Admittedly, there is quite an accumulation of engagements in Friedrich Cerha’s
concert diary just short of his 88th birthday, but in this instance,
this ought not to cause too many logistical problems at least: the two
upcoming world premieres will take place approximately 150 km away from
each other as the crow flies – less than one and a half hours by train.
The Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester) under
Andrés Orozco-Estrada (for whom this concert will be his last as
principle conductor of the orchestra) will give the world premiere of Tagebuch für Orchester on 6 February 2014. The following day, Drei Orchesterstücke
can be heard for the first time in the Kölner Philharmonie, performed
by the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne under the direction of Jukka-Pekka
Saraste.
Friedrich Cerha has shaped the music world in his native Austria as
much through his compositions as through his work as conductor and
co-founder of the ensemble "die reihe" since the late 1950s. It is for
this reason that he has long been considered the doyen of New Music in
Austria. In the meantime, he was well known abroad for his congenial
completion of Alban Berg’s opera Lulu. However, international
awareness of this great composer has been completely transformed over
the last decade with an impressive array of late works. Orchestral works
such as Instants (WDR Symphony Orchestra), Like a Tragicomedy (BBC Philharmonic Orchestra) and Kammermusik für Orchester (Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna), solo works including Konzert für Schlagzeug und Orchester (Martin Grubinger, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg) and his opera Der Präsident,
which received its world premiere in 2013 at the Gärtnerplatz Theatre
in Munich with the Volksoper Wien, are proof of tremendous creative
energy. Cerha’s international success was recognised in 2012 with the
Ernst von Siemens Music Prize.
In this context, a younger generation of musicians has also discovered
his earlier works for themselves. Fellow composers including Johannes
Maria Staud have waxed lyrical about the orchestra cycle Spiegel:
"What continues to baffle me today is how fresh and unworn, how
visionary and exciting this music sounds even fifty years after it was
created. The uncompromising and economical way in which it was composed
and the innovativeness of its notation and orchestration go hand-in-hand
with an unbelievable bounty of sweet and iridescent, coalescent and
eruptive, bizarre and unforgettable moments." Elena Mendoza first got to
know the piece after listening to the complete recordings on KAIROS. In
her enthusiasm for this work, she regretted that she had not discovered
it sooner; her development as a composer would surely have taken a
different course.
Friedrich Cerha has often commented with his own mild irony on the fact
that, at almost 90, he is still adding new works to his oeuvre year
after year. On many occasions, audiences at world premieres of his works
must have wondered whether they were hearing his last great work. Orchesterstücke
offer yet another chance to do so as Cerha makes explicit reference to
the circle of life. On the origin of the work, he explains, "in 2006
when I was 80; an age in which one feels compelled to reflect on things,
how the world has changed during one’s lifetime, how the world has
changed one as a person and how one sees the world differently during
the course of one’s life. I was imagining three pieces for orchestra,
which would be connected to these thoughts."
The point of departure was the Berceuse céleste, which was premiered by the RSO Stuttgart under Eliahu Inbal in
2008. He defines this first of the three orchestra pieces as "free from
the oppressing pull of gravity; it has a somewhat childish naivety to
it, a being in which all experiences are just beginning, which does not
yet pass judgment, which does not think in terms of values." Between
this lullaby and the piece entitled Tombeau, which deals with
the transition to death, is a piece full of emotion, fractures,
convulsions, which Cerha labelled "despite its length, slightly
tongue-in-cheek, Intermezzo."
Those who get the opportunity to attend both world premieres will hear in Tagebuch a work that bears a family resemblance of sorts to Orchesterstücken
that originated shortly after the latter was completed. Friedrich Cerha
describes these short pieces as "transparent in setting and easily
comprehended," in which he has developed several musical situations from
Drei Orchesterstücken further. "The composition is called Tagebuch because almost every piece was written in one day," he said.
Nina Rohlfs, 01/2013 | Translation: Celia Wynne Willson
