Announcements November 2010

• US-American Premiere of Jiráseks “Mondi paralleli”
• Premiere of Heiner Goebbels’ “Sampler Suite” in Singapore
• World premiere of a Dai Fujikura recorder concert in Amsterdam
• Russian premiere of Newskis’s “Figuren im Gras” (Shapes in the grass)
• Serbian premiere of Robert HP Platz’s “bulk”
• Chamber music by Carmen Maria Cârneci in Stockholm
• Liza Lim: Australian premiere of “Pearl, Ochre, Hair String”
• Nikolaus Brass’s “Trio” in four German Cities

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US-American Premiere of Jiráseks “Mondi paralleli”

On November the 3rd there is a performance of Jan Jiráseks ecclesiastical choral work “Mondi paralleli”. The URI Chamber Chorus, directed by Mark Conley performs at the Fine Arts Center at the University of Rhode Island.

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Premiere of Heiner Goebbels’ “Sampler Suite” in Singapore

er The original framework for Heiner Goebbels’ 30 minute “Sampler Suite” is the full-length evening programme “Surrogate Cities” for vocals, sampler and orchestra. In the work, which consists of various orchestra pieces, some of which are as ensemble versions, the composer deals with a range of themes regards cities, architecture, and urbanity. For the “Sampler Suite” Goebbels assimilates urban noises with historical sounds, similar to historical recordings of synagogue songs. The first ever performance in Singapore takes place on the 3rd November in the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. The New Music Ensemble will be directed by the conductor Sian Edwards.

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World premiere of a Dai Fujikura recorder concert in Amsterdam

“My starting point for this concert was the investigation and discovery of the unique qualities of the recorder. I recognised that the articulations of the players could be directly increased through the playing of the recorder. So my compositional beginning consisted of allowing a string orchestra to act as a further development of the articulation, and let it support the recorder. In other words: everything in the piece has it’s beginning in the mouth of the soloist.” Thus the Japanese composer Dai Fujikura describes his compositional concept of his new work that has its world premiere in the Amsterdam Muziekgebauw on the 18th November. The soloist is Jeremias Schwarzer, and the Ensemble Resonanz will be directed by Peter Rundel. The English premiere will take place slightly later on the 20th November within the programme of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

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Russian premiere of Newskis’s “Figuren im Gras” (Shapes in the grass)

The Festival Moscow Autumn has commissioned the popular Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble to perform a concert by Russian composers. The Berlin based Sergej Newski will also be represented. His piece “Figuren im Gras” (Shapes in the grass) was written for seven instrumentalists in 2001 and involves flute, oboe, bass clarinet, baritone saxophone, piano, viola and cello. 
The Russian premiere takes place on the 19th November in the Moscow Composers House. Fedor Lednev will direct.

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Serbian premiere of Robert HP Platz’s “bulk”

The twenty minute work for alto flute and orchestra “bulk” by Robert HP Platz was created in January 2009, having been commissioned by the Symphony Orchestra in Aachen and the Kunststiftung NRW (Arts foundation North Rhein Westphalia). “bulk” will now be performed for the first time in Serbia on November the 20th in Belgrade by the Philharmonic Orchestra Belgrade conducted by Robert Bokor. The soloist is Jean-Luc Menet, who was also the world premiere soloist.

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Chamber music by Carmen Maria Cârneci in Stockholm

A concert of chamber musical works by the Rumanian composer Carmen Maria Cârneci will take place on November 25th in Stockholm. The Norwegian Chamber Ensemble, under the direction of the Rumanian conductor Tiberiu Soare and the title “Romanian Tones”, will perform an evening of contemporary music from Romania. Among the works to be performed are the pieces “Sommeil de morphine” for oboe and piano and “…denn der Tag war noch ganz” (then the day was still whole) for flute, cello and piano. Both pieces are available from the Publishing house Ricordi & Co Munich. The programme starts at 19.00 in the Italian Cultural Institute (Italienska Kulturinstitutet, Gärdesgatan 14, 115 27 Stockholm)

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Liza Lim: Australian premiere of “Pearl, Ochre, Hair String”

Having world premiered in Munich in July this year, the Australian premiere of “Pearl, Ochre, Hair String” now awaits. In this orchestral piece, there is a special playing technique employed with a wrapped up cello bow being utilised. Liza Lim has experimented with the various effects that can be achieved in “Invisibility” (2009), a piece for solo cello, that she herself has described as being a preliminary study to  “Pearl, Ochre, Hair String”. A solo group comes out of the orchestra, consisting of cello, contrabass, and percussion, that is not emphasized on stage, but gives the musical performance continual and integral impulses.

The inspiration for the piece is an initiation rite for young aboriginal boys in Australia: the ritual involves different patterns being scratched into mother of pearl shells which are then rubbed with the ochre coloured earth and wrapped in a string made from human hair. The spiritual and cultural background of the indigenous Australians has inspired the Chinese born Australian previously, and has led to compositions such as The Compass 2005-06, for the orchestra, with flute and didgeridoo soloists.
The performances in Perth take place  on November 25th, 26th, and 27th.  The West Australian Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by Paul Daniels.

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Nikolaus Brass’s “Trio” in four German Cities

For a long time now Nikolaus Brass has been counted as an outsider to the current music scene. Lately though, there has been a significant change. The Munich composer and doctor, born in 1949 in Lindau on the shores of Lake Constance, is receiving a lot of increasing attention. In 2009 he received Munich’s top music prize (Musikpreis der Landeshauptstadt München) for his compositional work and was honoured as being “one of the most topically interesting and unconventional composers in the German speaking countries. Currently, the Dresden piano elole Trio, who are touring Germany, are travelling with the 40 minute “Trio” (1989/91/97) in their repertoire. “Trio” by Nikolaus Brass  is certainly one of the most important works of it’s genre over the last decades. Recently a second CD recording of the work with the elole-Trio is available through the BEOTON label. The concert dates are: 

25.11.2010, Bamberg (Spiegelsaal der Harmonie) 

26.11.2010, Munich (Schwere Reiter) 

28.11.2010, Dresden (Kulturrathaus) 

30.11.2010, Berlin (BKA-Theater) 


Enno Poppe is the composer-in-residence at the Dialogue festival in Salzburg / there are Premieres as well as new World Premieres, of his works in Munich, Holland, England and the Czech Republic

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Franz Furrer-Münch passes away at age 86

The Swiss composer Franz Furrer-Münch recently received recognition for his outstanding work when he was awarded the Marguerite Staehelin prize, a few weeks ago. Furrer-Münch was considered “a real outsider”.  However, his works over the past few years increasingly received a broader resonance, with young musicians like Sascha Armbruster, Daniel Buess, Christoph Bösch as well as the Ensemble Phoenix Basel taking a keen interest in Furrer-Münchs’ works. A mono graphic CD featuring these musicians appeared a few years ago on the United Phoenix Records label. His concert for recorders “Entfalten – Verweilen  (Unfolding – linger)” (Symphony Pages 7) (200708) have just been published on the Grammont Sélection 3 (MGB CTS-M125, 2 CDs) preformed by the recorder player Maurice Steger from the Ensemble for New Music Zurich, and directed by Lukas Langlotz. The Zurich pianist and composer Werner Bärtschi described Furrer Münch as “ Someone who searches for his own solutions. He isn’t someone who quickly runs down the street towards a happy goal. He carefully and constantly checks what he is working on. He continually asks questions.”

Born in Winterthur, he initially served an apprenticeship in Zurich and Basel and completed his training as an artisan. Afterwards he continued his musical education at the conservatoire in Basel. He then studied natural science at the ETH Zurich, whilst at the same time going to musical science lectures at the university of Zurich. From 1969 until 1989 he worked in the science department of the ETH Zurich. Twice, in 1969 and 1971, he received research contracts at the Electro-Optical Sciences Center at the State University at Stony Brook NY, as well as a study visit to Bennington, Vermont. From 1976 he devoted himself to the studio of electronic music in Freiburg im Breisgau. Since 1989, he has lived as a freelance composer in Niederglatt, near Zurich. Franz Furrer-Münch mostly wrote chamber music, but also composed some orchestral works. Over 40 of his compositions have been recently made available from the Edition TreMedia by G.Ricordi and Co. Munich. We mourn his passing away and our thoughts are with his family and relatives.

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