Musica Viva: The 2008 Festival (5 SACD Hybrid + 1 CD)
Early in 2008 a number of highly regarded orchestras, choirs and soloists gathered for the very first Musica Viva Festival. The present selection of recordings demonstrates well various directions and tendencies in the field of New Music. A work like Symphonie L'uvre (1937/38), by Karl Amadeus Hartmann, is a plea for the freedom of thought and of sounds too, and soon became a touchstone for the music of our times: pieces which keep the faith like Matthias Pintscher's Herodiade-Fragmente or Aribert Reimann's Cantus with the soloist Jorg Widmann, who is also represented here as a composer - with his Armonica, a quick-moving and learned study on the sonorities produced by the accordion and glass harmonica.
Two works from the turn of the 1970s function (on another CD) as symphonic bookends: Antikhthon by Iannis Xenakis and Uaxuctum by Giacinto Scelsi. That these surround something completely new - La navette by James Dillon - engenders an uncompromising severity, one tempered by a more reflective Adagio and Beat Furrer's Piano Concerto, which takes on a scherzo-like shadow play.
Chamber music by Kaija Saariaho, Liza Lim and Rebecca Saunders usher in a change of mood: the breathless Countdown by Adriana Holszky, after the diary entries of a homeless author with the nom-de-plume Ver du Bois (Woodworm). Mythical forms of recounting a story, thought out with furrowed brow, influence Pilgerfahrten by Chaya Czernowin, freely adapted from a Mumin story by Tove Jansson.
Traditional music from Egypt and Iran simultaneously thwart and enrich the programme. This opens with one of Karlheinz Stockhausen's most important works: Mixtur, presented here in the new version from 2003. Inexhaustible and rich visionary sounds and noises, ones the composer defined with some flights of verbal fantasy as 'colour glissandi', 'pluck-clouds', 'clatter-surfaces' 'slumber-lodes'.
Michael Herrschel ( Neos Music )
SACD 1: total playing time 58:42
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928 - 2007) : MIXTUR 2003 (2003)
for 5 orchestra groups, 4 sine-wave generator players, 4 sound mixers, with 4 ring modulators and sound projectionist
(1) Forward version 29:04
(2) Retrograde version 29:37
EXPERIMENTALSTUDIO des SWR, sound director Andre Richard
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
conducted by Lucas Vis
live recording
25 January 2008
Herkulessaal der Residenz, Munich
SACD 2: total playing time 71:12
Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905 - 1963)
SYMPHONIE 'L'OEUVRE' (1937/38) 22:39
(1) 1. Satz: Toccata variata 11:22
(2) 2. Satz: Adagio 11:17
Aribert Reimann (*1936)
(3) CANTUS for clarinet and orchestra (2006) 15:32
Jorg Widmann (*1973)
(4) ARMONICA for orchestra (2006) 13:13
Matthias Pintscher (*1971)
(5) HERODIADE-FRAGMENTE Dramatic scenes for soprano and orchestra (1999) 19:46
Jorg Widmann, clarinet (3)
Marisol Montalvo, soprano(5)
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
conducted by Emilio Pomarico (1-2)
Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrucken Kaiserslautern
conducted by Christoph Poppen (3-5)
live recording
15 February 2008 (1-2) / 9 February 2008 (3-5)
Herkulessaal der Residenz, Munich
SACD 3: total playing time 73:36
Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001)
(1) ANTIKHTHON for orchestra (1971) 19:23
James Dillon (*1950)
(2) LA NAVETTE for orchestra (2001) 19:17
Beat Furrer (*1954)
(3) Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (2007) 16:45
Giacinto Scelsi (1905- 1988)
(4-8) UAXUCTUM for 7 percussionists, timpanist, chorus and orchestra (1966) 18:08
Nicolas Hodges, piano (3)
WDR Sinfonieorchester Koln, conducted by Brad Lubman (1/3)
Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbru-cken Kaiserslautern, conducted by Christoph Poppen (2)
Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, conducted by Emilio Pomarico (4-8)
live recording
3 February 2008 (1/3) / 9 February 2008 (2) / 15 February 2008 (4-8)
Herkulessaal der Residenz, Munich
SACD 4: total playing time 48:34
Chaya Czernowin (*1957)
PILGERFAHRTEN for speaker, treble choir, and instruments after texts by Tove Jansson and Stefan George (2006/2007)
(1) Part A 09:47
(2) Part B 16:53
(3) Part C 21:53
Matthias Bundschuh, speaker
Dresdner Kreuzchor
Ensemble Courage
conducted by Roderich Kreile
live recording
2 February 2008
Herkulessaal der Residenz,Munich
SACD 5: total playing time 69:20
Kaija Saariaho (*1952)
(1-2) VENT NOCTURNE for viola and electronics (2006) 22:50
(1) I 08:09
(2) II 14:41
Liza Lim (*1966)
(3) OCHRED STRING for oboe, viola, violoncello and double bass (2007) 12:45
Rebecca Saunders (*1967)
(4) BLUE AND GRAY for two double basses (2006) 10:10
Adriana Holszky (*1953)
(5) COUNTDOWN Scenic concert piece after texts by Ver du Bois (2007) 31:40
Nimrod Guez, viola (1-2/3)
Josh Martin, live electronics (1-2)
Stefan Schilli, oboe (3)
Sebastian Klinger, violoncello (3)
Philipp Stubenrauch (3/4); Frank Reinecke (4), double bass
Daniel Gloger, countertenor (5)
Malte Burba; Georg Birner; Lutz Mandler; Paul Hu-bner, alphorn, trumpet (5)
Armin Rosin; Berthold Schick; Dieter Eckert; Viacheslau Chumachenko, alphorn, trombone (5)
Markus Stange; Anna Zassimova; Yukiko Naito; Ju-rg Henneberger, piano (5)
Thomas Hastreiter; Sebastian Hausl; Wolfram Winkel; Alexander Gloggler; Philipp Jungk; Martin Ruhland; Werner Hoffmeister; Stefan Blum, percussion (5)
conducted by Ru-diger Bohn (5)
live recording
10 February 2008 (1-4)
Museum Villa Stuck,Munich
8 February 2008 (5)
Muffathalle,Munich
CD: total playing time 61:28
TRADITIONAL MUSIC FROM EGYPT AND PERSIA
SONGS OF THE SUFIS playing time 29:34
(1) Improvisation 1 14:17
(2) Improvisation 2 15:17
Ensemble Sheik Ahmad Al Tuni
PERSIAN DRUMMERS 31:51
(3) Tchai Kuneh 10:43
(4) Fada 08:59
(5) Tappeh 08:08
(6) Molla Nasrdin 04:01
Trio Chemirani
live recording
27 January 2008
Muffathalle,Munich
