are all always still there, which is in itself

most things in electronics can now be done in real time...this is really revolutionary in opera where timing is everything! But what really

Luca Francesconi has said that Quartett came out of a reflection on

brings us to a completely different musical landscape

the sense of identity, which is lost “in an infinite multiplication of

is the fact that the electronics can also vary the con-

mirrors where nothing has value, in a nihilistic and tragic delirium

ditions of the sound and manipulate the sound itself.

that can be seen as a metaphor of the whole of Western civilization

The sound can move in space, it can be transformed

and […] of a destiny which seems to have deep repercussions for the

and treated in hundreds of different ways. As a simple

role of art today.” Do you think that in the context of the pluralism

example, the vocal line of Mme Merteuil was treated

that characterizes music today it is possible or necessary to try to

with a harmonizer in a couple of places in order to

achieve a shared identity?

stress the line, the thought, to highlight it in the con-

I wouldn’t say “shared identity,” because it is actually a beauti-

text. This immediately gives us a new point of view,

ful thing that we are all individuals and we should be allowed to be

or better, a new angle of hearing.

that, but yes, sharing a cultural framework and, most importantly, a

And also a new compositional approach to such a highly historicized genre as opera?

cultural heritage will be a key factor if we want to sustain civilization, or the arts, or contemporary music or anything of intellectual value,

All the important opera composers throughout history have both

really. Human memory is extremely short, individually speaking, but

used existing forms and added something new. And if you compare

collective memory and heritage are vast, and real culture is just that.

the baroque opera scene today with how it was some decades ago,

Responsibility comes as a consequence (I’m an optimist), but pluralism

we have now discovered, with new directors, that these old works

is not necessarily a bad thing.

were actually really radical and still are! But of course it is absolutely

Ambiguity between the real and the virtual is by now a fundamen-

essential to have sufficient knowledge of the “genre,” just to be able

tal condition in our lives as human beings in the 21st century and in

to manage such a big machine to begin with: renewing the tradition

Quartett this ambiguity is an integral part of the music, the visual

is, paradoxically, only possible if you are very familiar with the tradi-

spectacle, the text and the dramaturgy. What are your thoughts on

tion in the first place. Francesconi has that knowledge, and since this

all this?

foundation is so solid, he can add new features and do so very successfully indeed.

I imagine that these novel elements in Quartett have involved distinct problems and led to particular interpretative choices.

I think—in the case of Quartett—that the use of all these different “virtual” technologies in the production was something that in the end made it easier for the audience to understand the different layers in the existence of Merteuil and Valmont, their different mental spaces. The

Ma sott i photo by

As I said before, Francesconi’s music is very clear to me, so I never

multimedia component is not a game just to show off with but a tool to

actually even thought of having to make choices of interpretation: it’s

open up new horizons. And let’s remember that the origin is to be found

all there in the score! But then again, making all of this feel natural for

in the play by Laclos, written centuries ago! Another ambiguity present

the others—helping the singers in their incredibly concentrated study

in Quartett is the one between public and private—a phenomenon that

period, the musicians and the choir—that was, of course, as intense a

seems to have always existed in society but there is no doubt that in the

journey as it always is with new works. It takes time to digest things

21st century the nature of the mass media makes it a much more domi-

that are completely new and at the same time very virtuosic, and we

nant part of our lives…. It’s about manipulation on a mass level. This is

had very little time!

another good reason to keep the arts alive, to keep questioning all this.

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neuwirth reworks two classics

12

by Miranda Jackson The Herman Melville of Olga Neuwirth’s reworking of Moby Dick

before us, but also reflecting on the privations of his upbringing and

plays a key role in the psychodrama; aspects of the author’s own char-

battling with the erosion of his ego, caused by his declining recogni-

acter are all too evident in his protagonists: the sociopath, Captain

tion as a writer. Ahab represents his masculine side, a man who takes

Ahab, the gruff Bartleby and Ishmael, (who in this version of the story is

a crew of men devoted to him to their unnecessary death, in pursuit

a woman, just as in the modern day 2010 film of Moby Dick). The central

of a personal obsession. Bartleby too is a “man’s man,” resistant to

character of Melville’s version of Moby Dick is Ishmael (a Hebrew name

Melville’s control over his life and seemingly immune to Ishmaela’s

meaning “outcast”) who survives to tell the tale of the destruction of

flirting. Ishmaela, one can presume, is Melville’s feminine side, an

the Pequod. In the book it is Ishmael who is the observer and narra-

aspect of the author’s exploration of gender roles further examined

tor, seemingly able to hear his fellow-protagonists’ inner thoughts. In

in the posthumously-published Billy Budd. The narrator in the Melville

The Outcast by Olga

Neuwirth by contrast it is the

original instructs his reader to “Call me Ishmael” and admits he goes

author himself (played by

to sea in an attempt to break his cycle of depression and an unhealthy

an actor) who narrates,

obsession with death. It is therefore paradoxical that “Ishmael” is the

exploring not just

sole survivor of the shipwreck.

the action which

In writing The Outcast, Olga Neuwirth sets a libretto created by the

unfolds

screenwriter and playwright, Barry Gifford, who previously collaborated with her on the opera, “Lost Highway,” and wrote the screenplay for the eponymous film. This opera deflects attention away from the role played by the androgynous Ishmael by taking the form of an exploration of the psyche of Herman Melville, who was left penniless at the

13

Olga Neuwirth

the city in an ostentatious Mercedes with red upholstery. A 1958 film

vided for him by other members of the family, he chose to run away

entitled Das Mädchen Rosemarie, (loosely based on her life, although

to sea and joined a whaling ship. His first three novels, recounting his

embellished with a fictional element) was made in which the protago-

experiences in that world, brought him great success, but from that

nist sells secrets learned from “pillow talk” to French competitors of the

point his popularity declined, largely because of his unconventional

German businessmen who were her clients. This is the underlying con-

tendency to explore the philosophical, political and social back-

cept of Olga Neuwirth’s reworking of the story of Lulu. Alban Berg’s Lulu

ground to his novels. In The Outcast, the composer allows Ishmaela to

was based on two plays by Frank Wedekind depicting a society “driven

goad Melville into further self-reflection beyond the scope of Moby

by the demands of lust and greed.” Wedekind’s two plays, Erdgeist and

Dick, including his relationship with his God, his portrayal of wom-

Pandora’s Box, pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in the the-

en in other novels, (most notably Pierre: or, The Ambiguities) and his

ater at the turn of the 20th century because of the violence and break-

anger at the loss of his father as a child, but then the two characters

ing of sexual taboos he depicted. Berg died in 1935 before completing

virtually merge at the end as Melville realizes it is time to end his fight

the opera. Olga Neuwirth has not only written her own completion of

to be heard. The Outcast was commissioned by the Nationaltheater

the opera, but also written a new libretto which transports us to New

Mannheim and will be given its world premiere in May 2012.

Orleans in the 1950’s and finally to a swanky New York apartment in the

In 1957 in Frankfurt, a high-class call girl who slept with many promi-

1970’s where this African American Lulu finally meets her death. This

nent businessmen was found murdered; no one was ever convicted

is the world of the film, The Cotton Club (1984), in which the talented

of her murder. She was a notorious figure, known for driving around

black women performers are seemingly accorded more power than the

ni ch Ricor di Mu photo ©

14

age of twelve when his father died. Despite a good education, pro-

Instead of being randomly killed by Jack the Ripper, the clients of Neuwirth’s Lulu have a motive for her demise: for [she] is a woman with the power to bring down...empires

average white woman, but are still subject to commercial exploitation

end of a long process of decline, she is fatally punished for her attempts

and collateral abuse by rich white men. Instead of being randomly killed

to abuse her abusers. In Berg’s Lulu, she is killed by a mass murderer

by Jack the Ripper, the clients of Neuwirth’s Lulu have a motive for her

whose identity is still the subject of speculation today; in American Lulu

demise: for American Lulu is a woman with the power to bring down

her murderer is unseen as well as unidentified. In neither version is Lulu

business empires by “insider trading,” which, incidentally, can carry a

depicted as an attractive, charismatic, innocent free spirit, but rather as

higher prison sentence than murder in some states of the USA. She is

an arch-manipulator. The turn of the 20th century plays can be read as

the archetypal siren whom men can’t help loving, but at the same time

a moral tale of what happens to young women who are not demure and

love to hate because of her ability to exert more power over the most

submissive, but give free rein to their primal sexuality. The American Lulu

powerful men in society than they can tolerate. 20th century America,

of the mid-20th century is perhaps more clearly an oppressed woman,

too, is a society “driven by the demands of lust and greed,” not to men-

but she is still ultimately punished for her attempts to address the imbal-

tion the era of Black Civil Rights campaigns (which form the backdrop to

ance of power between men and women. In Olga Neuwirth’s realization

some scenes in the opera) and regardless of the gradual emancipation of

of the Lulu story, lust and the lust for power both degrade and dehu-

women during the period of this Lulu’s life. Much has been written about

manize most of the principal players, especially Lulu herself. American

the Freudian nature of Wedekind’s portrayal of his “earth spirit.” His Lulu

Lulu has been orchestrated for what can be loosely described as a “Las

is in a position of power throughout his plays, destroying the lives of the

Vegas” band. It is a co-commission between Berlin’s Komische Oper, who

plethora of men who get too close to her flickering flame. But the wealth

will present the premiere production in 2012, and The Opera Group who

and notoriety she initially gains do not bring her happiness and, at the

will premiere it the following year at the Young Vic in London.

15

16

Nicolas Hodges

A synonym for excellence and virtuosity at the piano, the name of Nicolas Hodges stands also for courage and tenacity in his artistic choices and his remarkable career.

The British artist, now based in Germany, is active on the best stages throughout the world and embraces in his programs the “new complexity” composers as well as the Romantic generation.

In this exclusive interview, he gives us some insights into his admirable commitment to contemporary piano music, from the works of Georges Aperghis to Hèctor Parra through Pascal Dusapin and many other key figures of our modern aesthetic.

How did you get in touch with Georges Aperghis’ piano music?

I knew the Récitations and few other pieces when I was at school. I met Georges for the first time in the late 90s at the Southbank Center in London where they performed many pieces previously unheard in the UK, which made a big impact. We met a lot of other times, he heard me play, and very soon I played his music.

Patrick Hahn the musicologist writes about Georges Aperghis’ music for piano: “This music has abandoned the blurred intoxication of impressionism.” Would you subscribe to this statement, too?

NICOLAS HODGES on THE Renaissance of writing for piano

It is a very interesting point. What Hahn is talking about is the surface of Georges’ music. It is a good point, a musicological point in the sense that it says something about the score—but in a way it doesn’t really say anything about the “music.” To me, Georges’ music is all about subterfuge in a way. If it makes very loud strong gestures, it isn’t necessarily a simple statement. Georges’ music is very direct, but there

photo © Ma rco Bo rgg re

ve

interview by Eric Denut

is nothing obvious about the actual meaning.

So which are, in your opinion, the very individual elements of Georges Aperghis’ pianistic “pictures,” the main figures of his style?

It is very obsessive; it moves and stays at the same time. Technically it is staying off and doing the same thing obsessively in one place—without ever repeating itself really exactly. It is an obsessive re-examination of the same material.

17

Georges’ music is also obsessive in terms of color; it comes back

in the performance, not at all.

often to similar colors in piano writing, a lot of textural ideas which the

Now it is very different: for ex-

composer obsessively uses.

ample, with the Dusapin Études,

Your recording for Neos is dedicated to Georges Aperghis’ music.

Have you ever performed a concert fully dedicated to his music?

they are so extraordinary subtle

No, I’ve never done it. But it would be a very interesting thing to

pieces, to play them on a piano

do. Usually the programs mix contemporary pieces but it goes very

which is not absolutely first class

well with classical; in terms of his material on the instrument, it is very

is immediately perceptible. The

limited, probably a result of his obsessions. Georges has a strong

range of colors available to the

relationship to classical music. He never does any funny technique.

performer has to be as wide as

Obviously in other ways, in terms of the essential idea of his music, it is

possible in those pieces.

a million miles away from the classical style. Texturally it may be often close but psychologically it couldn’t be further.

Would you say Georges Aperghis shares certain stylistic characteristics with his “generation” in a broad sense—composers born immediately or within a few years after World War II? Or is he rather “outside space and time?”

Would you say the revival of melodism in modern composition contributed to this piano renaissance?

I wouldn’t put it like that—the ideology of the melody is to me not one that really helps in this discus-

Georges Aperghis (left).

Yes, indeed he is. I think Georges has done so many individual

sion. It has to do with relationships and colors. In Stockhausen’s piano

—

things, even early in his career, compositionally and theatrically, that

music for example, very often there is a stratification of dynamics and

First page of

he ended up very quickly being very individual. That separated him

basically the most important thing is to keep the strata separate, where-

Piano Sonata by

from his “generational” colleagues.

as now, a generalization again, for instance with the Études by Dusapin

Hèctor Parra

there is a huge amount of information on the page about dynamics but

(center).

Would you say that we are experiencing, mostly thanks to your actions and those of your colleagues on stage, a new golden age of

these are all interrelated and all these strata have to be joined.

—

piano music? Something even similar to the 1830s? From Ligeti to

Let’s go deeper into your view of this genre “Études.” Could you

Hèctor Parra

Furrer, through Carter, Birtwistle, Rihm, Sciarrino, Chin, Aperghis,

imagine the 21st century to be, like the very last years of the last

(right).

Dusapin, Manoury…

century (with Ligeti, Chin, Dusapin among others) the “century of

Of course it is hard to talk in such big terms at this point. I do think

the piano études”?

that people are writing for the piano in a very interesting way now.

If this turns out to be the case, I will be partly responsible for that

The experiences in the 50s, 60s and 70s have been hugely important.

since I just commissioned twelve studies from twelve different com-

I would never want to lose that repertoire, on the other hand, people

posers! I did that because Ligeti has still a very strong hold and I really

have come back to what the piano does best and have really relearned

wanted to bring other composers into this area. A lot can still be done.

in a way what idiomatic piano writing is. They are trying again to have

The étude is a very interesting form since as we know the étude is as

a relationship with the instrument.

much an étude for the composer as for the performer: using limited

In the 50s-60s-70s, it is a horrible generalization of course, there was a kind of scientific reappraisal of piano writing which meant that, for example, the kind of pointillistic writing of Stockhausen concentrated on often very separate things, and the relationship between those

means, restricted colors, and restricted materials is a challenge with historical background.

Would you recommend composers to write their piano études at the end of their career?

things, that they are not meant to be connected in the same way than

Some of the composers I chose for this collection are not really young

sometimes they must be. I think people are now coming back to the

composers anymore, like Frédéric Rzewski, Michael Finnissy, Brian

connections that can be made.

Ferneyhough—but also artists like Luca Francesconi or Beat Furrer.

May I return with you to the genre which introduced our discus-

writing decades ago when if the piano was not very good, if the instru-

sion: the piano concerto. You have premiered many of the very latest

ment itself was a poor instrument, cheap, it didn’t make any difference

pieces written for this form. What is at stake there for the pianist, for

Dopp elt

To put it in a kind of bland, economic way: there is a lot of piano

Su za nn e photo ©

18

this is especially true, because

the orchestra, for the audience?

always promoted contemporary music either performing himself or

Writing a concerto for piano is probably a huge challenge for a lot of

programming it. He is someone we should not only admire but also imi-

composers. It is such a historic genre, like the symphony. With contem-

tate because he brings contemporary music to audiences which would

porary concerti there is often a big challenge of balance. There is indeed

never have heard it before and he uses his name to do that.

an essential difference between tonality and atonal orchestral writing: if

Your argument is correct but on the other hand, even if a soloist

the orchestra is playing atonal music, or very dense, complex music, it

would present a contemporary concerto he has previously performed

becomes, in a way, louder and the dissonances make it a lot harder for

to an orchestra he plays with, the chances it will be programed are

the piano to come through. I personally find the form fascinating.

rather small—ultimately it is the promoter’s decision. This is a pity

Are there in your opinion piano concerti pieces from which

since a concerto is a very interesting medium, a medium that audiences

you could already say: “They will be part of the mainstream pia-

also find very attractive; it is not abstract—a piece just for orchestra or

no concerto repertoire alongside Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms or

for the piano is much more abstract. Thanks to the theatrical interplay

Rachmaninov?”

between both parts it becomes chamber music writ large.

Just look at my repertoire list and you will find the answer. If you

After the étude and the concerto, a third form is being “reborn”

look at it, you will see that the range of pieces composed in the last

recently, maybe the most abstract form in the piano genres: the

twenty years is much wider, in terms of ideas, styles, forms, than in the

sonata. Last year you performed Hèctor Parra’s astounding Sonate

19th century.

for piano. In your opinion, what are the reasons that would cause a

su za nn e scOr e ©

The saddest thing about it is that promoters so often don’t want to do second or third performances. If you commission a concerto,

young composer like Hèctor Parra to use a term with such a profound historical background for the title of a work?

ba ld ma nu TH eO PH OTO © dO PP elT /

sometimes you can be lucky and the concerto is taken on by a lot of

You know, many people think “this is just a title”—the same with

people—but sometimes you are not so lucky, even if the premiere hap-

an “Étude.” So many things have been done under the title “Sonata”

pened in a major venue.

that you can no longer say there are formal implications to the word.

Wouldn’t you say this has to do with the fact that a lot of musi-

In Hèctor’s case, there is a part of him which has a strong relation-

cians, probably for very good reasons, don’t really “pressure” the

ship to the tradition, not just in terms of the title, but in terms of form,

promoters? The competition is tough and you can’t, unless you

of the sound, of the relationships within the piece. Choosing the title

have become a kind of cult figure like Pollini or Argerich, allow your

“Sonata” is a perfect thing for him to do because it allows him to have

competitors to ”override” you…

a very strong relationship to tradition and at the same time to flex his

That’s absolutely true but I think Pollini is the right example. He has

modern muscles, so to speak.

19

underlying political program. The image he returns to is that of self-

ognizable voices in British composition—Graham Fitkin. One of several

determination versus a faceless bureaucracy. That is an image as old as

British composers to be drawn in the early 1990s to American mini-

Kafka, but in another concerto, No Doubt for Midi harp and orchestra,

malism and postminimalism, he has stuck with it longer than most,

he takes a more specific line. The Midi harp, developed and built by

developing a style that is ear-catching, flexible and deceptively smart.

Camac Harps, allows composers to assign different samples to each of

Subtle isn’t quite the word, but Fitkin’s music has a craft and surety that

its strings. In No Doubt most are set to normal harp sounds, but Fitkin

are easy to take for granted but actually difficult to achieve.

introduces a series of samples taken from speeches—by members of

The discovery of voice is a challenge for any artist; for composers the

the US administration—made in the lead-up to the 2003 invasion of

situation is doubly complex because they must also contend with the

Iraq. The sonic effect recalls the two string quartets by Steve Reich

interpretive voices of their performers. Fitkin often sidesteps this issue

(also politically charged), Different Trains and WTC 9/11, but Fitkin is

by working with his own nine-piece band, but in his K1.1 of last year and

interested in the visual impact too. By having the instrument trigger

his Cultural Olympiad commission for 2012, Track to Track, he has sought

samples from the machismo of war he plays with the harp’s normal

ways of combining his ensemble with classical orchestras. In his Cello

place within our culture—as a feminine instrument of romance, peace

Concerto for Yo-Yo Ma and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, performed at

and heavenly beings.

the 2011 BBC Proms, he took another approach, creating space for the

Pianist and composer Rolf Hind has also been deeply involved with

soloist not by writing music of great virtuosity, but instead by turning to

the concerto form. He wrote his first, Maya-Sesha, in 2007 for himself,

the richness of sustained tone for which Ma is admired. His forthcoming

and he is returning to it in 2012, giving the Dutch premiere in April

chamber opera (his first) for the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre is

with the Dutch Radio Orchestra and James MacMillan.

sure to provide its own set of challenges and solutions.

When he talks about the Cello Concerto, Fitkin alludes to a broad, 20

Hind’s studies of Indian meditation have increasingly come to inform his composition. Rather than a search for voice, it is perhaps

photo s:

Ricordi London is fortunate to claim one of the most instantly rec-

Fitk in © St ev e Ta nn er / Hi nd © My ke l Ni co la u

By Tim Rutherford-Johnson

the Composers of Ricordi London in 2011 Graham Fitkin (left).

— Rolf Hind (right).

more true to say that he is interested in the search for the self. The

he has found ways to characterise individual instrumental elements,

composition in 2011 of his clarinet concerto, Sit Stand Walk, for Stuart

sidestepping typical expectations of forward momentum. The instru-

King and CHROMA, was in part about finding appropriate ways to dra-

ments find themselves, in a state of meditative stasis beyond any

matise this musically.

wider continuum.

Inspired by sketches for a planned music theater piece set in a

Hind’s works are rapidly increasing in scale, indicating a new confi-

silent retreat, Sit Stand Walk possesses its own elements of music the-

dence or fluency in his writing. Sit Stand Walk was his second largest

ater. The three main movements refer to the three types of meditative

piece to date. 2012 will see the first performance, by Robin Michael,

position; a fourth, “Open”, serves as a conclusion. Each uses a differ-

of Original Face for cello and tape, which the composer calls a “mon-

ent layout of performers. In “Sit” they are mostly offstage, in “Stand”

ster” of a piece. But both will be eclipsed by the forthcoming accordion

they gather, and in “Walk” they arrive at their final positions across

concerto, The Tiniest House of Time. Written for James Crabb and the

the front of the stage. But there are less visually apparent elements

BBC SO, and to be performed at London’s Barbican in November next

of drama too. Through techniques of rhythmic layering that he is

year, Hind jokes that it is “rapidly turning into the Busoni of accordion

developing, as well as an ear for highly unusual sound combinations,

concertos!”

21

Much remains unconfirmed, but it will involve world-class improvisers

may be found in his major new work for chorus and orchestra, The stars,

in Phil Minton, David Toop, Elaine Mitchener and Cathal Roche, as well

the seas, commissioned by the Ulster Orchestra Society and to receive

as the black metal vocalist Attila Csihar, of Mayhem and the ultra-heavy

its first performance in Belfast on February 17th. A commemoration of

Sunn O))).

the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic, The stars, the seas responds

But of all Ricordi London’s composers, it is perhaps Jonathan Cole

not only to scenes from the Titanic’s tragic story, but also to the way in

who intrigues the most. Despite years of growing success and acclaim,

which the ship and its passengers live on in our minds.

in 2006 he ran into a profound compositional crisis—a crisis of voice—

Yet in recent years Wilson has diversified into music theater, elec-

and fell silent for two years. He reemerged in 2009 with burburbabbar

tronics and improvisation. In these ways, much of his recent work

za, written for the London Contemporary Orchestra with whom he is

has involved accommodating the voices of others—from improvising

now associate composer. It couldn’t have been a greater surprise: the

performers to sampled interview material. In The Book of Ways (2011)

beguiling textures and harmonic refinement of his earlier music had

he collaborated with the saxophonist Cathal Roche, using his improvi-

been replaced by squeaking balloons, crumpled plastic bags and a

sations to create material which would, in turn, become the basis for

rough palette of instrumental noise.

Cole is still finding his feet with this daring new style, and new works

title, the Double Trio (2008) combines classical and jazz performers

arrive at a cautious pace. Yet those that have, including burburbabbar

with extracts from interviews conducted with residents of Glencullen

za, Ash Relics and Forum, his piece this year for the LCO, mark him out

in Ireland. His other major project for 2012 will be his most unusual yet:

as one of the most strikingly original and provocative voices in British

a work of experimental music theater based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

contemporary music.

(left).

— Jonathan Cole (right).

d

semi-improvised group compositions. And, despite its conventional

Ian Wilson

on Er ic Ric hm s / co le © ev e Rog er ls on © St photo s: Wi

22

Ian Wilson is known first for his concert music, confirmation of which

the artistic director’s many roles

An interview with Graham McKenzie

by Elaine Mitchener

Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf//) is the UK’s largest international festival of new and experimental music and has enjoyed a long relationship with our composers. We asked its festival director, Graham McKenzie, about why the festival prides itself on developing special working relationships with composers.

A number of Universal composers have been presented for the first time in the UK because of hcmf//. Can you give a recent example of a successful “discovery” and how that has worked for both composer and festival?

Enno Poppe is I think a good example. We (hcmf//) have been instrumental in introducing Enno to the UK and have very much championed 23

his music in this territory. I was delighted to finally be able to present

criticism that publishers will look to a composer who they think will

Interzone in November 2010. It provided a fantastic opening to the fes-

attract commissions for a certain type of work—written for a par-

tival and a performance that will go down in history I think as one of the

ticular type of environment. There is another group of composers

major Huddersfield concerts. Interestingly, Interzone was the first piece

out there who are equally in demand—also very marketable if you

of Enno’s that I heard—it was my introduction to his music. Just the

want to deal in those terms—but making work for a different envi-

recording of course—without the visuals—but it was so strong and

ronment. They are multifaceted and equally comfortable writing a

direct in its message. It’s an astonishing and mature work! I was sit-

piece for an orchestra or a traditional concert hall environment, but

ting next to Christine Fischer from Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart at a

also with gallery based work or in

British Council lunch in Paris—it was the first time we had met—and

new opportunities such as the

all through lunch she talked to me about Enno Poppe and this fantas-

games industry. The younger gen-

tic piece Interzone. Later on she sent a recording. I believe this was in

eration of composers is more con-

2007—so it took us quite a few years to find a way to present the work.

nected to the live presentation

It is a big piece and for us quite expensive of course, so you need some

of music. If UMPC moved a little

time to find a way to put all the resources together. Also, I think that

in this direction you would then

when you are looking at making a considerable investment in present-

really have a strong and radical

ing a composer’s work who may not be so well known in this country,

catalog that truly represented

then it is prudent to think about other opportunities to introduce that

the wide diversity of contem-

composer’s work to your audience in the first instance—to build an

porary music practice.

understanding and momentum. The first concert of Enno’s music we

In our discussion you men-

presented was in 2008 Knochen, Salz, Öl—a “trilogy” performed by

tioned an interest in encourag-

Klangforum Wien with Enno conducting. I love to watch him conduct—

ing the creative development

he is very expressive and really draws you into his sound world. I think

of composers, their ideas and

the best performances of his works are always when he conducts him-

their burning desire to push

self! We have also presented Tiere sitzen nicht with musikFabrik—a

musical boundaries—can you

crazy work with over 200 instruments on stage, and Wald, a fantastic

explain further?

work for string ensemble with Ensemble Resonanz.

24

The strength of the UMPC catalog is the fact that you have in your roster composers who are quite distinctive in their sound, but are also very driven and very clear about how they want to develop their practice.

I think what we touched on here was that I rarely approach a composer or ensemble with a

Graham McKenzie

I think that at the moment UMPC has numerous composers with

very fixed idea of what of their work I wish to program. I am much

(above).

strong individual voices. In recent times the festival has programed

more interested in working with them to further explore how they

—

works by Graham Fitkin, Dai Fujikura, Liza Lim, and of course Enno

wish to represent their practice at that moment—to genuinely

Enno Poppe’s

Poppe. Last year we presented the world premiere of a new string

curate the program with them. I am also interested in the things

Interzone

quartet by Oscar Bianchi for Diotima. Bianchi really is a rising star

they genuinely have a burning desire to do at that moment—to

at hcmf//

of the European scene. He brings something quite different at

help them articulate their ideas—and then if there is artistic syn-

(right).

this moment, and he is certainly someone we hope to continue to

ergy between us—to try to facilitate those ideas and ambitions. As

build and develop a relationship with for the future. We have also

the curator and artistic director of a large-scale contemporary music

profiled Fausto Romitelli with a performance of Professor Bad Trip

festival like Huddersfield, I feel a responsibility to work in this way.

with the Icarus Ensemble which was incredibly exciting. His work

Sometimes this can be a lengthy process of discussion and listen-

is not so well known as it should be and rarely heard in the UK. He

ing. It’s also about trust and building relationships, and therefore it

died so young—really a tragedy! The strength of the UMPC catalog

can be some years before the work is fully realized. This leads me

is the fact that you have in your roster composers who are quite

to work with composers and artists across a number of years/festi-

distinctive in their sound, but are also very driven and very clear

vals. You can say that the philosophy of hcmf// is for the festival to

about how they want to develop their practice. As music publishers

profile the composer’s artistic practice going forward and not to be

however you could also look a little “left field.” There is perhaps a

steeped in the past.

photo s:

Mc Ke nz ie

© Joh n Bo nn er / IN TERZONE

: © Br ian sl at er

What do you feel are the particular strengths of our catalog?

25

Hèctor Parra Hèctor Parra (born in Barcelona in 1976) studied at the Conservatory of Music in Barcelona, where he was awarded prizes with distinction many institutions (among others, IRCAM-Centre Pompidou, Ensemble Intercontemporain, WDR, Klangforum) and was awarded the Siemens noticed “projective opera” Hypermusic Prologue, about which Fabrice Fitch, writing in the magazine “Gramophone” in 2010, said: “Of the stands out. I look forward to hearing more of Parra’s work.” His work for premiered by the Ensemble Intercontemporain in November 2011.

26

Hotta

ensemble Caressant l’Horizon published under our Durand imprint was

ar u r © Rik im

contemporary discs I’ve reviewed recently, this is one that undoubtedly

ge / Ne ub ur

Foundation Composers” Prize in 2011. He is the author of the widely-

rn ier © Lis e Me

in composition, piano and harmony. He received commissions from

ier re u / Me rn e Sa ntac rr a © Isi dr photo s: Pa

UMPC acquisitions and signings in 2011

Hèctor Parra (left).

— Benoît Mernier (center).

— Jean-Frédéric Neuburger (right).

Benoît Mernier

talent and work with multiple materials. Though he is only 26, the

Benoît Mernier (born in 1964) is a Belgian composer and organist. He

young prodigy is already a very solid composer. Maldoror and Vitrail

is the author of the remarkable Frühlings Erwachen (after Wedekind),

à l’Homme sans Yeux for piano solo are two of the most striking recent

which delighted the audiences of the opera houses in Brussels and

works in the genre, deserving a place in the Durand catalog next to the

Strasburg. The Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie commissioned a new oper-

recent works of Philippe Manoury.

atic piece, La Dispute (after Marivaux), for the playwright’s 250th anniversary in 2013; undoubtedly an outstanding contribution to Durand’s world-famous Franco-Belgian lyrical catalog (Debussy and Dukas/ Maeterlinck, Dupuis, etc).

Balázs Horváth—En route to a poetic synthesis For Balázs Horváth (born in 1976) composing is primarily construction, a system of relationships between notes. On one occasion he gave his own definition of music: “’Music for me means that I select notes and

Jean-Frédéric Neuburger

attempt to create order for them in time.” Partly connected to this is the

The image of the pianist-composer, so flamboyant during the romantic

fact that his works are characterized by a strong experimental tenden-

period, is being revived through Jean-Frédéric Neuburger’s exceptional

cy and a receptiveness towards the new. His career has been fortunate 27

in that many of his pieces have been performed several times in different ways and with differing interpretations within a short time of their premieres. He has profited in recent compositions from the experience of these performances. Horvath is also active as a conductor. Following the example of his more senior colleagues – in particular Péter Eötvös and László Tihanyi – he frequently undertakes to teach performers his own and other composers’ works and conduct them, integrating the experience he thus has acquired into his activity as a composer. In 2009 he started his own group of musicians specializing in modern music called THReNSeMBle, of which he is both the conductor and the artistic director. Balázs Horváth studied at the Budapest Liszt Academy, graduating in 1999. In 2005 he earned his doctorate at the same institution with a thesis on the spatial aspects of music (The types of spatial music in the music history of the second half of the 20th century; the presence of musical space in composition). His early works were already marked by strongly intellectual and conceptual features, and the subject of his DMA thesis was inspired primarily by his experiences as a composer. Since then he has

Academy—above all Zoltán Jeney and Andrea Szigetvári—as well as the composers he has met at various master classes, like Marco Stroppa, Louis Andriessen and Péter Eötvös. The development of his own musical language and style draws from many sources, ranging from the classic composers to jazz, 28

Ho rváth

His thinking has been strongly influenced by his teachers at the

© An dr ea Fe lv ég i

returned in several works to the question of a composed space.

while from the world of modern and contemporary music names to

series of dramatic actions (“’dramatic episodes”). And in his From Miles

be highlighted include Edgard Varèse, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Gérard

away for solo trumpet (2004) the soloist has to act out the “role” of

Grisey, Georg Friedrich Haas, Helmut Lachenmann and Simon Steen-

Miles Davis by reproducing his typical movements and gestures on

Andersen. In recent times the influence of the works of György Ligeti

stage. In nearly all of his works written since then there occur simi-

can be felt in his music.

lar dramatic and theatrical moments. In one of his most recent works

Since his student days Horváth has taken part in various compos-

(Faust Groteske (2008-2011) there is even a role for multimedia, the

ers’ competitions, with outstanding results. In 2007 he was awarded

work being introduced by a prologue spoken by the composer recorded

first prize at the international “’In memoriam György Ligeti” competi-

on video.

tion in Berlin with his composition entitled POLY. In 2009 he won

In his use of instruments Horváth requires of his musicians versa-

second prize in the orchestral music category of the New Hungarian

tility, virtuosity and an openness to unusual sounds. His scores call

Musical Forum with his work entitled Borrowed Ideas, and in the same

for traditional ways of playing alongside special effects doing away

competition in 2012 he won second prize in the chamber music cat-

with the usual traditions of the instrument. His sound world naturally

egory for his (Tec)tonic and first prize in the orchestral music category

makes use of noises, and of chance encoded in special performing

for his Faust Groteske.

instructions. His notation is very precise, at times unusually elaborate.

The composer’s list of works contains more than sixty compositions.

To notate his extended techniques he employs equally the signs that

The biggest group is made up of pieces for symphony orchestra and

have become generally accepted together with notational signs he

various ensembles (many needing large forces). The majority of his

has created himself. Where necessary he assists the performer with

chamber works are for groups of one instrument, (e.g. clarinets, flutes,

detailed explanations of the signs. Horváth ascribes great importance

saxophones or trombones) or ensemble groupings of instruments,

to knowledge of the instruments for which he is composing, but his

Horváth rarely composing

works never give the impression of being just technical experiments.

for the traditional classical

Following the example of Lachenmann, the special sounds required

chamber formations. His

by Horváth’s compositions are not just for their own sake but conform

solo pieces have for the

always to the order which the work concerned is creating for itself. But

most part been written at

whereas for the older generation (for example Kurtág or Lachenmann)

the request of fellow musi-

these possibilities are accompanied by a heightened expression, this is

cians. His electronic works

not the case with Horváth.

... he takes into account the spectacle of a live performance, often prescribing theatrical movements and making use of gestures outside the music, only visible to the concert audience Balázs Horváth

are typically of a study-like

Naturally, the experience acquired by the composer from the perfor-

character. Vocal works chiefly

mances of his works and from attending master classes, together with

figure at the beginning of

his increasing activity as a conductor and coach, has had an influence

his career, and today Balázs

on the relationship between his music and its notation. This influence

Horváth is primarily active in

is twofold, and partly contradictory. On the one hand his notation in

the instrumental field.

the past years has become more accurate and detailed, on the other

In contrast to most of his

hand Horváth’s scores are now more lucid and economically written

contemporaries, Horváth is not

from the standpoint of the conductors and players. In this respect an

active in the world of occasional

outstanding example among his works is POLY (2007), which is full of

music (film, theater) and has composed no works specifically for the

complex technical demands yet, in terms of the resulting sound required

theater. However, an interesting feature of his instrumental pieces is

by the composer, very accurately notated.

the frequency with which he takes into account the spectacle of a live

International interest in Horváth’s works has increased noticeably,

performance, often prescribing theatrical movements and making use

and recently several works for large forces have been heard outside of

of gestures outside the music, only visible to the concert audience. It

Hungary, including Divergent (ISCM World Music Days, Zagreb, 2011),

was in his set of vocal pieces Lines, words, letters (2002) that Horváth

Looking back (Göteborg, 2009), and POLY (New York and Tokyo, 2008).

first reckoned with the fact that a concert performance is of necessity

The premiere of his latest work Assemblage – written for the Ensemble

also a theatrical action. In the interludes of that work, he prescribed a

Modern – will take place in Frankfurt.

29

The music of Balázs Horváth is imbued with a passion for the search

Matteo Franceschini

for new ideas. But this does not mean his music contains no references

Born in Trento in 1979, Matteo Franceschini studied composition

to other music, particularly contemporary music. The concrete quota-

under Alessandro Solbiati at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in

tions arising in his works often lead to further associative and structural

Milan. He went on to do further studies at the Santa Cecilia National

relationships within a piece, as well as to works by other composers. He

Academy in Rome under the guidance of Azio Corghi and attended the

never keeps these references secret, since his intention is not to evoke

Cursus Annuel de Composition et d’Informatique Musicale at IRCAM in

the model of an earlier work, but to take it on further. A telling example,

Paris. He has received a number of prizes both in national and interna-

almost to be regarded as his ars poetica, is the introduction he wrote to

tional competitions such as the Tactus (Brussels), the Guido d’Arezzo

Waiting for (2005), in which he lists in detail the earlier examples that

and the Giornale della Musica – RAI. He has also received commis-

inspired particular moments of the work, from works by Luciano Berio

sions from the Filarmonica della Scala, the Venice Biennale, the Milano

to László Tihanyi, Gérard Grisey to Pierre Boulez, Zoltán Jeney via Endre

Musica festival, the Accademia Filarmonica Romana, the MITO Festival,

Olsvay, to one of his own earlier compositions. After mentioning the

RAI, Agon, the Divertimento Ensemble, the Orchestra Sinfonica Haydn

most important of these (music by Helmuth Lachenmann) he wrote of

di Bolzano e Trento, the

the inner motivation for composing it – a sort of poetic synthesis: “’one

Orchestre National d’Île de

of the things I have tried to realize in writing this piece is to make all the

France and the French State

above composers belong to our circle for a short time simultaneously.”

(Commande d’État) as well

—Szabolcs Molnár (Translated by Paul Merrick)

as from a number of other prestigious international music

Daniele Ghisi Born in Italy in 1984, Ghisi earned a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics

by Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Pascal

at the University of Milano Bicocca in 2006, and has studied composition

Rophé, Gustav Kuhn, Ronald

since 1997 under the tutelage of Alberto Colla and Stefano Gervasoni

Zollman and Arturo Tamayo,

at the Istituto Musicale “Gaetano Donizetti” in Bergamo, where he re-

among others, have been per-

ceived the 2007 Prix de Composition cum laude with full marks. He has

formed in various international

participated in several different seminars and master-classes, such as

festivals including the Venice

the 2005 IEMA Seminar in Frankfurt with the Ensemble Modern, and the

Biennale,

2006 Royaumont “Voix Nouvelles” session. He returned to Royaumont

Musica festival, the Società del

in 2008-09 for the “Transforme” session. He also writes music for the-

Quartetto,

ater and dance. He has won several competitions and prizes (Concorso

Festival Traiettorie, Rondò, the

“V. Bucchi”, “Rotary” Prize, “J.S. Mayr” Prize, “F. Donatoni” Prize) and

Unione Musicale, IRCAM, the Festival Agora, the Festival de Radio

Daniele Ghisi

has received multiple commissions including, most recently, those

France, the Münchner Opernfestspiele, the Operadhoy Festival, the

(top).

from the French Ministry of Culture, Divertimento Ensemble, Vortex

Nederlandse Muziekdagen, the Zukunftsmusik Festival, the Festival

—

Ensemble, Royaumont and Texture Ensemble. His music is performed

för ny musik, the Prague Premieres, the Lockenhaus Kammermusikfest

Matteo

at festivals such as Archipel, Biennale di Venezia, Rondò, MITO and the

and the Harvard University festival. They have also been broadcast on

Franceschini,

Agora Festival. In 2008-09 he followed the Cursus en Composition et

a range of international radio stations. He has composed works for the

(bottom).

Informatique Musicale at IRCAM (Paris), where he returned in 2010-11.

theater, soundtracks for movies and multimedia installations, the

In 2009-10 he was composer in residence at the Akademie der Künste

most recent of which (Luci Futuriste + La Guerra dei Suoni) won the

in Berlin. In January 2012, Ghisi takes up a one-year appointment as

2009 Best Event Award (BEA).. He has presented his music at the

composer in residence at the Académie française in Madrid.

Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, at IRCAM, at

the

MITO-Settembre

Milano

Musica,

the

the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in

piece abroad for soprano, ensemble and electronics, which premiered

Milan, at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome and at IULM University

on June 15th, 2011 at IRCAM’s Espace de Projections (as part of the

in Milan. In 2010-2012 he acted as composer in residence at the

Agora Festival).

Orchestre National d’Île de France and at the Accademia Filarmonica

ni rlo Ba ro hi ni © Ca

Daniele Ghisi began his collaboration with Casa Ricordi with his

an ce sc photo : fr

30

bodies. His works, conducted

[Tre Media] received recognition from the SUISA Foundation for Music...with an award “for its extraordinary engagement on behalf of the composers of Switzerland.”

Romana. Recently he received the title of Italian Affiliated Fellow of the Arts (Musical Composition) from the American Academy in Rome.

His first monographic CD, Il risultato dei singoli, performed by the Divertimento Ensemble, was released under the Stradivarius label in April 2011. World premieres in 2012 include Zazie, a children’s opera to be performed in February at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and a piece for children’s chorus and orchestra to be performed in May at Teatro alla Scala. Since 2010 Matteo Franceschini’s music has been published by Casa Ricordi-Universal Music Publishing.

Tre Media Tre Media was founded in Karlsruhe in 1994 by Friederike Zimmermann with the goal of publishing contemporary music, discovering and publishing new composers, and working consistently to ensure dissemination of their works. The publishing house has distinguished itself particularly within the Swiss music scene, and the company received recognition from the SUISA Foundation for Music in 2001 with an award “for its extraordinary engagement on behalf of the composers of Switzerland.” In addition, the catalog also includes interesting discoveries, work supplements and additions by composers of the 18th and 19th centuries, such as Bach, Schubert and Schumann.

In September 2010, the Tre Media catalog was taken over by Ricordi Munich and transferred to the global Universal Music Publishing Group Classical to be represented on a wider basis throughout the world.

The catalog includes works by contemporary composers such as Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, Thomas Bruttger, Jean-Luc Darbellay, Franz Furrer-Münch, Werner Heider, Noriko Kawakami, Rudolf Kelterborn, Heera Kim, Mela Meierhans, Madeleine Ruggli, Ernst-Albrecht Stiebler, Jacques Wildberger, Caroline Wilkins and Gérard Zinsstag.

In 2012, in addition to the world premieres of chamber music and ensemble pieces by Jean-Luc Darbellay, Rudolf Kelterborn and Michael Reudenbach, there also will be the premiere of a new orchestral piece Taroq by Stefan Pohlit at the Stuttgart Eclat Festival. In addition, the premiere of Michel Roth’s chamber opera Im Bau will take place at the Lucerne Festival.

31

photo © Co ll èg e

de fr an ce

Pascal Dusapin on O Mensch!

32

Pascal, would you remind us how your project O Mensch! began?

Pascal Dusapin

How I came to write O Mensch! is a slightly unusual story. I’ve always enjoyed reading Nietzsche, whose work is full of particularly grand and far-reaching themes. A small book of his poems was published in the 1980’s, and I discovered them a dozen or so years later; I remember thinking at the time that one day I would set the poems to music.

As is so often the case, my lyric projects are conceived long before they are ever composed. Then there came the day when I wrote Faustus, The Last Night for the Berlin Opera, followed by Passion, both pieces that featured Georg Nigl. A great friendship grew from our highly intense working relationship. One day Georg said to me, “I’d like you to write some Lieder for my recitals.” I immediately thought of Nietzsche.

Here was the perfect opportunity to set the poems to music for very small forces, voice and piano. I discussed it with Georg while Passion was playing in Amsterdam, and he agreed wholeheartedly. The project was born, a score whose subtitle is “a non-rational musical inventory of Nietzschean passions.”

interview by Eric Denut

O Mensch!, more than just a piece written for Georg Nigl, is an attempt to answer one simple question: how can I do this thing that There can be no doubt that

I don’t know how to do? And why don’t I know how to do it? Because

Pascal Dusapin’s long experience

it’s one of the most difficult things that exists. After having composed

with the stage has made him one

six operas, some quite spectacular, O Mensch! is my way of saying I

of today’s most distinguished art-

am going to use the bare minimum: voice, naturally, and a piano. It’s

ists when it comes to issues such as

like something that’s been “dehydrated”: I remove everything and ask

the relationship between text and

myself, how can I tackle temporality and keep the lyric question as

music, stage direction and composi-

close as possible to what I have previously done in my operas, and

tion, narration and musical drama-

what I hope to do in my future lyric projects…?

turgy. We were therefore delighted

Speaking of which, there was the “warm-up” in Vienna when a few

to have him talk about these subjects

songs from the cycle were presented in a recital. Did this then have

last autumn in his new Parisian ate-

an impact on the writing of the piece?

lier; they were particularly pertinent

Well, of course it was necessary to respect the wishes of the Wiener

at that time because he was preparing

Konzerthaus. Georg chose ten minutes out of the cycle and premiered

to direct his highly-anticipated stag-

five short songs .

ing of his own Lieder-cycle, O Mensch!,

The cycle was premiered at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in

based on poems by Nietzsche, which

Paris, a conscious decision on your part. What is your connection

premiered in November 2011 at the

with this extraordinary venue?

Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris with

Les Bouffes du Nord has become an almost legendary venue today,

Georg Nigl, baritone, and Vanessa Wagner

and a great many different artists are quite passionate about it. This

at the piano. Listening to Dusapin, we

is partially due to its architecture but also because of its history with

feel convinced in our opinion that music

Peter Brook. Needless to say, I’ve known the theater for quite some

definitely has a lot to say about literature,

time, but on top of it Georg Nigl had said to me, “if we ever put this

about Nietzsche and, last but not least,

show on one day, I hope it will be at the Bouffes du Nord.…” The man-

about our world.

agement of the theater accepted.

33

Vanessa Wagner, The venue isn’t the only sensational thing about the show, there’s

day. What is certain is that once I have presented my own version, the

also what’s on the poster: Stage Direction by Pascal Dusapin. Is this

direction to take will doubtless be clearer. If another director is inter-

the first time that you’ve directed?

ested in staging O Mensch!, he or she will henceforth have a theatrical

It’s not really the first time, since I also staged To Be Sung myself.

This time, however, we’re talking about something very different: the desire here is to bring a musical score to the stage. The process is bet-

Could you describe for us some of the scenography and stage direction that you have chosen for the piece?

ter known to theater directors such as Joël Pommerat or Olivier Py,

To put on a staged production, I asked myself a musician’s ques-

who conceive their pieces as a whole, and whose staging becomes an

tions. I thought about how I myself function when I am writing music.

integral part of the writing. I basically asked myself the same question.

For a composer, the act of composing, or advancing in time, consists

The choice of Nietzsche’s text was mine and I didn’t want to leave the

in “leaving behind” and accumulating the passage of time. The lis-

interpretation of it to any one else because, at heart, I consider it to be

tener’s memory then shapes the time that is yet to come in a sort

my personal concern. So I decided to stage the score and I asked my-

of infinite cycle that alternates between what lies ahead and what

self how I could embrace the entirety of the project up to and including

has already passed. But how to proceed when the whole process is

its physical dimension. When I proposed my ideas to Olivier Mantéi,

visual? For the last few years I have been in the habit of working with

the director of the Bouffes du Nord, he was generous enough to take

Thierry Coduys, a truly remarkable collaborator. This time I asked him

the risk and accept the project.

questions that had nothing to do with sound and everything to do

Naturally the cycle could very well be directed by someone else one 34

key – even if they decide not to use it.

with images, or more precisely the “leaving behind” of images, those

(left).

— Georg Nigl (center).

— Manuscript page of Pascal Dusapin’s O Mensch! (right).

collaborators such as Peter Mussbach or Sasha Waltz, would you say that their respective views and feedback has had an impact on your composing?

When I wrote my operas, for some very different musical formations, I always imagined what the staging would be like. In fact, my operas are accompanied by a file of images that I give to the stage director – not so much to indicate a path as to suggest a metaphorical environment. Sometimes while composing, I simply know that the director will need more or less space at a certain point. The problem of course is that when you tell a director that there is extra space somewhere in the play, he has a tendency to take it all! (I’m exaggerating.) It does mean that in some ways the connection is never really made: we don’t always know what we’re talking about together. On the other hand, this can lead to some really wonderful surprises. For example, at the end of Medea when Sasha Waltz brings six or eight airplane propellers on stage, each of them over three meters tall, and stops the music to play the sound of a Boeing taking off, all to express the torture that Medea is going through… it’s so powerful, so outrageous, that I am simply dazzled by such a strong artistic choice. So I can also be quite flexible…. But when a director changes the meaning of a phrase by adding an additional element so that you not only hear something else but also understand in a different space, then I see red….

You have produced a catalog ranging from “grand opera”, to chamber opera, to experimental theater and now to a song cycle that you’ve staged yourself. What new territories will you that are created by the body and that will be “left behind” in memory.

explore next?

rn d uH liG ni Gl © be sT ud iO / cz , Pilva X la zs bO rO Gn er © ba PH OTOs : wa

We’ve developed a concept that utilises exceptional technology that

This coming year I will be working on a project that I first began

is complex in its handling but which nonetheless will remain discreet,

in 1979. It’s a work based on a great German classic text and my

a highly unusual system of projection, a system of form recognition

challenge will be to treat the problem of war. In my work this far, I

for the singer.

have always been interested in pain, in God, and this time I wanted

Will Pascal Dusapin the director go so far as to put Pascal

to handle a subject that would encompass those themes and more

Dusapin the composer in danger? Will he put singers in positions

specifically, wars between mankind. War has always been something

that are contrary to the physiological laws of vocal production,

that I am utterly incapable of understanding; the small space I have

for example?

been given on this earth allows me to confront the question. In fact,

No, because the thing that is so wonderful about this project is the

it’s not so much war that I don’t understand, as the savagery and

collaboration with Georg Nigl – we both wanted to do this project

murder. Opera allows me to approach the subject, since it is a space

together and I would never do anything that would go against his grain.

where the composer can confront the collective psyche. Opera can

I know what he can do and I know what he doesn’t like to do. But I also

“lift” the music to a point of absolute transport while allowing you to

know that if I explain how to do something that he doesn’t like to do,

say, through the text and literature, the things that you want to com-

then he will be able to do it very well…

municate. I would like to convey some of my worry about the world.

After all your different experiences working with the directors who have staged your operas, some of whom have been long-term

I naively believe that art is here to be vigilant, and that this vigilance is more and more necessary.

35

36

Philippe Manoury & Pierre Morlet Interview by Eric Denut

Philippe Manoury

Tensio, Philippe Manoury’s second string quartet, was premiered

How was it developed with the performers, in interaction with the

in the 2010-2011 season at IRCAM’s Espace de Projection in Paris by

researchers at IRCAM and the composer? What new directions has

the Diotima Quartet, and has gone on to be performed on a number

the piece taken?

of international stages. Manoury, who is the symbolic figurehead of

These are among the many questions that we hope to answer in

real-time electronic music, has written a piece that has been univer-

our exclusive interviews with Philippe Manoury, who will take a ret-

sally acclaimed as one of the most successful examples of the genre.

rospective look at his numerous writings on the subject, and with

How does this piece fit in with the rest of the composer’s career?

Pierre Morlet, the cellist for the Diotima Quartet.

37

Philippe Manoury Philippe Manoury, we are accustomed to immediately associating your name with “real-time” and its recent history. How did you come to devote so much of your creative energy to this technique and its associated technology?

For more than twenty-five years my thoughts have been preoccupied, not to say haunted, by the invention that twenty-five years earlier had so sharply divided the world of music: electronics.

My first contact with electronic music was in the 1970’s. At that time in France, electronic music and instruments did not mix. Of the many disputes that took place in the 1950’s, the most famous was the breach between composers “who write” (chiefly Barraqué, Boulez and Stockhausen) and those who relied on “experimental intuition” (represented by Pierre Schaeffer and the Group de Recherche Musicale). As someone trained in traditional instrumental writing, I felt no particular attraction to the possibilities offered by electronic music. The starting point for me was when Mantra was premiered in Paris in 1973. I discovered the rich potential in combining the worlds of instruments and electronics that were to be found in what, even at that time, we could call “real-time electronic music.”

It seems to me that combining the two worlds has never been an easy process, has it?

It’s true that there was an element of frustration in my first attempts, due to the difficulty in uniting these two modes of expression.

It was only at the beginning of the 1980’s, when Guiseppe di Guigno at IRCAM began constructing the first real-time synthesisers, that I saw a possible opening towards greater flexibility in terms of time. Electronic music was freed from the rigid time constraints imposed by magnetic tape and the instrumentalist could become his own “master of time.”

Over the course of the following decade, I conducted a series of re-

As someone trained in traditional instrumental writing, I felt no particular attraction to the possibilities offered by electronic music.

search projects in collaboration with the mathematician Miller Puckette.

The initial result, Jupiter, composed in 1987 for flute and electronics, was the first work ever to use a score follower. Step by step I began a sort of “search for lost time,” that of the music played by musicians, 38

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that, in the long-term, would allow a finely-tuned and stable analysis of the instruments’ sounds in real time.

The first part of Tensio presents an extremely mobile musical form, allowing the real quartet to interact with the virtual quartet, entirely made up of synthetic sounds.

The second part uses a new synthesis model based on the physical modelling of a cord stretched across a violin’s sound box. This model allows the simulation of the pressure, speed and position of the virtual bow on the imaginary cord. Here I have discovered some truly surprising sound categories. In this section I have used a very innovative aspect of score-following developed by the researcher Arshia Cont at IRCAM: the continuous monitoring of the tempo. The electronic events are registered on a score that automatically adapts its tempo to the fluctuating tempo of the instruments. The two perspectives are thereafter united and merged into one continuous tempo that is controlled by the instrumentalists.

39

The third part is a sort of interlude based on harmonic glissandi and thus reabsorbs the “tensio” of the preceding section.

A new synthesis system arrives at the beginning of the fourth part: the pitch of each instrument being played is analyzed, and serves to construct complex inharmonic sounds whose density varies according to the relationship between the instrumental sounds.

The fifth part reintroduces the grammar of generative sounds from the beginning.

The sixth section ends this long development by introducing an additional voice. A flurry of pizzicati in perpetual movement unfurls in the heights, made up of the inharmonic sounds derived from what the instruments are playing. Here, the instruments are the ones to engender the “Inharmonies” which in turn generate melodic movement.

For the seventh section, I’ve used the principle of harmonic spinning

Left to right:

tops: the instruments project sounds that spin at a speed correspond-

Pierre Morlet,

In your opinion, what are the most fertile fields of study for the future of real-time electronic music?

There is still a great deal of resistance to the combining of acoustic and electronic music into one common musical timeframe; a highly

What has been the Diotima Quartet’s experience with “real-time?”

opaque frontier divides these two very different ways of conceiving

Our experience is more limited than one might imagine, but it has

time and has to do with the very nature of controlling tempo in music.

permitted us to explore two masterpieces: The Fourth Quartet by

We know how to organise the various dimensions of pitch, tone, and

Jonathan Harvey and Tensio by Philippe Manoury, which has been

spatialisation in electronic music, but we are limited in terms of organ-

unanimously recognized as a major work. The piece is undeniably

ising time in a truly musical fashion. Real advances have been made in

a success, both because it makes sense in terms of form, but also

this field but the venture still has a long way to go.

because the use of real-time is optimised in the hands of a composer

Many composers still hold tightly to an old dream, that of creating a method for notating music synthesis. How to represent the microtonal

40

Pierre Morlet, Diotima Quartet

cellist, Vanessa Szigeti, violinist, Yun-Peng Zhao, violinist, Franck Chevalier, violist.

who is accustomed to working with the most recent technology, and therefore is capable of taking risks.

evolutions with a system of coordinates in such a way that the voices

When Philippe Manoury discusses Tensio, he explains that it is

can be read? How to write all of the voices on a single “score?” To what

“his most experimental work yet.” It must have been a long and

extent can traditional music notation be integrated, and how can it be

sometimes difficult process for the quartet. What were the different

unified with a different type of notation if the more traditional means

stages of your preparation and involvement?

are insufficient? The answers to all of these questions still lie ahead of

I knew Philippe from the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique in Lyon

us. But it seems obvious to me that such a tool would resolve numer-

where he directed the class in composition. For all of us in the Diotima

ous problems, especially those concerning temporal structure such as

Quartet, it seemed obvious that if we wanted to develop the string quar-

changes and variations in tempo.

tet repertoire using real-time electronics, then he was the person best

photo s © Fr an ck Ju ery

ing to the intensity of the instruments’ sounds.

There was a progression in our perception of electronics the more we worked on the piece. We learned how to modify the way we listened.

able to help us advance.

At the beginning, one makes a sound and, to sum it up, one barely

Once Philippe accepted,

hears one’s own sound because the electronics take precedence. This

he immediately sent us a

is not always the case. For us it simply meant spending time with the

plan, one that was exclu-

composer and asking him, passage after passage: right here, what takes

sively devoted to electron-

precedence? Our sound or the one coming out of the speakers? Once

ics, and explained to us

we had the answer, then we just had to listen, which is really only a

exactly what he wanted to

continuation of the work we do on a daily basis.

accomplish. That’s when he talked to us about score fol-

In the end, if you had to judge your impression of electronics, on a scale ranging from jubilant to terrifying, where would you place the bar?

lowing, which, at least two

I would have to say jubilant, in fact that’s the word that best

years ago, was very much in its

describes the masterpieces we’ve just been discussing. It is imperative

infancy. A great many work sessions and a great many tests ensued.

that people performing on stage understand what they are playing. It

When one isn’t accustomed to it, one might think it a waste of time.

is not enough to enjoy the experience; they must know that the signs

But it mustn’t be looked at that way; those are the rules of the game,

they are playing make sense. The whole difficulty in working with elec-

the time must be invested so that the experimental can become func-

tronics is that one doesn’t understand the signs right away. One must

tional and begin to work.

become accustomed to it, and then work with the right people, find the

How did the quartet perceive the presence of electronics? Did it cast a shadow or was it an ally?

There was a progression in our perception of electronics the more we worked on the piece. We learned how to modify the way we listened.

right intermediaries. This was the case with Tensio. It must be said that Philippe was very easy to work with and very precise, very concrete in his intentions. We knew immediately where we were going, which is very important.

41

a composer of duration and transition [vacchi] never operates by juxtaposing sections. Doubtless this is why the listener is attracted by the unity of the whole which... marks each of the quartets, whose texture is a vehicle for sensual seduction and affective expression. hi cc Ga ia Me nc photo Š

BY Jean-Jacques Nattiez

i

42

Fabio Vacchi

In the 19th century, absolute music was embodied in the quartet genre and especially in Beethoven’s quartets. Proust said that when he listened to them he recognized “a kind of moral quality and intellectual superiority … the transposition of depth into the realm of sound.” Like Beethoven who wrote seventeen quartets, 20th century composers who have tackled this genre have written them in cycles. Webern wrote three, Schoenberg and Carter four, Bartók six, Murray Schafer seven, Shostakovich fifteen. One of the requisites of the Beethoven model is to take up the challenge of so-called pure music, while expressing oneself in a language of one’s time that is, however, distinguished by its originality. This is what Fabio Vacchi seems to have succeeded in doing in the four quartets – of the five that he has written to date – collected together here; he has nothing to fear from a comparison with his predecessors.

In fact, this is also a cycle. Written in 1992, 1999, 2001 and 2004 – within the framework of an extensive output in which operas and symphonic works predominate – these quartets are evidence of a consistent project that adopts the same general structure each time. The second quartet that does not have a number is entitled Movimento di quartetto. This could very well be the title of the other three, too, since the four quartets do not consist of separate movements, but they develop without interruption linking together homogeneous moments through subtle, smooth transitions. Vacchi achieves this by exploiting the instrumentality of the quartet. An extraordinary expert in stringed instruments, he combines all their resources of timbre and tone in new ways: sul ponticello, sul tasto, con legno (meaning with the wood of the bow), non vibrato, tremolo, sautillé, détaché, pizzicato, crescendo-decrescendo on the same note, without forgetting staccato double stops, portamenti and harmonics.

But though Vacchi has used the same structure and the same procedures for all four pieces, the listener has no need to fear repetition or monotony, since each composition corresponds to a specific intention. The 43

beginning of the first quartet is characterized by a rhythmic unit that can be readily identified (two or more short notes followed by a longer one), which becomes more complex as it develops. The different kinds of relationship between the four instruments are explored here.

The second part is dominated by homorhythm – the rhythmic values are the same for each of the four instruments – before giving way to a polyphony of superimposed rhythms that are always clearly individualized, followed by a long fugued passage. Finally Vacchi makes systematic use of double stops for each of the instruments, so that the texture of the whole is intensified, whilst remaining perfectly clear, before creating an atmosphere of contemplative serenity that the last breath of the cello brings to a sweet close.

The form of the Movimento di quartetto, which is shorter than the other three, can be immediately identified on listening, but it differs from the first quartet in its development. Here beautiful, diaphanous, long moments of adagio dominate, separated by “furious” phrasing that becomes longer each time. Vacchi often asks the musicians not to use vibrato and this is often accompanied by playing on the fingerboard. Thus, when it is explicitly required, we are bathed in a new warmth. Vacchi then adds a vibratissimo passage that becomes faster and faster until, without interruption, the musical fabric, with diminuendo and rallentando, returns to the large chords and slowness of the beginning, to end as though in a spasm.

44

CD cover from Decca release of Vacchi’s String Quartets (left).

— Detail of Vacchi’s String Quartet No. 3 (right).

3

3

3

3

46

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ord., espr.

= 96

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gett.

espressivo loco

pizz.

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3 3

3

3

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49

3

pont.

gett. legno e crine

gett.

Here beautiful, diaphanous, long moments of adagio dominate, separated by “furious” phrasing that becomes longer each time. gett.

gett.

gett.

gett.

pizz.

gett.

The third quartet is

works – the exploitation of all the different possible timbres of the

also all in one piece.

strings, the progression of the tempos, the opposition of ferocity and

minutes we 3

slowness, the sense of evolution and continuity – the organization is

listen to an astonish-

different. In this case Vacchi employs several times another form of

ingly fluid, long musical

polyphonic organization, which we have already found sporadically in

development. The dis-

quartets Nos. 1 and 3: the contrast between the cello and the other

gett.

Foresixteen legno crine

gett. gett. arcocourse legno e crine constantly moves

forward without ever re-

three instruments from which it is distinguished by different melodic and rhythmic writing.

prising themes we have

Vacchi is a composer of duration and transition he never oper-

already heard. The whole

ates by juxtaposing sections. Doubtless this is why the listener is

obeys a progressive, inexorable dynamism (pop musicians would

attracted by the unity of the whole which, apart from their specific

speak of “drive!”), whose force is somewhat reminiscent of the last

features, marks each of the quartets, whose texture is a vehicle

movement of Chopin’s Funeral Sonata. The composition of this quar-

for sensual seduction and affective expression. The compositional

tet is without doubt the most complex of the four, but it is always

intention is always clear to the ear and the technical procedures

legible, even when Vacchi demands a fast and furious pace from his

are placed at the service of the aesthetic and semantic project. I

musicians in the last third of the work, before returning, as he often

would even describe Vacchi as a Romantic composer were it not

does, to a slower tempo. This is a quartet which, for these reasons,

for the fact that he adopts the musical language of atonality in

deserves to be listened to again and again, for the pleasure of under-

the four works. In fact, he never has recourse to the tonal uni-

standing it more profoundly and experiencing more profound pleasure.

verse with which we are familiar, but this atonalism is not that of

From the beginning the scherzando tone of the fourth quartet con-

the 1950s and 1960s modernist orthodoxy, consisting of explo-

trasts with that of the previous ones and when it returns at the end of

sions and cerebralism. At the turn of the century, Fabio Vacchi

the piece its well-defined rhythms give it a dance-like character. While

shows, with tenderness and energy, that it is still possible to write

here we find the procedures already adopted in the three previous

music capable of speaking to the heart.

6

pont.

scor e © Ca sa Ric or di

tasto

tasto

45

by Stefan Huber Enno Poppe was born on December 30th, 1969, in Hemer, Sauerland, Germany. He studied conducting and composition at the Hochschule

Although Poppe’s music emanates entirely from natural phenom-

others. He undertook further studies of sound synthesis and algorith-

ena and impulses, it avoids all the stubborn consistency that lies in its

mic composition at the Technische Universität Berlin and at the ZKM

course, which could possibly lead to musical tautologies.

The typical, distinctive titles of Poppe’s works, (“fruit’, “heart’, “ani-

Since 1998 he has been musical director of the ensemble mosaik. His

mal’, “market’, “grapes’) allow him to find inspirational starting points

works are regularly performed live by a number of illustrious musicians

for his concrete compositional work and also allows the listener to find

and ensembles: Ensemble Modern, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Contre

“associative spaces.” The ensemble piece “Shards” which […] written

Champs, musikFabrik, Ensemble 2e2m, Ensemble Intercontemporain,

in an eccentric fashion represents an initially confusing and convolut-

Arditti Quartet, Kairos Quartet, SWR Vocal Ensemble, New Vocal Soloists

ed mix of fragmentary matter, whereas in the three pieces of “wood’,

Stuttgart, Young German Philharmonic Orchestra, SWR Symphony

“bone” and “oil” the nature of each “affected” organic material is musi-

Orchestra, BR Symphony Orchestra, and have been conducted by

cally “processed.”

Stefan Asbury, Pierre Boulez, Susanna Mälkki, Emilio Pomárico, Kasper de Roo, Peter Rundel, among others.

Enno Poppe

and tension.

der Künste Berlin, with Friedrich Goldmann and Gösta Neuwirth, among

Karlsruhe with Heinrich Taube.

In 2012, in addition to the ensemble piece “Speicher VI,” which is to be premiered at the World Music Days in Belgium by the Ensemble

The works of Enno Poppe often appear very transparent at the start,

Intercontemporain, a new orchestral piece commissioned by the

building on the presentation of a single component which subse-

Munich Musica Viva, and a music theater piece [working title “IQ”] has

quently develops in an organic fashion. He often uses mathematical

been created for the Schwetzingen Festival. Thus, after “Interzone”

and biological forms of growth that determine the dramaturgy of the

[2003-04] and “Arbeit Nahrung Wohnung” [2006-07], Enno Poppe’s

piece. Poppe’s compositions show the continual struggle of musical

third stage work will also be presented.

idea and formal structure which lends his pieces contour and tension.

Translation: Richard Toop

rt Ka i Bie ne photo ©

46

The consequence of this is that his works achieve a profiled contour

German composer Enno Poppe taps society and nature 47

48 photo © Ká lm án Ga ra s

( 1921-2007 )

by András Wilheim

“… it is quite likely that all methods that make any sense have been tried out already.”

For a few years in the final third of the last century, the music of András Szőllősy was present – if in small quantities – at the most important forums for new music. True, it was somewhat overshadowed, since compared to the music of his most well-known contemporaries it was less easily labelled as belonging to one of the more typical stylistic developments of the time. Five years have passed since the death of one of the most important representatives of Hungarian music after Bartók, a contemporary of György

Szőllősy (left)

Ligeti and György Kurtág, and this perspective allows us to declare

with György

that Szőllősy’s life and music display qualities which ensure him an

Ligeti in 1993.

undisputed place not just in the history of Hungarian music, but in the history of music in general.

49

Concerto No. III was written at an exceptional moment in musical history; it was the result of realizing that a new classicizing attitude had arrived.

all at the same time, each may choose a web of “tradition” tailored to suit himself, and to which he wishes to contribute. At several stages of

put its ideals into practice. Furthermore, he did so not in the sense of

his career András Szőllősy was forced to take stock. First as a pupil of

amassing obvious allusions that gave his music a surface attractive-

Zoltán Kodály, then of Goffredo Petrassi, he had to weigh up the great

ness, but in a much deeper, one might say structural, sense. We could

classical tradition, at the same time recognizing that for a composer at

even take as his ars poetica what he said at the beginning of the 80s

the start of his career the unique path taken by Bartók could at most

about his views on originality in composition: “’I believe personality

act as an ethical example; in terms of style it could not be followed.

does not lie in a composer’s capacity to devise something radically new.

The historical situation in music at the turn of the 50s and 60s which

If we were to delude ourselves that someone has succeeded in doing so,

created some new styles and buried others was experienced by him as

it suffices to study the history of music in any depth to realize that ideas

an aesthetic and practical problem. He was preoccupied by the ques-

that may appear to be totally new have emerged in the past (often cen-

tion of what ingredients – what sound, what style – could go to form

turies ago)....Originality manifests itself in the rearrangement of musical

that tradition starting from which it would be possible to make a valid

phenomena based on an individual approach to interrelationships of the

utterance. The alternative was to remain silent.

existing constituents of music.” (from: Bálint András Varga: 3 Questions

In fact, an important aspect of Szőllősy’s temperament was to be

for 65 Composers, University of Rochester Press, 2011, 249 p.; 2. Op.

in continual readiness, without his having necessarily an all-pervading

cit 250)

need to create an actual work as its primary form of expression. This

Of course the question of their relationship to living tradition was

also accounts for why he left behind a relatively modest output. For

an important one for composers in all periods; in the second half of

him the question of when to give utterance was an ethical question;

the twentieth century especially so, since the death of the mainstream

a new work should only be written if it has something really new to

meant the simultaneous appearance of a multitude of styles, directions,

say, something considered to be of interest and surprising – whether it

ideals and principles. It became clear in this new unresolved situation

arose from an internal inspiration, or an external commission.

that tradition meant first of all a question of choice: when compos-

The real start of András Szőllősy’s composing career had to wait

ers experience many kinds of style, musical language and technique

a long time – until 1968. Before then he was known primarily as a

lv ég i An dr ea Fe photo ©

50

Szőllősy never referred to postmodernism, the fashionable watchword of his time, but on the evidence of his works, it is clear that he

musicologist: it was he who compiled the first scholarly catalog of the

result they have differing import in a given piece. Even so, the most

works of Bartók and who first published Bartók’s collected writings. His

important types can, for the most part, be demonstrated. There are

Concerto No. III was written at an exceptional moment in musical his-

glissando-blocks meandering among strictly-specified pitches and

tory; it was the result of realizing that a new classicizing attitude had

structures with angular rhythms whose internal constructions, even

now arrived. It was the time when the aggressive avant-garde period

when they bear a striking resemblance, are given an audibly-different

following the second world war came to an end, during which each

character due to their different manner of performance; typical also

new direction had tried to be the dominating one. In its place there

are clusters spanning the entire range of the instrumental forces used,

began a pluralist musical culture adopting different possible stylistic

whose inner rhythm gives the music a special pulse which otherwise

orientations, all equally valid. Here it is worth mentioning what it was

in terms of its positioning is motionless; similarly in many works we

that Szőllősy did not adopt from among the procedures of the then-

find a kind of textural weave in which the different instruments play

recent past of modern music, and its present as it was then. Above all,

motives very similar in construction and moving in the same register

he did not accept the declamatory melodic style typical of the direc-

with differing regular tempos in a kind of organized but barely gov-

tions taken in the 1950s usually given the label post-Webern – and he

ernable heterophony. His rhythm is characterized by a particular kind

did not make use of the aleatoric methods which appeared in works by

of ostinato technique which has both repeated rhythmic formulas

Polish composers beginning in the 1960s.

together with a continual changing of the notes, reminding us equally

Still, however, after the Third concerto another four years had to pass before there could appear in a mature form the sound world

Szőllősy in 2006.

of certain Bartókian procedures and some moments in minimal music, which began to appear at that time in the 70s.

with its formal procedures which we recognize to be the real Szőllősy.

However, the most important characteristic of Szőllősy’s compo-

Objective analysis can demonstrate that he used the same building

sitional technique is, unique among his contemporaries, his unusual

materials in all his works after Trasfigurazioni (1972) – it’s just that in

polyphonic technique. This counterpoint cannot be compared, for ex-

each work they are differently combined, showing precisely the way

ample, to the phenomenon aptly called micropolyphony which we find

the composer “’has the courage to stake the frontiers of his imagination

so often in Ligeti, but neither is it a pure distillation of the structural

ever wider, enriching the world he can call his own.”

polyphony we encounter in Webern’s works. Its forerunner is Bach’s in-

The espousal of this musical ideal did not mean there would not

strumental counterpoint, as well as the baroque stylization of Stravinsky

be any eclecticism – he might not have aspired towards it, but neither

and the counterpoint of Bartók’s middle period, indeed perhaps certain

did he keep away from it. If we accept that his individuality is not

Italian examples as well, like the pre-serial period of Dallapiccola. Most

to be sought in his invention of things, but in the interrelationships

of all, though, a kinship can be felt with the late works of Kodály and

between them, then this kind of eclecticism became Szőllősy’s own

Stravinsky. Even so, Szőllősy’s music is by no means a continuation of

response to those trends of the 50s and 60s that aimed at economy

these; the relationship and its influence is far more indirect. Szőllősy

and homogeneity.

Szőllősy’s musical world is indeed one that is rich in interconnections, a world forming and

developed his material in partnership with Kodály’s free polyphony and Stravinsky’s block-like formal construction, creating the compositional technique that was suitable for him to work with.

following its own rules. Inner coherence, even

András Szőllősy was not a lone composer in the last third of the

the connection between particular works, is

twentieth century – far from it. In some senses his classical aspira-

provided by the continuous reappearance of

tions foreshadowed the dominant tendencies of the time. But not for a

numerous technical ingredients, the use of

moment did he ever abandon his strict self-criticism and radical think-

certain recurring tone rows (familiar from clas-

ing – even when it led to his staying silent. He happily embraced con-

sical dodecaphonic technique) – these in turn

trapuntal construction and ostinato-type rhythms, broadly phrased

providing connections in the tonality of cer-

melody and interval structuring, but without any desire to make a syn-

tain pieces. The building blocks of his works

thesis or summing up. Instead he embraced the excitement of moving

remained constant, but their combinations

towards ever-new experimentation and discovery.

always differed; their sequential order was changed, their proportions altered. As a

Translation: Paul Merrick 51

An interview with the composer

by Stefano Catucci

52

Giorgio

photo by Ma sott i

Battistelli

Giorgio Battistelli has just finished working on his completion

Salvi, a pupil and collaborator of Donizetti, was charged with complet-

of Le Duc d’Albe, a magnificent example of 19th century opera that

ing the opera and Angelo Zanardini with translating the libretto by

Donizetti had planned for the Opéra de Paris but which he himself was

Eugène Scribe, which in the meantime had been reworked by Scribe

not able to bring to completion. On the composer’s death in 1848 the

for Giuseppe Verdi’s Les Vêpres siciliennes. But in spite of the fact that

presence of this singular, incomplete manuscript among the papers

it was recast in this way, Le Duc d’Albe never assumed a stable place

of a musician who was normally quite averse to leaving works unfin-

in the standard opera repertoire. Giorgio Battistelli’s new version of

ished behind him constituted a huge stimulus to the imagination of

the opera is based on the critical edition by Roger Parker, which brings

heirs, critics, publishers and composers alike. The lacunae, however,

Donizetti’s text back to life in the form it had existed prior to Matteo

were too extensive for it to be possible to complete the work just by

Salvi’s intervention. The new Le Duc d’Albe will be premiered at the

making a few additions and/or interpolations. Around 1875, Matteo

Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp on May 6th, 2012.

53

Terror and fascination, the two extremes of what as far back as Plato already represented the dilemma of tyranny, are the poles around which revolve Flemish memory, the dramaturgy of Scribe and the music of Donizetti.

Can you tell us how the idea of working on Le Duc d’Albe came about?

with Alban Berg’s Lulu and even more the finale of Puccini’s Turandot

Aviel Cahn, the director of the Flemish Opera, had talked to me about

as rewritten by Luciano Berio. In both cases, however, the relation-

this project—one which goes far beyond a mere question of music—for

ship with a more modern form of composition is almost anticipated

quite some time. The figure of Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duca d’Alba,

and suggested by the original composers themselves. Take Puccini’s

the man who from 1567 to 1573 incarnated in the most brutal man-

Turandot: here you have a composer who reflects the musical climate

ner the struggle of Catholic Spain against the spread of the Protestant

of his time, locates himself in an open harmonic space, and even

Reformation, is for the Flemish world not just a memory from a distant

arrives at the point of entering the terrain of 12-tone music without los-

past but also a point of reference that still contributes to defining the cul-

ing the coherence of his own language. With Donizetti, finding a terrain

ture and tradition of a people. Terror and fascination, the two extremes

of mediation between history and contemporaneity was an altogether

of what as far back as Plato already represented the dilemma of tyranny,

different task. There is in Donizetti a classical model of bel canto and a

are the poles around which revolve Flemish memory, the dramaturgy of

solid compositional structure that makes it difficult to tamper with the

Scribe and the music of Donizetti. Aviel Cahn asked me to venture into

harmony without risking the banality of provocation or parody. While

this imaginary space and, eschewing any exercise of mere restoration, to

I was writing, I was sorely put to the test by the compactness of the

breath new life back into the opera. I knew very little about Donizetti’s Le

opera’s granite-like harmonic universe. Moving out of the gravitational

Duc d’Albe. I talked about it with Hans Werner Henze, who told me about

pull of an E-flat major tonality meant exercising a huge effort, all the

a production by Luchino Visconti at Spoleto in 1959 under the direction

more for the fact that it was necessary to write not just a single, brief

of Thomas Schippers. Henze’s thoughts on the opera encouraged me a

scene but 35 minutes of music. To overcome this problem I decided to

great deal because they pointed to how the work is in fact a marvellous

approach Le Duc d’Albe not so much from the point of view of seeking

“work in progress.” When I began to study the score, however, I realized

to mediate between musical languages but from the point of view of

that the situation was quite a bit different from how I had imagined it.

the theater. I endeavored to enter into the world of Donizetti’s drama-

The freedom to intervene was much more limited than I expected and

turgy and that of French opera: I tried to extract the relevant historical

the restrictions were much more stringent.

and narrative models and to base my work on extra-musical elements

Can you tell us exactly what these difficulties were?

Basically in having to come to grips with 19th century opera at the

54

that helped me to construct a network of references.

Did you examine Matteo Salvi’s version of the opera?

moment in which it had reached its most perfect form. If you think

I had to. In fact by now I think of Salvi as a long-lost friend, “my pal

of other examples of composers working on incomplete operas, the

Matteo.” Salvi worked on the opera in the manner of a plastic surgeon,

peculiar nature of Le Duc d’Albe is immediately obvious. Naturally I

extracting from the first two acts—the only ones brought to completion—

had very much in the front of my mind what Friedrich Cerha had done

tiny fragments that he then used to stitch together the other components

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The bel canto style is difficult to assimilate even for interpreters who dedicate their lives to it. It is necessary to learn the rules, the metrical style, the breathing, the expressive gestures, the agility, the sense of the repetitions. Today it is not a

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3

old librettos and to dealing with situations in which the music takes shape by way of contact with the theater.

This experience made it possible for me to recognize

and feeling that this type of opera involves. Pain, terror, passion, love,

desperation and hope all coexist in the same scenic space and follow on from one another at an astonishing pace, with a rhythm that the 140640

opera of the time was perfectly capable of supporting but that today 55

represents a challenge of an altogether different magnitude. By restoring the French text I managed both to avoid the cuts that Salvi effected and to give back to the protagonist his grand final aria, an extremely extended but at the same time very concentrated number, where the various feelings brought onto the stage need to be organized in a kind of counterpoint.

Can you tell us about this aria in a little more detail?

It is the very protracted and desperate aria of a tyrant seen above all in his role as father: his son, whom he had just come to know, has been killed by Hélène, who was actually in love with him. With the body of the son lying before him on the stage, the father gives vent to his desperation, yet, in spite of everything, he would still like to forgive Hélène, the daughter of his old enemy Egmont; she too is present on stage and observing the scene in a state of desperation. At the same time there is the exultation of the chorus, the Flemish people who rejoice ferociously in the suffering of the tyrant, interrogating him on whether he now understands what it means to behold the blood of one’s own children. The Duke is about to leave Flanders, the chorus of sailors urge him to set sail, but, just as he is heading down to the quay, he suddenly pulls up, turns around and heads back. The mood of the crowd suddenly changes; it lowers its tone, exultation gives way to terror, if not for the return of this particular tyrant then for the arrival of another who will take his place. To give operatic expression to this sudden change in atmosphere is extremely difficult. It is necessary to immerse the music in the drama, trying to keep everything in a state of precarious equilibrium. The drama comes to an end without a definitive resolution: there is no triumph on the part of the Flemish people, no complete forgiveness, nor any fully-satisfied vengeance. In order to give definition to such a non-conclusive atmosphere, you have to concentrate on the theater: you need to leave to one side the philological coherence of the fragments, the plastic surgery I mean, and you mustn’t even give too much importance to the meanings, to limit

The action almost reaches a standstill: with extraordinary ability Scribe constructs a complex architecture of feelings that cry out to be put in movement by the music. Donizetti knew how to do this perfectly Excerpt from Duca d’Alba.

yourself, that is, to a mediation between languages. The action almost reaches a standstill: with extraordinary ability Scribe constructs a complex architecture of feelings that cry out to be put in movement by the music. Donizetti knew how to do this perfectly, the opera composers of the era knew how to do it, it was practically a format. What I have attempted to do is face up to this task directly without posing quesnever have succeeded in taking up again the panoply of feelings put in play by Le Duc d’Albe.

Translation: Nicholas Crotty 56

di Ca sa Ricor scor e ©

tions to myself about style and form, with which in any case I would

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(On voit dans le lointain à l’horizon toute la flotte mettre à la voile. Le Duc debout sur le vaisseau amiral étend la main vers le peuple comme pour le maudir. Les trompettes et les tambours se font entendre, et sur le devant du théâtre Daniel et Hélène sont à genoux près du corps de Henri qu’ils baignent de leurs larmes. La toile tombe.)

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58

Grand Opera Giacomo Meyerbeer’s complete works

By Oliver Jacob Les Huguenots at Théâtre Royal

RICORDI Munich, Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Complete Works. “Best

de la Monnaie in

Edition” 2011: Robert le diable · “Performance of the Year” 2011: Les

Brussels.

Huguenots Ricordi Munich’s new Complete Works of Meyerbeer had two notable successes in 2011. Robert le diable (Sy. 5601), the first published volume, won “Best Edition” honors in Germany while the Brussels debut of Les Huguenots was proclaimed “performance of the year” by Opernwelt Jahrbuch 2011. The new Meyerbeer edition is an enormous work in every aspect, and has kept the editors, as well as our publishing company, exceedingly busy and highly-motivated for over a decade.

An important work, Robert (Meyerbeer’s debut for the Paris Opéra, a landmark for the Grand Opera, and at the same time a yardstick for many subsequent works) previously had only been presented in an

photo © Ba us

abbreviated and unfinished form. It is now fully restored, and consequently reflects the composer’s intentions. It was an enormous amount of work, so much so that it wasn’t feasible for a single person to cope with such an immense piece and submit a comprehensive 59

Les Huguenots at Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels.

final score alone. The complexity of creating something that previously was available only in different stages of development and versions, was a long and hard process.

Satisfying the demands of contemporary philology and textual criticism while creating comprehensible editions on the one hand, while bringing together reliable performance practice information and producing practical material for use, on the other hand, was a major task.

It is an important and immense work, which fortunately has found considerable popularity. At the Frankfurt Music Fair in March 2011, it was announced that the jury of the German Music Edition Prize had awarded the new critical edition of Robert le diable the prize for “Best Edition 2011” in the category “Critical Editions: Complete Works.” The jury explained their decision: “This publication is a pioneering effort. It is a comprehensive study and presentation of a central work from the 19th century. We explicitly praise the editorial courage to publish such a piece of work. The excellent presentation is particularly noteworthy, as is the special attention to the printing and the setting of the image. Additionally the high academic standard is to be praised.”

What is particularly pleasing about this formidable scientific and academic publishing success is the fact that this edition of Meyerbeer’s complete works have primarily been dedicated to the code of performance practice. The new version of Robert was the basis for a new production which premiered on September 16th, 2011 at the Theater Erfurt as a co-production with the Opera de Monte Carlo.

Another major event of 2011 for Meyerbeer was the premiere of the new edition of Les Huguenots at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. The as-yet-unfinished critical edition was tested here for the first time in an almost unabridged version – and proved to be a great success internationally, not least with the critics from Opernwelt, which declared this production of Les Huguenots to be “the best performance of 2011” .

The Brussels Huguenots production will again be performed in March 2012 by the Opéra du Rhin, in Strasbourg.

The main text of the critical edition, which is used in Brussels and 60

Les Huguenots / PRESS COMMENTS

“Meyerbeer, the great seducer [...] One has to have seen this—in this exact length and vehemence” —Die Welt “This Tragedy has not been as plausible for ages.”

—Deutschland Radio Kultur “Few works can be said to have changed the course of history as, Les Huguenots did. Anyone who cares about opera should see this production.”

—The New York Times “With its five acts and four-hour duration this is a complex, but at the same time accessible “Gesamtkunstwerk”” —Le Monde “A Meyerbeer for our time [...] the degree of completeness from the original source proved to be a key factor for its success.”

—Opernwelt

Ba us photo ©

61

Les Huguenots at Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels.

Strasbourg, is based on the first edition of the score from 1836. This version, which Meyerbeer accepted nolens volens for pragmatic reasons, was enhanced and completed by an autograph found in Krakow and other originals which had remained in Paris. As a result of this reconstruction Meyerbeer’s representation of the entanglement of historical-political and private disaster now has a perspective and depth which could not have been recognized until now by either the performers or the audience.

As it does to Robert, this also applies to the Huguenots.

The extensive inventory of relevant sources and the complexity of the work’s genesis (Meyerbeer’s own sensitive and consistent demands to ensure the quality of his work, as well as having to deal with censorship, the practical realities of the operation of the Paris Opera, and other adversities) to create and summarize into a compatible edition that is suited both to the academic and the performer, has been huge. The publication of the critical edition of Les Huguenots will take place in the “Meyerbeer year” in 2014.

There is even more reason for celebration, as inquiries from opera houses regarding Meyerbeer’s works steadily increase. For example, it is already confirmed that the new critical edition of L’Africaine will be performed on stage on February 2nd, 2013 at the Theater Chemnitz.

The editors and publishers who have persevered and put great amounts of energy and time into the Meyerbeer project are confident that this enormous project they have taken on will blossom and bear much fruit in the future. The signs are good that Meyerbeer, the great pioneer, visionary and theater practitioner, and recognition.

Translation: Richard Toop 62

photo © Ba us

his works will again receive due attention and

63

(selection) January

February

March

April

May

10

2

17

4

2

3

Riccardo Nova

Debussy/Manoury

Enno Poppe Welt for

Luca Francesconi

Matteo Franceschini

Giorgio Battistelli

Nineteen Mantras,

Première suite

orchestra, Munich

Encore da capo

new string quartet,

Mystery Play Saint

Rome

d’orcheste, Paris

version for six instru-

Paris

Paul, Minnesota

Giorgio Battistelli

14

5

Tail up for orchestra,

Younghi Pagh-Paan

Matteo Franceschini

Turin

Hohes und tiefes

Zazie (opera) Théâtre

Licht, Munich

du Châtelet, Paris

21

9

Philippe Hersant Les

László Tihanyi: Two

Rêveries, Chambery

Imaginary Dialogues for ensemble, Moscow 11 Luca Francesconi Herzstück for six voices, Stuttgart

Ian Wilson The stars, the sea for orchestra and chorus, Belfast 24 Hèctor Parra InFall 3, Barcelona 27 Sergej Newski new work for violin solo, Moscow

ments, Montreal

5

6

6

Mauro Lanza new

Gaetano Donizetti

Giorgio Battistelli

work for solo cello,

Le Duc d’Albe (critical

Pacha Mama for

Brest

edition by Roger

orchestra, Münster

16

Parker and completed by Giorgio

Dai Fujikura Grasping

Fabio Vacchi Triple

for string orchestra,

Concerto for 2 flutes,

Tonyeong

harp and orchestra,

19

Bari

Marco Stroppa Re

18

Battistelli), Antwerp

Orso (opera), Paris

Pascal Dusapin

27

Genau!, Karlsruhe

Enno Poppe IQ.

22

Eine Testbatterie,

Silvia Colasanti

Schwetzingen

Metamorforsi (opera),

22 Graham Fitkin Track

Florence

12

to Track, for band &

29

Robert HP Platz

string orchestra for

Emmanuel Nunes

José-Manuel Lopez

Branenwelten 6,

Cultural Olympiad,

new work after Die

Lopez Eppur si

Stuttgart

London

Blendung by Elias

muove, Firminy

Canetti, Witten

24

16

30

Carlo Boccadoro

Philippe Schoeller

Michael Reudenbach

Succede ai pianoforte

Tiger, Avignon

new work, Hannover

di fiamme nere, Rome

25 Olga Neuwirth The Outcast (opera), Mannheim

64

June

July

September

October

November

1

21

14

1

16

Philippe Manoury

Philippe Manoury

Michael Roth Im Bau,

Giorgio Battistelli

Baptiste Trotignon

Piano Concerto, Paris

Partita II, Festival de

Lucerne

new work for soli,

Concerto pour piano,

chorus and orches-

Bordeaux

8

la Meije

30

tra, Naples

24

Younghi Pagh-Paan

Samy Moussa

Rudolf Kelterborn

Im Lichte wollen

Quatuor, Darmstadt

Nachtstück,

6

Rolf Hind The Tiniest

Winterthur

Pascal Dusapin

House of Time

Concertino pour

(accordion concerto),

piano, Strasbourg

London

wir wandeln II, Saarbrücken 14 Gerhard Stäbler

15

Erlöst Albert E., Ulm

Dai Fujikura new

16 Nikolaus Brass Der Garten, Munich 19 Luca Francesconi

work for five soloists and orchestra, Seattle Dai Fujikura Bassoon Concerto, Tokyo

Una Atopia for

25

chorus and

Eric Tanguy Photo

orchestra, Madrid

d’un enfant avec une trompette, Paris

65

CASA RICORDI

DURAND SALABERT ESCHIG

RICORDI MÜNCHEN

RICORDI LONDON

EDITIO MUSICA BUDAPEST