Thursday, January 30, 2014

...Karl Amadeus Hartmann, 8th Symphony

The music of German composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann has almost disappeared from concert life, despite his eminent importance for the musical landscape in early post-war Germany. He was the founder of Munich's famous MUSICA VIVA festival for new music, and with him contemporary classical music rose from the ashes of World War II.

But what happened ever since? Hartmann suffered from cancer and died already with 58 years in 1963. His contemporaries, like the ten years older Carl Orff outlived him by almost twenty years. Nevertheless, the music by Hartmann performed in the concert hall today is still more manifold than Orff's notorious "Carmina Burana." There is his Symphony No. 1, his Violin Concerto, or his piano sonata "27. April 1945."

In this post I will discuss his 8th and last symphony, premiered in 1963, the year of his death. The movements are:

1. Cantilene
2. Dithyrambe: Scherzo - Fugue

Every single bar in this symphony reveals the unmitigated craftsmanship of Hartmann, in instrumentation, originality, and form. One example is the instrumentation at the very beginning, where he combines a C-Clarinet with the Vibraphone to a sound of strange acuteness. An example for his lifelong interest in polyphony is not only the four-part counterpoint two or three minutes into the first movement, but also the fugue at the end of the symhpony.

The fugue construes the second part of the second movement, called "Dithyrambe", what means "song of joy that ends with rapturous exultation" (Hartmann does not miss to inform us about that in a footnote in the score). A fugues seems to me the perfect device to achieve this goal, since it allows to generate an complex yet not chaotic atmosphere. Besides, he is in good company with Mozart, who decided to employ a fugue in his last symphony, with the same results (at least to me).

His younger friend and contemporary Hans Werner Henze wrote "Three Dithyramben" for chamber orchestra in 1958, also the second movement of his Third Symphony is called the same. Whether there is an influence or not is not easy to decide. The music of the two sound not unalike. However, Hartmanns last work has a density and strong emotional impact unachieved by Henze, at least during that time.


There is a video on Youtube (audio only) with Hartmann's 8th Symphony, conducted by Ingo Metzmacher, who recorded all of Hartmann's Symphonies.


Saturday, January 25, 2014

...the "Dickbauer Collective"

Yesterday I attended the first concert in a series of three of the Session Work Festival at "Porgy & Bess", one of the most distinguished concert venues for jazz music in Vienna.

The first concert comprised three sets, starting with the band Luna*Lab and ending with the presentation of four new works composed by Viola Falb and Phil Yaeger for the "Session Works Composers Orchestra."

However,  I liked the second set, the "Dickbauer Collective", best. The core of this band is formed by Klaus Dickbauer (alto sax and bs clarinet) and his two nephews Stephan (tenor sax/clarinet) and Johannes (violin). This party of three is rounded up with Christian Wendt (bass) and Patrice Heral (drums).

What makes the music of this band outstanding, at least for me, is the constant evasion of listening expectations. That starts already with the instruments they chose, as violin and cello might not be what comes first to mind for jazz music with saxophones. But of course, it's not only the instrumentation that sticks in mind. It fact, it is the personal style of the band that allows a broad width of music that sounds completely different yet coherent with their other pieces.

The "Dickbauer Collective" presented music from their new album "Mosquito Warrior", which was also the last song they played that evening. This song, compared with their songs "Damals mit 4" or "Increments of Cool" are perfect examples for the variety of expressions they are capable of. In addition, the beat-boxing of drummer Patrice Heral added a good portion of humor to their performance.

Of all three bands of this evening, they also had the most congenial stage appearance. Especially the casual and easy-going announcements of Johannes Dickbauer between the songs made the audience enjoy their set probably as much as the band itself.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Recently read

Here are a few links to interesting blog articles I read in the last couple of days.

On January 14th Gavin Plumley wrote in his blog ENTARTETE MUSIK about the connections between Beethoven, Mahler, and Shostakovich. I bookmarked this partly because of the class I am teaching next semester on symphonies of the 20th century.

Symphonic Connections


I already posted a link on Facebook to an interview with the Australian Composer Madeleine Cocolas by Dana Wen, which was published on I CARE IF YOU LISTEN, also on January 14. Ms. Cocolas is writing a composition every week due to reasons explained in the interview. There is a link to her music on Soundcloud, too. I have not decided what to think about this project, yet, but I like the music anyway.

5 questions to Madeleine Cocolas (composer) 


James Jordan is contemplating in his blog Musical America about the will of the composer and his influence on future performances, especially of stage works. In his posts he questions the value of comments of composers about their works in letters, theoretical papers and talks for the interpretation.

Want not



Saturday, January 18, 2014

...Philip Glass' "Einstein on the Beach"

A couple of days ago the blog aworks provided us with a link to a video stream of a performance of Philip Glass' opera "Einstein on the Beach" (1976). Last year I was lucky enough to attend an actual performance of this masterpiece of minimal music in New York City at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, based on this experience I am very happy to repost this link here.



It has to be said that "Einstein" should only be heard and seen life on stage. I guess this is the reason why Glass and his collaborator Robert Wilson refused to videotape the original performance for sale. The experience during the almost five hours the opera lasts is so strong and unique that no recording could ever convey it.  Like Stravinsky's "Sacre du printemps" it seems to me quite boring when I listened to it on a CD at home. Stravinsky's "Sacre" needs to make you feel the resonances of the orchestra in your body, and Glass's "Einstein" needs to show you the dances on the stage together with the music. In fact, you can watch twenty minutes or so of "Einstein" without noticing any significant change in the music or the lyrics (more about the lyrics later). And yet, despite of the countless repetition, your hear the same piece of music every time it occurs a little bit different, charged with the experience of the last time you heard it. "Einstein" needs the big space (that is to say, the stage), in time as well as in actual space, to generate this overwhelming and almost indescribable feeling.

"Einstein" has no narration. There are roughly three parts, called "Train", "Trial", and "Spaceship", which are symbolized more or less by the name-giving objects. There are no lyrics - the chorus is singing numbers or solmisation syllables. In a world where opera usually tells a story, this is a revolutionary approach.

The opportunity to watch a performance of "Einstein" shouldn't be missed. In March it is staged in Berlin, in the Haus der Berliner Festspiele.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

...the real "Lady Gaga"

According to Wictionary, usually the word "gaga" is applied to the senile, the infatuated, and the crazy. Surely, Lady Gaga is referring to the latter, however, not in the sense of a disorder. But was is "the Crazy", or, as she would put it, "the gaga" in her music, or rather her style?

I heard her music long before I watched a video clip to one of her songs, and I remember that I had not little difficulties to connect the artist, or rather her image, with the music. The name of her hit single in those days was "Pokerface", which was played ceaselessly on the radio. Now, after I watched the video clip to this particular song, I know the reason for this confusion. There is nothing gaga about "Lady Gaga." I don't want to bother you with an in-depth analysis of the song structure, which won't bring anything to light worth reading, nor with an interpretation of the lyrics, which are nothing but a description of a seduction. So if you are looking there for anything gaga, you are digging at the wrong place. Even the video clip is not more than a sequence of choreographed dances, which weren't new in the early days of Britney Spears.

When I hear the expression "gaga" I usually think of another artist, namely Roisin Murphy, former singer of the band "Moloko." Together with her partner Mark Brydon she was performing the most interesting, that is to say, the most "gaga" music that mainstream pop is capable of. Here I think especially of the album "I am not a doctor", admittedly years before the rise of "Lady Gaga." On this album she isn't afraid of singing in fake voices, using lyrics without any obvious sense, and doen't care at all for radio compatibility. But even her first solo album "Ruby Blue" is fulfilling the promises "Lady Gaga" claims by her name.

I have no doubt that Lady Gaga chose her name as an allusion to an untamed way of life and self-expression. Nevertheless, her music as well as her video clips are betraying her and finding her guilty of appealing to mainstream. The award of "gaga" clearly belongs to someone else.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

...the "Cardigans"

Does anybody remember the Swedish band the "Cardigans"? After their latest album "Super Extra Gravity" in 2005 they pretty much disappeared into oblivion, except maybe for 90s revival shows. The band might still be remembered for its contribution to the soundtrack for the movie "Romeo and Juliette", starring Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio in 1996. They wrote the song "Lovefool", which is not unlikely the most known song by them.

Last night I listened to a couple of songs of "Super Extra Gravity" and was once more struck by the transition the band's music was undergoing through the years. Back in 1994, when their first album "Emmerdale" came out, the music was called "easy listening." When you give songs like "Rise and Shine" or "In The Afternoon" a try you might experience that this label isn't far-fetched. Nevertheless, "Emmerdale", together with their second album "First Band on the Moon" became one my favourite car tapes.

On "Super Extra Gravity" all of the tenderness and the lightness of their early works has vanished. These songs are nothing but sad, starting from "Losing a friend" till "And Then You Kissed Me, Part 2", the sequel to a song with the same name on the predecessor of this album, "Long Gone Before Daylight." Strangely enough, the label "easy listening" might still be considered appropriate for this music, but in a twisted sense. The songs have, like always, a radio-convenient length of about 3'30'' minutes, the melodies are easy to remember, and they do not scare listeners away by strange singing or playing techniques. Though, there is something deeply disturbing in every track. It's a trap: Take the song "Little Black Cloud": It is, if you share my interpretation, a song about somebody who is used to be let down by anybody, but is willed to enjoy every minute till this particular moment. Nina Persson is delivering these lines on the verge of hysteria, which perfectly matches with its despair. "The Cardigans" seems to be on a descent to inescapable pessimism. In my opinion, they started this journey already in 1998 with their biggest hit album "Gran Tourismo", only slightly delayed by "Long Gone Before Daylight."

"Super Extra Gravity" is the double superlative for a force pressing one to the ground. Maybe the "Cardigans" were trapped somewhere by this gravity after or while "Gran Turismo." As far as I know they are still performing on stage, but if there will ever rise a new album from this dark pit?