|
|
born in 1960, he studied the classical guitar and oboe at
the Higher School of Music in Bremen (1980–86) and composition with
Frank-Michael Beyer at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin (1986–
–92). He received many awards including the Berliner Kunstpreis
(1993), the City of Stuttgart compositional award (1993), and the
Ernst-von-Siemens-Förderpreis (2001). He held grants from the Strobel
Foundation in Baden-Baden (1991/92), Villa Massimo in Rome (1995/96), the
Liebermann Grant (1994), and scholarships from the Centro Tedesco di Studi
Veneziani (1995), the Cité Internationale des Arts Paris (1998), and the
Villa Aurora (2001).
A cd featuring a selection of his pieces was released in 1998. He has
published several texts on music.
Selected works: extinción for large orchestra
(1990–91), Veglia for cla-rinet, horn, piano, two violas, cello,
double bass and chamber choir (1991), III, 1 for flutes and live electronics
(1992), II, 1 for piano and chamber ensemble (1993–94), Tele-Vision,
chamber opera to a libretto by André Kellermann (1993–94), cante
– grito for string quartet (1994), IV, 1 for large orchestra (1995),
Die Nachtblaue Fee/La Fata Turchina, chamber opera for children to a
libretto by Elisabetta Niccolini (1996/97), Titus A., opera after
Shakespeare (1994–2004), Marlowe: Der Jude von Malta, opera
(1998–2002), Jahnn-Lieder for countertenor and piano
(1999–2000); incidental music for the theatre: Stella (1998–99),
Die Möwe (2001), Don Juan kommt aus dem Krieg (2002); film music, sound
installations.
II, 1 per stygia, per manes vehor, three sketches for a
concerto for piano and orchestra (1993–94), was written as the second
of three comments on Titus A., my opera based on Shakespeare’s Titus
Andronicus (the other musical comments are iii, 1 for flutes and live
electronics and IV, 1 for orchestra).
The first movement of the composition creates a closed sound space, in which
groups of quartertone chords from the orchestral instruments are arranged
around the slow piano sections.
The second movement is a juxtaposition between differently instrumented
sections of the chamber orchestra and the almost ‘frozen’
entries of the piano.
Dense and mobile textures alternate here with motionless situations, in
which one can hear only fading-out (albeit amplified) resonances of the
piano (the amplification should focus on microdynamic events inside the
piano, without which they could not be heard). Some sections of the second
movement could also be seen as a kind of short theatre entries. The third
movement consists of an extended virtuoso solo for the piano which, towards
the end of the piece, is joined by marimba and trumpet as the sole
representatives of the orchestra.
The title II,1 per stygia, per manes vehor refers to the end of Scene 1 of
Act II of Titus Andronicus:
Demetrius: Sit fas aut nefas, till I find the stream
To cool this heat, a charm to calm these fits,
Per Stygia, per manes vehor.
André Werner
|
