Three keyfigures from ECM’s contemporary music roster – Heinz Holliger,
Thomas Zehetmair, and Thomas Demenga – team up for an exceptional
recording of three works by German post-war composer Bernd Alois
Zimmermann. Zimmermann, almost half a generation older than the
serialists such as Boulez and Stockhausen, integrated state-of-the-art
compositional methods in his writing while constantly following his own
independent, highly expressive musical language. The rhythmically
energetic violin concerto (1950) which is partially based on twelve-tone
models and cast in three movements, was soon hailed as a model for a
post-war solo concerto, while “Canto di Speranza” (1953/57), a
one-movement cello concerto, acccording to Zimmermann, emphasizes
monologue and introvert meditation. “Ich wandte mich…” on the other hand
is Zimmermann’s last work, finished only a few days before his suicide
in 1970. Labelled by the composer as an “ecclesiastical action”, the
35-minute oratorio on biblical verse and the famous parable "The Grand
Inquisitor" from Dostoevsky’s “Brothers Karamazov” is a deeply
pessimistic “performance art” work - of the kind that flourished in
Germany’s ‘Fluxus’ scene around 1970 - involving recitation, singing,
and both gestural and acrobatic action.Three keyfigures from ECM’s contemporary music roster – Heinz Holliger,
Thomas Zehetmair, and Thomas Demenga – team up for an exceptional
recording of three works by German post-war composer Bernd Alois
Zimmermann. Zimmermann, almost half a generation older than the
serialists such as Boulez and Stockhausen, integrated state-of-the-art
compositional methods in his writing while constantly following his own
independent, highly expressive musical language. The rhythmically
energetic violin concerto (1950) which is partially based on twelve-tone
models and cast in three movements, was soon hailed as a model for a
post-war solo concerto, while “Canto di Speranza” (1953/57), a
one-movement cello concerto, acccording to Zimmermann, emphasizes
monologue and introvert meditation. “Ich wandte mich…” on the other hand
is Zimmermann’s last work, finished only a few days before his suicide
in 1970. Labelled by the composer as an “ecclesiastical action”, the
35-minute oratorio on biblical verse and the famous parable "The Grand
Inquisitor" from Dostoevsky’s “Brothers Karamazov” is a deeply
pessimistic “performance art” work - of the kind that flourished in
Germany’s ‘Fluxus’ scene around 1970 - involving recitation, singing,
and both gestural and acrobatic action.
Durísimo.
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