Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly

Louis
Andriessen

Should you find yourself in London this week—and it’s a lovely time to find yourself there—check out South Bank Centre’s celebration of contemporary Dutch composer Louis Andriessen. "Passion: the Music of Louis Andriessen," which began on October 4 and will run through October 17 at Royal Festival Hall, includes a world premiere and two U.K. premieres as well as several rarely performed early works.

The world premiere of Andriessen's La Passione for voice, violin and ensemble will be performed by Oliver Knussen - who has a long association with Andriessen's works — leading the London Sinfonietta. The group will also accompany a concert performance of Andriessen's opera, Writing to Vermeer, in its U.K. premiere. (Vermeer was premiered at the Netherlands Opera in December 1999 and staged at the 2000 Lincoln Center Festival in New York.) The Arditti String Quartet gives the U.K. premiere of Andriessen's second string quartet, Garden of Eros.

Andriessen was born in Utrecht in 1939 into a musical family: his father Hendrik, and brother Juriaan were established composers in their own right. Andriessen studied with his father and with Kees van Baaren at the Hague Conservatory, and between 1962 and 1964 undertook further studies in Milan and Berlin with Luciano Berio.

Since 1974 he has combined his teaching with his work as a composer and pianist. He is now widely regarded as the leading composer working in the Netherlands today and is a central figure in the international new music scene.

From a background of jazz and avant-garde composition, Andriessen has evolved a style employing elemental harmonic, harmonic and rhythmic materials, heard in totally distinctive instrumentation. His acknowledged admiration for Stravinsky is illustrated by a parallel vigour, clarity of expression, and acute ear for color.

"The creator should disappear behind the music. An essential aspect of my way of composing is the realization that each piece of music deals with other music. I learned this, of course, from Stravinsky, who in many respects is my great model...I don't feel comfortable with composers - like Schönberg - who always push ahead in one direction. I prefer the jacks-of-all-trades: the Purcells and Stravinskys, who are at home anywhere, borrowing here, stealing there..."
Andriessen is among the most eclectic of contemporary composers. His early works were strictly serialist in the manner of Boulez or Stockhausen, then in the 1970s he leaped from modernism to post-modernism, adopting a style that was much closer to the minimalism of Steve Reich, Philip Glass and Terry Reilly. Along the way, he has consumed many other sub-genres, from musique concrète to electronic, to jazz and rock.

Andriessen's inspiration is wide, from the music of Charles Ives in Anachronie I, the art of Mondriaan in De Stijl, and mediaeval poetic visions in Hadewijch, to writings on shipbuilding and atomic theory in De Materie Part I. He has tackled complex creative issues, exploring the relation between music and politics in De Staat, the nature of time and velocity in De Tijd and De Snelheid, and questions of morality in Trilogy of the Last Day.

Collaborative works with other artists include a series of dance projects, the full length theatre piece De Materie created with Robert Wilson for the Netherlands Opera, the music for the Peter Greenaway film M is for Man, Music, Mozart and the 'horse opera' Rosa premiered at the Netherlands Opera in 1994 with text and production by Peter Greenaway.

Several ensembles from the Netherlands, where Andriessen is a highly influential figure, will perform during the South Bank Centre festival, including the Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet, Electra, Ensemble Loos and the Orkest de Volharding (created to perform Andriessen's music in 1972), which performs the composer's film scores against a video backdrop.

The South Bank festival also examines Andriessen's influence in Britain, presenting works by his students Graham Fitkin, Mary Finsterer and Steve Martland, whose Steve Martland Band opens the festival. Bang On A Can All-Stars, who have long been supported by Andriessen, perform Terry Riley's Minimalist classic In C.

"Passion" will also provide a rare chance to hear Andriessen perform on the piano, when he accompanies singer Greetje Bijma in a late-night program of improvisation.

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Our writers welcome your comments on their pieces. Send your witty bon mots to jbowles@sequenza21.com and we might even publish some of them here. And, don't forget--if you'd like to write for Sequenza21 (understanding that we have no money to pay you), send me a note. JB

Symphony 11: The Year 1905 Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich Performers: Mstislav Rostropovich, London Symphony Orchestra Lso Live - #30 How many ways can you spell superb? From the tortured beginning to the shattering climax, Rostroprovich maintains a sense of rising foreboding and menace that inspires a cold sweat in the careful listener. This is one of those live performances that concertgoers tell their friends about years later. Symphony 11 is rarely mentioned in the list of Shostakovich's greatest orchestal works. This recording may change that. The LSO has never sounded better or more Russian. Surefire Gramophone winner.	String Quartets 11 13 & 15 Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich Performers: St. Petersburg String Quartet Hyperion - #67157 More spectacular music from Russia's tormented genius, superbly played. The 11th Quartet breaks from the more traditional four-movement structure, and comprises seven separate short movements thematically unified by a sequence of phrases introduced at the beginning of the first movement. The 13th is the only single-movement quartet in Shostakovich's output. The 15th Quartet was written in 1974, the year before Shostakovich's death and seems to reflect his state of health and mind. Stark and brooding, it sounds most like a last will and testament.	Shulamit's Dream; Scenes from Shir ha-Shirim: Biblical Songs Composer: Mario Davidovsky Conductor: George Rothman, Anthony Korf Performer: Susan Narucki, Mark Bleeke, et al. Bridge - #9112 Commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony in 1993 and given its New York premiere by Susan Narucki and the Riverside Symphony at Tully Hall in 2000, Shulamit's Dream is a suprisingly lyrical, “quasi-rhapsodic” setting of The Song of Songs by the Argentine-born Davidovsky, who came to the U.S. about 45 years ago and became a pioneer composer of electornic music.	The Miraculous Mandarin Composer: Bela Bartok Performer(s): Robertson, Orchestre National De Lyon Harmonia Mundi Franc - #901777 This is billed as the world premiere recording of the original score restored in 1999 by Péter Bartók, the son of the composer which contains 30 bars previously missing and also restores dynamics, bowings and other performing directions from the autograph. Only those who follow along with the score will know the difference. Extraordinarily precise and sympathetic reading demonstrating why the young American David Robertson is considered one of the best interpretors at modern music by critics and audiences around the world.
Tatjana Composer: Franz Lehar Performer(s): Jurowski Cpo Records - #999762 6 Re-working of Kukuschka (1898) - (1905) (Music by Franz Lehár: Libretto by Felix Falzari and Max Kalbeck) Though we still think of Franz Lehar as the leading operetta composer of the 20th century, his reputation now largely resides on one work, The Merry Widow (Die Lustige Witwe). The situation was much different during his lifetime, and many of his thirty-nine scores were loved, none more so than the story of Tatjana, daughter of a Volga fisherman. The score includes the exhilarating Russian Peasant Dances and the fine tenor aria 'Gedenke mein'.	Dreamer A Portrait of Langston Hughes Performer(s): Various Artists Label: Naxos - #8559136 Nobody wrote more musical poetry than Langston Hughes, Ellie Steigmeister once declared and perhaps it is so. From "Lonely House," written with Kurt Weill to the recent "My People"with music by Ricky Ian Gordon, Hughes poems were naturals for settings by some of the 20th century finest songwriters.	Piano Concerto #4 Composer: Geir Tveitt Naxos - #8555761 Thanks to Naxos' extraordinary Tveit series, I am now certain that the Norwegian Geir Tevitt was one of the great overlooked composers of the 20th century. With easily engaging music, often influenced by the folk music of his native Hardanger region of Norway, the extensive Variations for two pianos is a masterpiece. The duo pianists are used as virtuoso performers and in the role of decorating the orchestral score. If you haven't tried Tveitt, you've missed an eye-opening experience,	Death Valley Suite Composer: Ferde Grofe Naxos - #8559102 Ferde Grofe is known mostly for his Grand Canyon Suite but he wrote other splendid, atmospheric pieces as well, including these three suites, one of them ("Hollywood Suite") a premiere recording. Excellent performances of an American composer who may have been too quickly sent to the basket marked "kitsch."
Symphony No. 3 Composer: Max Bruch Naxos - #8555985 Little known works by a composer best-known for his lush violin pieces. Sumptious tones and a fine romantic arc make this one easy to listen to and to like.	Cello Sonata / Cello Works Composers: Schumann, Grieg Performers: Marie Hallynck, Tiberghien Harmonia Mundi Franc - #911779 Harmonia mundi's Les Nouveaux Musiciens features the young Belgian/French cellist Marie Hallynck in stunning accounts of Schumann' s "Adagio and Allegro," "Phantasienstke," and "Funf Stucke im Volkston" for cello and piano, as well as Grieg's "Sonate Pour Violoncelle et Piano." Our kind of easy listening.	Darkness & Light 4 ComposerPerformer(s): Weiner, Starer, Stern, Korngold, Lees, Holt Albany Music Dist. - #518 The latest release from the Chamber Music Series at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is highlighted by the stunningly original "Piano Trio No. 2 "Silent Voices" (1998) by Benjamin Lees. Anguished and almost unbearably intense, Lees crams more drama, passion and empathy into this 14-minute piece than many composers muster in a lifetime.	Chamber Music Composer: Lawrence Dillon Cassatt String Quartet, Borromeo String Quartet, Mendelssohn String Quartet In 1985, Lawrence Dillon became the youngest composer to earn a doctorate at the Juilliard School. He studied privately with Vincent Persichetti, and in classes with Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, David Diamond and Roger Sessions. Upon graduation, he was appointed to the Juilliard faculty. He is currently Assistant Dean at the North Carolina School of the Arts where he is also Composer-in-Residence and conductor of the contemporary music ensemble. The three pieces recorded here might be considered genre-bending in that they attempt to blend elements of post-modernism and older forms like romanticism.

Symphony 11: The Year 1905
Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich
Performers: Mstislav Rostropovich,
London Symphony Orchestra
Lso Live - #30
How many ways can you spell superb? From the tortured beginning to the shattering climax, Rostroprovich maintains a sense of rising foreboding and menace that inspires a cold sweat in the careful listener. This is one of those live performances that concertgoers tell their friends about years later. Symphony 11 is rarely mentioned in the list of Shostakovich's greatest orchestal works. This recording may change that. The LSO has never sounded better or more Russian. Surefire Gramophone winner.

String Quartets 11 13 & 15
Composer: Dmitri Shostakovich
Performers: St. Petersburg String Quartet
Hyperion - #67157
More spectacular music from Russia's tormented genius, superbly played. The 11th Quartet breaks from the more traditional four-movement structure, and comprises seven separate short movements thematically unified by a sequence of phrases introduced at the beginning of the first movement. The 13th is the only single-movement quartet in Shostakovich's output.
The 15th Quartet was written in 1974, the year before Shostakovich's death and seems to reflect his state of health and mind. Stark and brooding, it sounds most like a last will and testament.

Shulamit's Dream; Scenes from Shir ha-Shirim: Biblical Songs
Composer: Mario Davidovsky
Conductor: George Rothman, Anthony Korf Performer: Susan Narucki, Mark Bleeke, et al.
Bridge - #9112
Commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony in 1993 and given its New York premiere by Susan Narucki and the Riverside Symphony at Tully Hall in 2000, Shulamit's Dream is a suprisingly lyrical, “quasi-rhapsodic” setting of The Song of Songs by the Argentine-born Davidovsky, who came to the U.S. about 45 years ago and became a pioneer composer of electornic music.

The Miraculous Mandarin
Composer: Bela Bartok
Performer(s): Robertson, Orchestre National De Lyon
Harmonia Mundi Franc - #901777
This is billed as the world premiere
recording of the original score restored in 1999 by Péter Bartók, the son of the composer which contains 30 bars previously missing and also restores dynamics, bowings and other performing
directions from the autograph. Only those who follow along with the score will know the difference. Extraordinarily precise and sympathetic reading demonstrating why the young American David Robertson is considered one of the best interpretors at modern music by critics and audiences around the world.

Tatjana
Composer: Franz Lehar
Performer(s): Jurowski
Cpo Records - #999762 6
Re-working of Kukuschka (1898) - (1905)
(Music by Franz Lehár: Libretto by Felix Falzari and Max Kalbeck)
Though we still think of Franz Lehar as the leading operetta composer of the 20th century, his reputation now largely resides on one work, The Merry Widow (Die Lustige Witwe). The situation was much different during his lifetime, and many of his thirty-nine scores were loved, none more so than the story of Tatjana, daughter of a Volga fisherman. The score includes the exhilarating Russian Peasant Dances and the fine tenor aria 'Gedenke mein'.

Dreamer
A Portrait of Langston Hughes
Performer(s): Various Artists
Label: Naxos - #8559136
Nobody wrote more musical poetry than Langston Hughes, Ellie Steigmeister once declared and perhaps it is so. From "Lonely House," written with Kurt Weill to the recent "My People"with music by Ricky Ian Gordon, Hughes poems were naturals for settings by some of the 20th century finest songwriters.

Piano Concerto #4
Composer: Geir Tveitt
Naxos - #8555761
Thanks to Naxos' extraordinary Tveit series, I am now certain that the Norwegian Geir Tevitt was one of the great overlooked composers of the 20th century. With easily engaging music, often influenced by the folk music of his native Hardanger region of Norway, the extensive Variations for two pianos is a masterpiece. The duo pianists are used as virtuoso performers and in the role of decorating the orchestral score. If you haven't tried Tveitt, you've missed an eye-opening experience,

Death Valley Suite
Composer: Ferde Grofe
Naxos - #8559102
Ferde Grofe is known mostly for his Grand Canyon Suite but he wrote other splendid, atmospheric pieces as well, including these three suites, one of them ("Hollywood Suite") a premiere recording. Excellent performances of an American composer who may have been too quickly sent to the basket marked "kitsch."

Symphony No. 3
Composer: Max Bruch
Naxos - #8555985
Little known works by a composer best-known for his lush violin pieces. Sumptious tones and a fine romantic arc make this one easy to listen to and to like.

Cello Sonata / Cello Works
Composers: Schumann, Grieg
Performers: Marie Hallynck, Tiberghien
Harmonia Mundi Franc - #911779
Harmonia mundi's Les Nouveaux Musiciens features the young Belgian/French cellist Marie Hallynck in stunning accounts of Schumann' s "Adagio and Allegro," "Phantasienstke," and "Funf Stucke im Volkston" for cello and piano, as well as Grieg's "Sonate Pour Violoncelle et Piano." Our kind of easy listening.

Darkness & Light 4
ComposerPerformer(s): Weiner, Starer, Stern, Korngold, Lees, Holt
Albany Music Dist. - #518

The latest release from the Chamber Music Series at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is highlighted by the stunningly original "Piano Trio No. 2 "Silent Voices" (1998) by Benjamin Lees. Anguished and almost unbearably intense, Lees crams more drama, passion and empathy into this 14-minute piece than many composers muster in a lifetime.

Chamber Music
Composer: Lawrence Dillon
Cassatt String Quartet, Borromeo String Quartet, Mendelssohn String Quartet

In 1985, Lawrence Dillon became the youngest composer to earn a doctorate at the Juilliard School. He studied privately with Vincent Persichetti, and in classes with Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter, David Diamond and Roger Sessions. Upon graduation, he was appointed to the Juilliard faculty. He is currently Assistant Dean at the North Carolina School of the Arts where he is also Composer-in-Residence and conductor of the contemporary music ensemble. The three pieces recorded here might be considered genre-bending in that they attempt to blend elements of post-modernism and older forms like romanticism.