Helmut Lachenmann's Concept of Rejection

Tempo ◽  
1995 ◽  
pp. 4-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elke Hockings
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Music ◽  
Compositional Style ◽  
Small Circle ◽  
English Music ◽  
German Composer

The eminent German composer Helmut Lachenmann enjoys an exalted reputation among a small circle of English contemporary music enthusiasts. To the wider English music public, though, he is little known. There are hardly any comprehensive accounts of Lachenmann in English. His consciously elusive compositional style could even be introduced to the English audience as ‘old-guard avantgarde’ without being challenged at all.

scholarly journals INTO THE LION'S DEN: HELMUT LACHENMANN AT 75

Tempo ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 65 (257) ◽  
pp. 52-61
Author(s):  
Christopher Swithinbank
Keyword(s):  
String Quartet ◽  
Contemporary Music ◽  
Symphony Orchestra ◽  
String Orchestra ◽  
School Of Music ◽  
English Music ◽  
Keynote Speech ◽  
The University ◽  
University Of Manchester ◽  
German Composer

In April 2010, the Guildhall School of Music recognized German composer Helmut Lachenmann's expertise in extended instrumental techniques, inviting him to give the keynote speech at a research day dedicated to contemporary performance practice; in May, he had a Fellowship of the Royal College of Music conferred upon him for his achievements as a composer; in June, the London Symphony Orchestra performed Lachenmann's Double (Grido II) for string orchestra, in doing so becoming the first non-BBC British orchestra to have performed his music; and in October, the Southbank Centre presented two days of Lachenmann's music including performances by the Arditti String Quartet and a much expanded London Sinfonietta, the latter broadcast on Radio 3. Outside London, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group gave a performance of his most recent work, Got Lost for soprano and piano, and the University of Manchester presented a mini-festival dedicated to his music. This roll call of events might be seen then as the celebration to be expected as a noted composer passes a milestone, but Lachenmann is a composer who – despite his age – could until recently have escaped such attention in Britain. In 1995, Elke Hockings wrote in these pages that, while enjoying ‘an exalted reputation among a small circle of English contemporary music enthusiasts, […] to the wider English music public he [Lachenmann] is little known’ and critical reception has been mixed, often extremely negative. Introducing Lachenmann to an audience at the Southbank Centre in October, Ivan Hewett described him as ‘a composer we don't know well in this country, an omission we are gradually repairing’.

TWISTING THE ARM OF MICHAEL MAIERHOF: COMPOSER, PERFORMER, CONCERT ORGANISER

Tempo ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 75 (295) ◽  
pp. 85-93
Author(s):  
Thomas R. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Music ◽  
Art Music ◽  
Personal History ◽  
Compositional Techniques ◽  
Music Scene ◽  
Musical History ◽  
German Art ◽  
Artistic Directors ◽  
German Composer

AbstractThe German composer Michael Maierhof took a curious and unusual path to becoming a professional composer, performer and concert organiser, one that gives him a unique perspective on the German art music scene. This interview with Maierhof took place on 17 January 2020 in Maierhof's apartment in Hamburg, Germany and forms part of my research into the artistic and socio-economic motivations that composers and artistic directors employ when utilizing a conductor. The interview explores his personal history, compositional techniques, and perspective on the course of contemporary musical history before going on to consider his views on conductor's responsibilities and their role in contemporary music.

scholarly journals Lucas Galon’s Concerto for Violin, Percussion and Strings (2018)

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Alex Palmezano
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
Contemporary Music ◽  
Compositional Style ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Specific Method ◽  
Twelve Tone ◽  
Violin Concerto ◽  
Second Viennese School ◽  
Other Hand

In this paper, I investigate how the composer searches for his own voice in his violin concerto while using a blend of influences such as Bartok, twelve-tone and Brazilian popular music. Galon argues that composers such as Bartok, Stravinsky and Villa-Lobos followed an independent, more varied compositional style without subscribing to any specific method.[1]On the other hand, the self-proclaimed mainstream of the Second Viennese School established a very structured, particular way of writing music. The composer seems to put into question the mechanization of composition of the dodecaphonic method, but validates its use as a way of refraining his creative impulse.[2]While Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2provides a framework for his piece; the tools he uses to manipulate the musical material are drawn from a free use of serialism and Brazilian contemporary music philosophy and aesthetic.    

Music after the Fall

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Rutherford-Johnson
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Contemporary Music ◽  
The United States ◽  
Art Music ◽  
Sound Art ◽  
Musical Composition ◽  
Western Art ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Cold War

By the start of the 21st century many of the foundations of postwar culture had disappeared: Europe had been rebuilt and, as the EU, had become one of the world’s largest economies; the United States’ claim to global dominance was threatened; and the postwar social democratic consensus was being replaced by market-led neoliberalism. Most importantly of all, the Cold War was over, and the World Wide Web had been born. Music After The Fall considers contemporary musical composition against this changed backdrop, placing it in the context of globalization, digitization, and new media. Drawing on theories from the other arts, in particular art and architecture, it expands the definition of Western art music to include forms of composition, experimental music, sound art, and crossover work from across the spectrum, inside and beyond the concert hall. Each chapter considers a wide range of composers, performers, works, and institutions are considered critically to build up a broad and rich picture of the new music ecosystem, from North American string quartets to Lebanese improvisers, from South American electroacoustic studios to pianos in the Australian outback. A new approach to the study of contemporary music is developed that relies less on taxonomies of style and technique, and more on the comparison of different responses to common themes, among them permission, fluidity, excess, and loss.

After the Rhapsody

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Neimoyer
Keyword(s):  
Compositional Style ◽  
Library Of Congress ◽  
Popular Songs ◽  
Compositional Technique ◽  
Stage Music ◽  
Rhapsody In Blue

1924 was one of the most demanding years of George Gershwin’s career. In addition to the wildly successful premiere of the Rhapsody in Blue that led to numerous additional performances of the work throughout the year, he wrote the music for three hit musicals, all of which opened during that year. Given this context, a manuscript notebook in the Gershwin Collection at the Library of Congress dating from March and April 1924 is particularly intriguing. Because this notebook contains the earliest known sketch of “The Man I Love” (one of Gershwin’s best-loved popular songs), it has been acknowledged in passing by Gershwin scholars. “The Man I Love,” however, is only one of nine short pieces in the notebook and is the only entry written in what is now defined as Gershwin’s compositional style. This article briefly addresses the entire contents of this “March–April 1924 notebook,” exploring the possibilities of what Gershwin’s purposes in writing these undeveloped works might have been. Were they unused stage music, ideas for the set of piano preludes he was writing off and on during this era, or were they exercises focused on correcting weaknesses in compositional technique uncovered while writing the Rhapsody in Blue? Whatever their purpose, the pieces in this notebook provide clues as to what Gershwin’s creative priorities may have been, as well as further insights into how Gershwin honed his musical craft.

Politics, Feminism, and Contemporary Music Theory

1991 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter C. van den Toorn
Keyword(s):  
Music Theory ◽  
Contemporary Music

“Bartók always called me Latin”: The Influence of Béla Bartók on László Lajtha's life and art

2007 ◽  
Vol 48 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 215-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emőke Tari Solymosi
Keyword(s):  
Folk Music ◽  
Film Music ◽  
Hungarian Academy ◽  
Compositional Style ◽  
Bela Bartok ◽  
Mutual Respect ◽  
French Academy ◽  
Latin Culture

Abstract Bartók's influence on his outstanding Hungarian contemporary, László Lajtha (1892–1963) remains as yet largely unresearched. Lajtha studied with Bartók at the Royal Hungarian Academy of Music and went on to become a composer, folk music researcher, versatile teacher, international cultural ambassador, and member of the French Academy. The two men's friendship and mutual respect lasted throughout Bartók's life. Among the leading musicians of the time, it was Bartók who first expressed his high opinion of the younger composer's talent. Bartók's influence can be observed in almost every field of Lajtha's work. For example, it was Bartók who recommended that Lajtha choose Paris as the place to complete his studies, which fostered in turn Lajtha's orientation toward Latin culture. Following in Bartók's footsteps, Lajtha became one of the greatest folk music collectors and researchers in Hungary, and this music also exerted a significant effect on his compositional style. Bartók recommended that the director Georg Hoellering commission Lajtha to write film music, which became an important new genre for the latter. A large number of documents — especially the unpublished letters from László Lajtha to John S. Weissmann, one of his former students — offer proof that Bartók's inspiration and practical assistance were of paramount importance to the development of Lajtha's career, oeuvre, and aesthetics.

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