crescendo26: GegenTöne - Counter-Tones
...not only roses, but also thorns... – crescendo
Three completely contrasting works from the 20th century, which push the boundaries of technical and emotional feasibility to the extreme, form the unique programme for this evening.
Mieczysław Weinberg: Piano Quintet, Op. 18
Leoš Janáček: Capriccio for Left Hand Piano and Wind Ensemble
Helmut Lachenmann: Pression for a Cellist
Kaori Furusawa, Mark Gothoni, violin / Charlotte Stickel, viola / Irena Josifoska, Katarina Leskovar, cello / Eva Faganelj, flute / Ido Moran, Tamás Toma, trumpet / Beatriz Fernandez, Miguel Gonçalves, Diogo Mendes, Juhyeon Seo, trombone / Gottlieb Wallisch, piano / Roy Hoshen, conductor / Prof. Dr. Ulrich Mahlert, moderator
“Vzdor”, meaning “defiance” in English, is the alternative title of Leoš Janáček’s Capriccio for left-hand piano and wind ensemble. He composed the piece for the war-disabled pianist Otakar Hollmann. The fact that he was able to continue playing is thanks in part to this composition, in which lyrical dialogues between the piano and wind instruments, echo-like phrases and fast, powerful piano runs never for a second suggest the absence of the right hand. Nothing in this music is meant to be uncomplicated or pleasant; it seeks extreme expression at the limits of feasibility. [SNF1] According to Janáček's demand, every note should sound ‘full of blood,’ and every piece ‘should contain not only roses, but also thorns.’
Helmut Lachenmann, who celebrates his 91st birthday this year, pushes the boundaries of playability in Pression for solo cello – a unique work in which not a single sound is produced in the traditional manner, but only requires novel or alternative techniques. ‘Listening here does not mean agreeing and going along with it,’ writes Lachenmann, who challenges conventional listening habits and reveals instrumental technical obstacles.
A life under terrorist regimes: Born in Warsaw in 1919, the Polish Jew Mieczysław Weinberg lost his parents and sister in the Trawniki labour camp, but managed to escape in time; however, he also had to endure much under the Communist state. His music speaks of these experiences in an exemplary way: his haunting and highly dramatic piano quintet from 1944 was written shortly after he moved to Moscow. The tragic overall concept and the extreme scope allow the listener to feel the contradictions of the Second World War.
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Info
crescendo – Künstlerisches Betriebsbüro der Fakultät Musik
crescendo@udk-berlin.de