Results 1st Piano Composition Competition "Città di Albenga" (Italy)

Results First Piano Composition Competition
The International jury included: Roberto Tagliamacco (Italy, chairman), Art-Oliver Simon (Berlin), Steel Stylianou (Berlin), Frans Waltmans (The Netherlands), Alessandra Montali, Giovanni Scapecchi and Marco Reghezza (Italy) 

http://concorsopianisticoalbenga.it/risultati-concorso-di-composizione-results-compositions-competition/

Interview Christoph Bertrand French Composer

My Interview (2007) in French Language
with Christoph Bertrand (1982-2010)
One of the Best Young French Composers

http://www.christophebertrand.fr/waltmans.html

published in 2015 by


http://www.editions-hermann.fr/4661-christophe-bertrand-ecrits-entretiens-analyses-et-temoignages.html

(à paraître dans le volume collectif dirigé par Olivier CLASS et intitulé : Christophe Bertrand - Ecrits, entretiens, analyses et témoignages)

Herkansing voor CantaRode Festival in 2015 (Review in Dutch Language)

Het openingsconcert van het eerste CantaRode Festival Kerkrade vond afgelopen weekend plaats in een matig bezette kloosterkerk van Rolduc. Bij gebrek aan kamerkoren had de organisatie haar oorspronkelijke plannen duidelijk moeten bijstellen. Het publiek werd nu getrakteerd op een werkelijk schitterend programma van religieuze muziek met als titel “Nacht der Religionen”, en dit met een link naar het Musica Sacra Festival in Marktoberdorf (Duitsland).
 
Het was een genot voor het oor te luisteren naar het Ensemble Rouh uit Marokko en hun solist Yassine Habibi, een rijzende ster in de Arabische muziekwereld. Het ensemble liet de luisteraar kennismaken met het rijke palet aan Arabische en Noord-Afrikaanse  klankkleuren. Een pakkend gebeuren met een soort van hypnotische werking indien het optreden van dit ensemble langer had kunnen duren.
In dezelfde lijn lag het optreden van tabla speler Subrata Manna en zijn ensemble uit India. Subrata´s briljant spel op de tabla was het dragende element in de uitvoering. Tabla, sitar, zang en dans, het was van een wonderlijke en ingetogen muzikale schoonheid.
Fayha Choir, een gemengd koor uit Tripoli, zong een aantal religieuze liederen met een glansrol voor de solisten in het gezelschap.
Ensemble Chants Sacrées en Provence sloot dit vierluik af met een programma van religieuze zigeunermuziek. Het programma van dit ensemble kenmerkte zich door krachtige, uitbundige, meeslepende muziek met een onmiskenbaar Spaanse inslag. De uitvoering viel bij het aanwezige publiek zeer in de smaak, en vormde een succesvol en groots slotakkoord van een helaas te korte nacht der religies. 

De eerste CantaRode koorcompetitie ging niet door wegens gebrek aan deelnemers. Een strop voor de organisatie die dit element van het festival in een vroeg stadium op de website had aangekondigd als zijnde een competitie die in de toekomst moet gaan concurreren met de vele reeds bestaande traditierijke topkoorcompetities in Europa. Waarschijnlijk dat een van de factoren voor dit falen te zoeken is in een te korte voorbereidingstijd. Komend jaar, weekend van Hemelvaart 2015, volgt de herkansing voor dit onderdeel van het festival.

Meer info en inschrijven via de website: CantaRode.nl

© juni 2014 Frans Waltmans, MA Musicologie

Review Cesare Valentini´s Agnus Dei

From article: Frans Waltmans, Florence International Choir Festival, pp. 42 - 45, published in International Choral Bulletin (ICB) of Int. Federation for Choral Music (IFCM), 1st Quarter 2014

 

 

Pieter Schuermans (1970) Composers Work Review

Published in Matrix © 2005 Frans Waltmans
New Music Centre - Leuven (BE)
http://www.matrix-new-music.be

Pieter Schuermans was born in Wilrijk on 3 March 1970, receiving his musical education at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, where his studies included composition lessons from Luc Van Hove. In 1995 he earned a first prize in composition. He also received first prizes for flute, double bass and chamber music.

In 1998 he was selected to take part in a course organised by the Creative Dance Artists Trust in Wakefield (UK). The course included an intensive, interactive collaboration between eight choreographers and eight composers. In 2000 he received the Prize of the Province of Flemish Brabant for his composition Per flauto e chitarra (1999). His Composition for recorder quartet, percussion and juggler (2000) won the Tech-Art Prize. He wrote an essay on artistic interaction at the Orpheus Institute in Ghent, and founded the ensemble eaRis company for Looking through eardrums, the performance linked to his essay. As a double bass player, he played for several years with the Collegium Instrumentale Brugense. He also performs as a flute player in chamber music groups. At present, Schuermans teaches composition, ensemble playing and double bass at the Lemmens Institute. He also teaches flute, double bass and instrumental ensemble at the Music Academy in Tessenderlo.

Work review

Many of Schuermans’ works are based on the concept of interaction between music and movement. This concept of interaction first emerged at a young age in his parents’ living room, where together with his brother, a juggler, hesitant first attempts were made to blend music and movement into one unified whole. This was the beginning of a long collaboration, which continues today. Lively rhythmic organisation and an informal compositional style, in which artistic movement plays a role, are the parameters that characterise the compositions. Each composition develops its own logic, giving the work an organic structure. This spontaneous musical development is, however, preceded by a meticulous preparation of the music’s structure. In compositional terms, the musical component of each interactive work is different.

Sometimes the composer interacts with the activity of the movement artist, while sometimes he is content with creating a traditional ragtime for piano, as an accompaniment completely subordinate to the movements of a juggler. Schuermans has also tried experiments with electronic music. By using sensors and the Doppler Effect, movement is transferred into sound. The sound is interpreted in various ways by the computer, thus creating various different musics. The compositional input consists partly of writing the necessary software and partly of deliberately using certain movement patterns which the movement artists can then perform.

Schuermans’ many years of experimentation with music and movement has developed into a complete synthesis of dance, circus and music. Schuermans is now involving the audience in this synthesis. The idea is to achieve a good level of communication between the performer and the audience. A certain degree of freedom is accorded to the performer in order to realise this idea. In Composition for recorder quartet, percussion and juggler (2000), Schuermans combines pure interaction between the disciplines of music, dance and juggling. In musical terms, he builds his composition on a basic motif, which is further developed through a number of techniques such as motif repetition, canonic entries with small melodic alterations, rhythmic shifts, alternating metres, homorhythms and polyrhythms. Fragments of complex rhythmic layering are in this work alternated with three static passages, in which the recorders play very rudimentary chords canonically and in a simple and generally homorhythmic scoring. In the static passages the percussionist and the juggler are given space to improvise completely freely with one another. In this way, the alternation between static passages and complex, rhythmically layered passages help to determine the form of the work.

In his instrumental works, Schuermans takes the same musical points of departure as in his works for music and movement. This is seen in works as early as his Per contrabasso e pianoforte (1996), a work involving interaction among the performers.

The interaction results in the simultaneous layering of rhythms between the double bass and the piano, while at the same time a succession of short rhythmic blocks becomes perceptible.

Schuermans’s informal way of composing is in sharp contrast to a number of rational tendencies that have made themselves evident in music since 1950. He does not want to be pigeon-holed into a particular doctrinaire school of composers. Although as a young composer Schuermans was not yet able to avoid certain dogmatic musical tendencies, over time he has nonetheless been able to find his own way to free himself from such tendencies. In Rhapsody for violin and wind quintet (1993), a quasi-punctual writing style is in evidence, as every note is provided with separate parameters. Despite such minute attention, each note is to be seen functionally within the whole: the punctual style does not harm the larger form. In some parts of this work, complex rhythmic stratification of the parts, combined with tremolos performed at top speed, suggests the structure of a sound field, as found in the work of Ligeti. This work is another early example of an attempt to create the kind of lively rhythmic blocks that have since become characteristic of Schuermans’ works.

Besides the importance of rhythmic organisation, pitch organisation plays a central role in this composer’s work. Schuermans composes atonal music, but in so doing he applies the principle that not all twelve tones are of equal value. The idea of according the same value to each of the twelve tones seems to Schuermans a less than inspired notion. Instead, he creates a hierarchy in the pitch organisation. In compositional terms, this takes shape in the creation of a sound-field around a central note. In Per flauto e chitarra (1999), for example, such a process can be seen in the way the flute and the guitar continually reorient themselves around the note e.

The other central principle in Per flauto e chitarra (after the organisation of rhythm and pitch) is the interaction between the two instruments. The work begins in a spirit of improvisation, as if the two instrumentalists were attuning their playing styles to one another. Schuermans does not shy away from using a wide variety of playing techniques on both instruments in order to arrive at his sound; these include the production of microtones in the flute part and a scordatura tuning for the guitar. The work is built from a number of overlapping movements. The movements differ from one another through their improvisatory character, the use of repetitive and forceful sound patterns in the guitar, a rhythmic complexity that in continually changing ways leads to a climax, and the use of asymmetrical metres. The final movement of the composition is characterised by the flute’s bamboo-like sound with quarter-tone gradations. The playing technique required of the guitar also produces sounds unfamiliar for this instrument. In purely auditory terms this invites comparisons with John Cage’s work, Prepared Piano (1940). The use of an unconventional graphic notation in the flute part is yet another reference to a work by John Cage. In Cage’s Aria (1958), as in Schuerman’s Per flauto e chitarra (1999), the pitch is indicated with a drawn curve, a rough indication rather than a precise instruction.

Interaction is also the keyword in Concerto grosso for strings (2003). In this work, Schuermans’ use of the concerto grosso form recalls the Baroque period. In the third movement (Adagio antico) the composer creates interaction between the groups by giving the solo and tutti groups competing roles. A close-knit polyphonic texture is presented by the tutti group in the form of a model with written-out and varied repetitions. The model moves through the space in ascending minor-second steps. Schuermans thus combines an older form with a contemporary technique of sound-field shifts, an approach also found in Ligeti’s work. The solo sections are marked by rhythmic diminution, giving them a more virtuoso character. With its interaction between solo sections and tuttis, this work, too, breaks down into Schuermans’ characteristic complex rhythmic blocks towards the end, building the tension to a climax.

Another harking back to an older formal type is Con Variazioni (2004), a work commissioned by the contemporary music festival Transit in 2004. The title of this work refers to the form of the theme and variations. The twelve-tone theme is presented in a complex manner in the Introduction. The variations, in contrast, are more transparently conceived, and are presented in a number of different stylistic contexts. The associatively added new musical elements indicate an organically planned development. The separate movements are strongly contrasted with one another in terms of rhythm. The title of the work emphasises the fact that the rethinking of the opening theme is of secondary importance. The work is characterised by musical elements from different stylistic periods, ranging from Baroque counterpoint and a Romantic upsurge in the adagio movement, to a subtle instrumental elaboration of the sound in the form of a rising and falling glissando in the coda, a nod towards electronic music.

List of works

- Interactive: L’Union fait la farce (1996); The Raincoat doctors (1999); Composition for recorder quartet, percussion and juggler (2000); Looking through eardrums (2001)
- Chamber music: Rapsodie for violin and wind quintet (1993); Per contrabasso e pianoforte (1996); Tango for string quartet (1996); Per flauto e chitarra (1999); Dance piece for piano (1999); Opus nul for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola and violoncello (2002); Boisterous bass for double bass and percussion (2003)
- Orchestra: Dispertio for 12 strings (1992); Ballade for symfonic orchestra (1994); Cascade for flute, oboe and string orchestra (1995); Concerto grosso for strings (2003); Con Variazioni for large string orchestra (2004)

Bibliography

Not available

Discography

- Per flauto e chitarra (Profundo with Steven De Baecke and Geert Claessens), PER FLAUTO E CHITARRA, STG2, 2001

Publisher

Lantro (Grimbergen, Belgium)

CeBeDeM (Brussels, Belgium)

Links

http://www.pieterschuermans.be

http://www.earis.be

Coördinaten

Gobbelsrode 15, 3220 Holsbeek (Belgium)

tel (0032) 16 62 11 13

GSM (0032) 476 305 631

pieter.schuermans@me.com

Auditions Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam

UPDATE April 2016

Planned Auditions  2016 - 2017

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam

http://www.concertgebouworkest.nl/en/News/Job-openings/2015-2016/Planned-auditions-2014---2015/

Stefan Meylaers (1970) Composers Work Review

Published in Matrix © 2005 Frans Waltmans
New Music Centre - Leuven (BE)
http://www.matrix-new-music.be

Stefan Meylaers was born in Neerpelt on 1 December 1970. He studied piano at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, graduating with a Specialist Diploma in piano (magna cum laude) and the “Meestergraad” diploma in piano and chamber music (also magna cum laude). He then went on to advanced studies in a number of different musical disciplines. He studied chamber music with Guido De Neve and composition with György Ligeti. In 1996 he worked as a pianist at the opera studio of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. Meylaers has received a number of awards, including first prize in the bi-annual Digital Music Print composition for Belgian composers (1999) and the Egel Prize, awarded in 2002 in Neerpelt for overall cultural contributions to the region. In 2000 he founded the New Art Trio, a leading Belgium ensemble for contemporary music. Besides composing, Meylaers is active as a teacher, concert pianist and accompanist. He has been a guest teacher at the International Summer Festival of Brasilia in Brazil, and a member of the jury at the International Music Festival for Youth in Neerpelt.

Work review

After his studies with Ligeti, Meylaers composed An Hungarian Summer for piano (1996). In terms of structure, the work consists of six short, contrasting sections, mutually linked by a central chorale theme. The work is an idiosyncratic version of a theme and variations. In purely auditory terms, this sounds like a work from the Romantic period, characterised by compositional techniques also found in works by Ligeti, Bartók and Liszt. The prelude to the work refers to Ligeti’s Continuüm for harpsichord (1968). Continuüm is a work characterised by, among other things, phase shifts, resulting patterns and extension of the motif through the addition of notes. There is also no use of bar lines in the work. Meylaers incorporates these stylistic elements into An Hungarian Summer. In contrast to Ligeti’s Continuüm, however, no overarching parameters are set out in the prelude. This is a result of the slow tempo. By the same token, the slow tempo makes every note in the composition important, allowing all the accents and rhythmic shifts to be notated in detail. This results in a permutatively-based emphasis on the main notes in the chorale melody. In the toccata movement, all the diatonic material is distributed over both hands, a reference to Ligeti’s Désordre, etude for piano (1985). Once again, the slow tempo is significant, preventing any sense of disorder when the motif is extended by adding a note in the right hand. This addition does lead to the formation of an anhemitonic pentatonic element, suggestive of Bartók and Hungarian folk music. Bartók’s influence is also evident in the 13-bar third movement. Characteristic in this movement is the asymmetrical metre that changes bar by bar. The work ends in the style of Liszst’s Hungarian Rhapsodies, in which the theme is supported by chords with a great density, accompanied by virtuoso glissandos. Ligeti’s influence can also be heard in the first movement in the Suite for clarinet and piano (1999). The work, which has a virtuoso and ephemeral character, refers in terms of texture to the final movement from Ligeti’s Selbstportrait mit Reich und Riley (und Chopin ist auch dabei) from Drei Stücke für Zwei Klaviere (1976). Both Ligeti and Meylaers drew their inspiration from Chopin’s piano sonata in B-flat, op. 35.

Meylaers’ composing style can be described as free-atonal. An essential point of departure is the creation of an accessible musical language, in which the lyrical aspect is linked to the essence of the emotion, the two held cleverly in balance through rationality. Meylaers, who despite his studies with Ligeti describes himself as an autodidact, does not seek to form part of any particular musical school. He is completely uninterested in the kind of complex developments that have taken place since the 1950s. These have led only to inaudible musical processes. In this sense, Meylaers has positioned himself closer to the ideas of Steve Reich and Ligeti. Nonetheless, Meylaers does have his favourites among contemporary composers, including Mikhail Bronner, John Corigliano, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Peter Sculpthorpe, Arvo Pärt and Henry Gorécki. Each of these composers works from a specific cultural context, within which they try to create a musical language in an original way, making the link between emotionality and reason.

Meylaers demonstrates his mastery in creating a lyrical melody in Elegy for cello and piano (1998). In this slow work, the cello develops a melody out of the depths of the music, subsequently advancing it elegantly and ingeniously. In this work, melancholy is expressed by a melody which at once seems to hover and to have a French sense of lightness. It is characteristic that the melody-line so constructed is always based on the possibilities of the instrument. This approach results in a sound that always strikes the listener as agreeable.
Two other works in which Meylaers exhibits his talent for lyrical constructions are the Trio for clarinet, cello and piano (2000) and Meditation for horn and piano (1999). In Meditation, the melody is supported by chords in the piano, which ticks along like a clock, a reference to Ligeti’s concept of clocks and clouds.

Although Meylaers’ scores have a simple look, they hold within them a complex and multi-layered structure, often entailing polyrhythms and polyphony. Polyrhythms play an important role in Aracoara for string quartet and piano (2003). The work is a musical reminiscence of the composer’s time in Brazil. Aracoara (Sunset) consists of two contrasting movements. The first movement says farewell to the day, while the beauty of the landscape is described in melancholy terms. The second movement tells of real life, which only gets going in Brazil after sunset, when love, football and music reign supreme. Samba and bossa nova play an important role in the nightlife. South-American rhythms give the work a polyrhythmic feel. In contrast, Waves for cello and piano (2000) is characterised by a virtuoso style. The interaction between the cello and piano give the work a polyphonic character. The lively interplay between the two instruments is strengthened by the frequent succession of asymmetrical metres. The musical point of departure in this work is the play of waves washing up and receding, a phenomenon with an inherent polyphonic quality.

The starting point for Meylaers’ compositions is always a seminal idea, out of which a cellular structure develops, further worked out in what might be termed a through-composed style.
New musical elements are continually added over the course of the composition. The final result is an organic whole, which comes across as one overarching musical concept. In Waves for cello and piano (2000), the rhythmic motif of the opening bar forms the nucleus of the composition. Although the work consists of two long outer movements, divided by a very short, cantabile middle movement, the motif is always reworked and spun out in a playful and expressive manner. The constantly changing rhythms in the separate parts provide the element of variation and keep the tension building.
In Meylaers’ work, the process of composition takes place within the natural parameters of tension and release, basic elements of all music. Within this field of tension, comparable to the tonic-dominant principle, Meylaers undertakes a very personal quest for an accessible, emotion-based musical language. Meylaers’ compositions are characterised by a certain spontaneity, not to be confused with any notion of impulsiveness: each note is to be read in function of the whole composition.
Meylaers’ oeuvre forms a rational reflection of his own life story, a running theme throughout all his compositions. Daily events, emotional experiences and even the taking of a political stand all play roles here. Political engagement is the source of inspiration for Hymn for violin, clarinet, cello and piano (2002). An actual experience with a child who lost his parents in the war in Kosovo forms the basis for the composition. The work is an ode to humanity and a call for more peace and humanity. Lost city for soprano saxophone and piano (2003) is inspired by a South-African legend, which tells the story of an ancient civilisation destroyed by an earthquake. Meylaers’ spontaneity and rationality are expressed in this work through the creation of an opening motif characterised by a hocket-like construction. By conjuring up an earthquake in this way, Meylaers links an old musical technique to an event from a distant past. Impressions gained in everyday life form the basis for the composer’s creation of a composition’s opening motif and its further development, suggesting the form that the composition will assume.

List of works

- Vocal: Three Love Songs for medium voice and piano (1998); Vocalise for high voice and piano (1998); Never We Met for medium voice and piano (2003)
- Piano: An Hungarian Summer (1996); Fantasy (1997); Poem (1997); Rapsody (1997); Two Children’s Pictures (1998); Two Short Pieces (1998); Moods of Passion; Three Miniatures (2001); Face of Roads (2002); Cantilena (2003); Habanera (2003); Beyond Rivers (2004); Black and White (Rock & Roll and Ballet) (2004); Blue Mountains (2004); Caravan (Piano method) (2004); Chi (2004); Empty Lake (2004)
- Chamber: Elegy for violoncello and piano (1998); Nocturne for oboe and piano (1998); Nocturne for clarinet and piano (1998); Prelude for violoncello and piano (1998); In the Vale of Dreams for violoncello quartet and piano (1999); Meditation for horn and piano (1999); Suite for clarinet and piano (1999); Deserts for violoncello quartet and piano (2000); Evening Waltz for violoncello quartet and piano (2000); Evening Waltz for clarinet, violoncello and piano (2000); Lament for oboe and piano (2000); Trio for clarinet, violoncello and piano (2000); Waves for violoncello and piano (2000); Hymn for violin, clarinet, violoncello and piano (2001); Signs of Return for trompet and piano (2001); The Spell for oboe, clarinet, violoncello, bassoon and piano (2001); The Spell for violin, clarinet, violoncello and piano (2001); Lonely Child for clarinet and piano; Aracoara for string quartet and piano (2003); Love Song for violin and piano (2003); South Trip for soprano saxophone and piano (2003); Summer Dance for flute and piano (2003); Angels for string quartet (2004); Lost City for soprano saxophone and piano (2004); Mango for euphonium and piano (2004); Mango for tenor saxophone and piano (2004); Prayer for oboe and piano (2004)

Bibliography

Not available

Discography

- STEFAN MEYLAERS, PORTRAIT OF A COMPOSER (Stefan Meylaers), Phaedra 92024, 2001
- Face of Roads voor piano (Stefan Meylaers), NEW BELGIAN ETUDES, Gents Muzikaal Archief RP/GMA 044, 2004

Publisher

Lantro Music (Grimbergen)
Music Print (Antwerpen)

Coördinaten

Lepelstraat 29, 3910 Neerpelt (Belgium)
tel +32 11 66.17.16
mobile +32 479 53 29 84stefan.meylaers@telenet.be


© 2005 Frans Waltmans, voor MATRIX

 

 

 

 

 

Review CD The Garden of Desires (Dutch language)

The Garden of Desires.
New Compositions for Chamber Orchestra

The Garden of Desires is de eerste CD in een nieuw uit te brengen reeks met werken van hedendaagse Oostenrijkse componisten met de focus op componisten die een bijzondere band hebben met Tirol. Voor dit project tekent onder andere het Tiroler Kammerorchester InnStrumenti. Dit orkest onder de leiding van hun dirigent Gerhard Sammer timmert al jaren aan de weg met hedendaagse composities. Op deze eerste CD worden de volgende componisten aan de luisteraar voorgesteld: Manu Delago (*1984), Richard Dünser (*1959) en Ralph Schütti (*1974).

Het werk Concertino Grosso voor hang en strijkorkest van de uit Tirol afkomstige componist Manu Delago, is een voltreffer van formaat. De componist, die bekend staat als “master hang drummer”, bespeelt de hang, een nieuw soort percussie-instrument, dat begin 21^ste eeuw in Bern geïntroduceerd werd. De swingende compositie doet eclectisch aan. De componist is steeds “on the move”, op zoek naar originele klanken, bijvoorbeeld een krant die door een orkestlid wordt opgevouwen of een drumstok die op de grond valt. De “elements of noise” worden in de compositie verweven met de meer traditionele orkestklanken. Rustige solo´s en luide passages wisselen elkaar met regelmaat af, waarna de compositie op improvisatorische wijze wordt afgesloten met een soort van levendige volksdans naar Oost-Europees model.

Jeroen Bosch´ schilderij The Garden of Desires staat model voor Richard Dünsers compositie The Garden of Desires (2010), een concert voor cello en orkest. Het schilderij staat bol van verwijzingen en symboliek, en dit gegeven biedt de componist genoeg inspiratie het schilderij muzikaal te interpreteren. Het werk heeft een hoge technische moeilijkheidsgraad en is geschreven in een soort van laatromantisch klankidioom, waarin poëtische en vrij in de maat gespeelde fragmenten elkaar voortdurend afwisselen.

Ralph Schütti liet zich in zijn driedelig Werk für Orchester inspireren door een zinsnede uit het filosofisch geschrift Tractatus van de filosoof Ludwig Wittgenstein: Gaat de zon morgen weer op? Het werk begint met een subtiel polifonisch weefsel in veel kleurtinten, sfeerscheppend en enigszins mysterieus, waarna het geheel uitgroeit tot een krachtige unisono passage. Het gebruik van de parameter klanksterkte valt op. Langdurige crescendo´s, veel spanningsopbouw en weinig rustpunten, kenmerken dit beschrijven van een muzikaal natuurontwaken. Uiteindelijk is de compositie te omschrijven als een soort van hemels gedicht.  

Een aanrader!

© 2014 Frans Waltmans

CD Review Adam Gorb´s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano

ADAM GORB'S SONATA FOR CLARINET AND PIANO
 
Strange things sometimes happen to radio recordings. They can disappear completely from sight and reappear years later as rather brilliant cd's. At least this is the case with the present recording, a sonata for clarinet and piano by the British composer Adam Gorb.
 
Gorb is one of those composers who do not shy away from experimentalism, but who are also concerned about the accessibility of their music. In fact it is a priority for him to be accessible to his audience. If music can't touch the heart of the listener it misses the point of music altogether, according to Gorb. This is perhaps one of the reasons why his music is so much in demand by amateur music organisations and military show bands, although he also often receives commissions from professional orchestras.
 
Gorb's sonata for clarinet and piano is written in four-movement form: allegro energico, scherzo, largo -- finale. The formal construction of the work may be called classical, containing characteristics which one finds in many pieces. The sonata demands virtuosity from the performers, in terms both of individual technique and also of ensemble playing. It's a real players' work with constant interplay of rhythmic and lyrical elements in the dialogue between the two instruments. An important aspect of the ensemble playing is the concentration of the two instrumentalists, who interrupt each other imitatively, or give each other room to come to the fore soloistically or else come together in unison passages.
 
What makes this composition particularly interesting is however the fact that it is typical of the personal style of the composer Adam Gorb. The second movement scherzo starts off as a continuation of stylistic characteristics of the first movement allegro energico until South American rhythms suddenly appear in the piano part. These are then developed imitatively in both instruments while the clarinet plays music reminiscent of a classical cadenza mixed with elements of jazz. The largo can be seen as a transition to the exuberant finale. The clarinet part is a sort of meditative jazz supported by sostenuto chords in the piano. The finale is the work's apotheosis, a summing up of everything that has been heard in the sonata so far. Here again one is struck by the imitative passages which here develop into Bach-like fugal constructions, worthy of a finale. The sudden changes of scene, surprising personal touches and jazz-like elements give brilliance to this glorious sonata. The work is dedicated to the performers André Kerver and Andrew Wise, who have acquitted themselves outstandingly of their task to make this a noteworthy performance.
 
CD Adam Gorb -- sonata for clarinet and piano (1991), performed by André Kerver, clarinet & Andrew Wise, piano, not available in the shops, for info Andrew Wise and Adam Gorb.
 
© Frans Waltmans

CD Text Booklet Ewelina Nowicka Composer/Violinist

TEXT BOOKLET

EWELINA NOWICKA - COMPOSER/VIOLINIST

Musik for Violin and Piano  (Kreuzberg Records) http://www.ewelinanowicka.com

Assessing a young composer or classifying them within a specific musical genre is no easy task. Eras such as the Baroque, Classical, or Romantic periods, although well-defined, belong to the past and not the present. Young composers nowadays are developing their own unique styles. They may express themselves in various ways within a single work and their pieces are often described as eclectic.

Listening to this recording, one thing becomes clear regarding Ewelina Nowicka and her pieces: We are dealing with not only a virtuoso violinist, but also a virtuosic composer. Nowicka and the pianists bring these passionateworks to life with equally passionate performances. Nowicka engages the listener by inviting them into her personal life and arousing their emotions. Her music is frequently inspired by her own family history, which has a rich heritage closely tied to Jewish culture, and also the characteristics of experimental contemporary music, which can be found in just about all her works. Let us take a closer look at her compositions.Obsession – a violin concerto in three movements. Written in 1999, this was Nowicka’s first composition for orchestra. The piece was first written for violin, xylophone and chamber orchestra. Later, in 2010, it was transcribed for violin and piano. The composer’s interests and rhythmic aspects are conveyed particularly well in this piece and became a seed for later compositional developments.

Atonali – for solo violin was inspired by Schumann’s Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood). This work evolves and contains both old and new violin playing techniques, requiring great virtuosity from the soloist.

Kaddish 1944 – A letter from Nowicka’s aunt served as the inspiration for this piece. The letter describes her aunt’s life in the Lodz ghetto and goes on to describe her journey on a cattle train to Auschwitz. It was during this journey where she became separated from her mother on the ramp. The melody appears at the very beginning of the piece and can be likened to a fragile and delicate small plant. The melody then goes through many developments rather than flourish, but gets its chance to do so at the end. This is how the impressions, influences, and musical structure are linked together.

Concerto Ebraico – Nowicka’s second violin concerto, for which she received an award for in 2008, from the Bremen Composers Competition in Germany. Many musical elements come together in this piece and it consists of three parts entitled Sabbat, Katharsis, and Purim. It contains an energetic, lively dialogue between the piano and violin, and reminds the listener of late Romantic and folk elements from the early 20th century. Furthermore, it combines technical savvy with emotional depth, thereby engaging the audience right from the beginning to the very end.

Conventus – for solo piano, is similar to creating a sculpture. The listener should imagine scraps flying through the air, as a musical space is created by carving out a low, middle, and high register on a piano. This imagery is achieved through modern playing techniques such as clusters and faint minimalistic characteristics. Natural and spatial elements are further emphasized by sustaining high tones through the pedals. This emotional, expressive, powerful work is full of imagination.

Saltatio Mortis – was originally for violin, harpsichord, and chamber orchestra. This recording features the violin and piano transcription. This danse macabre is distinctive because of its atonal elements and especially for its ostinato pattern.

Strawinskana – is a solo violin work. The composer quotes 20th century music and reveals her influences, such as pieces by Igor Stravinsky in particular, a master of rhythm. There is a clear reference to Stravinsky’s violin concerto within the first two measures. Nowicka uses this as a point of departure in order to create her own ideas, leading to an expressive, rhythmically structured composition.

“You have to play from the heart” is a well known quote from C.P.E. Bach. A parallel can be drawn from these words: Ewelina Nowicka is a musician who plays and composes from her heart.

© Frans Waltmans
English translation: Norom Bou

Gilad Hochman Composer and his Composition Szymborska for Women´s Ensemble

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQg0mAD-kaA

Berlin Based Israeli composer Gilad Hochman (*1982) was defined as “one of Israel’s most prominent composers” by the Deutschland Magazine and as “an already well known classical composer" by the BBC.

Mr. Hochman studied under composer Dr. Ilya Heifets and pianist Dr. Mark Shaviner and in 2007 graduated with honors from Tel Aviv University’s Buchman-Mehta School of Music. At age 22 he became the youngest ever Composer-in-Residence in Israel’s history and at age 24 the youngest composer ever to be awarded the prestigious Prime Minister Award for his artistic work.

Hochman's music reflects a clear aesthetic approach and a rare combination between tradition and innovation, while creating a well structured contemporary musical language – personal, lyrical and expressive. In his work, Hochman uniquely merge European classical music traditions and those relating to the Jewish culture and to his Israeli origin.

Notable performances to his works include two retrospective concerts in Germany, in 2009 and in 2011. In 2013 Hochman had his orchestral debut concert at the Berlin Philharmonie and he was invited to lecture at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. That year he was also featured on 2 CDs by German label ClassicClips and was premiered at the Aachen International Chorbiennale with his work “Szymborska” by Israeli Sirenot Ensemble.


www.giladhochman.com