The BNews - 19-02-18 - New arrangement

The BNews - 19-02-18

  • New arrangement

    On June 3rd, Ensemble Kontrapunkte will perform my brand new arrangement of music by Silvestre Revueltas at Brahms-Saal, Musikverein Wien. It is based on sketches for a ballet called "Velorio", which means "death watch". For me it was quite a weird experience, because the music is not at all sad as a european would expect, but most of the time cheerful or grotesque.

    Many thanks to Angélica Castelló for translating the scenario and explaining the cultural background of this piece to me! In Mexico, death is not always taken dead serious, as one can clearly see in the way Mexicans celebrate the day of the dead.

    In this ballet, relatives and friends come to say goodbye to a deceased person, later angels and devils join the death watch. The guests are drinking, telling stories, dancing (the famous Mexican waltz "Sobre las olas" by Juventino Rosas is quoted quite prominently in the score - see illustration) and smoking cannabis. Even the deceased smokes and protests when they take away the cannabis cigarette.

    Silvestre Revueltas / Alexander Wagendristel: RETABLITO DE UN VELORIO, page 15

    Not everything is clear in these sketches, there are just a few instrumentation remarks, and sometimes there is not enough original structure for a chamber orchestra score. I did my very best in imagining how Revueltas himself would have completed this work, but of course I am only guessing with help of many other works by this great Mexican composer.

Kommentare

Kommentar veröffentlichen

Beliebte Posts aus diesem Blog

The BNews - 03-12-18 - New opera finished

Bild
Today I am very pleased to announce that after twenty years I finally finished another opera. It is called EWIGER FRIEDEN and is basically a one-act chamber opera (5 singers, 12 instrumentalists, 5 scenes, about 60 minutes). The work was commissioned by sirene operntheater and will be performed next year in Vienna as part of a cycle of seven chamber operas named Misericordia . The libretto of my opera is by  Kristine Tornquist and is downright ideal for me and my ideas about what opera should be. The story is set in a funeral home, but the opera mixes tragic and comic aspects in a way that these aspects don't only alternate but interpenetrate each other so that both are present during the whole piece. Furthermore the dramaturgy strongly supports the scenic and the musical aspects at once, and last but not least the cadence and rhythm of the text are so musical that they made it very easy for me to set. The cast of my opera is composed of one soprano, one tenor and t
Mehr anzeigen

"Every composer should be locked in" - a message from the BNOKdown

Bild
„Every composer should be locked in, but in a comfortable way of course“, wrote Giacinto Scelsi, himself a composer, once. There is also a famous case in music history where this happened to a composer against his will: Because Johann Sebastian Bach wanted to leave the service and take up another position, his employer, Prince Wilhelm Ernst von Weimar, threw him in jail for almost a whole month. However, since Bach did not change his mind in the meantime and continued to work on his "Orgelbüchlein", the prince ultimately had to release him. The corona pandemic probably gives us the first opportunity to test the Scelsian imperative in practice for its suitability with some statistical relevance . Certainly, the lockdown does not mean a big change in the way composers work unless you want to compose an entire trio during a billiard game like Mozart. I think that many composers are sorely missing social contacts at the moment. However, some, like me, finally have an e
Mehr anzeigen

The BNews - 02-03-18 - Brand New Works 02/2018

Bild
The BNews - 02-03-18 Brand New Works 02/2018      chernobyl astrays Bm177 for alto flute and harp (9')   beyond the veil Bm178/1 for piano (8') (in memoriam Ilse Schumann) In 1989, I composed a set of three moments musicaux, dedicated to three pianist friends. I wanted to continue with two new sets (three pieces each). One of these pieces was planned to be dedicated to Ilse Schumann, who was a friend and a great pianist and who performed with Reconsil several times. Before I was able to put my intention into practice, she passed away very unexpectedly and much too early. This work is dedicated to her memory. beyond the veil, page 1
Mehr anzeigen