Music in many shades and hues/ digesting Hindemith

This weekend has been recovering from a Hindemith overdose last Friday, Das Marienleben and Mathis der Maler.Once again I was amazed how emotional his music actually is. And difficult to play. And difficult to phrase naturally.Well...I think we did fine.

This week we have a new challenge: Seht die Sonne by Magnus Lindberg, his "2nd symphony".The first problem seems to be logistical: the score is too big for my music stand....

Regards from Poland

I´ve just returned from one of the most ambitious contemporary music festivals in Europe, Sacrum Profanum in Krakow, Poland. I´ve always thought that the music of our time should be integrated into the programmes and not treated as some kind of a curiosity but Krakow was a delightful surprise. Poland seems to be a country were culture is an important part of daily life. I´ve rarely seen this kind of interest from the media, public and press alike. Poland shows that culture is and should be an important force in the society.

Playing the sensitive music by Jonathan Harvey in industrial surroundings wasn´t that easy, though. The venue was a shock in the first and only rehearsal we had and the Ensemble intercontemporain and our great technicians had to work hard in order to make the music and electronics work. And that´s what they finally did. After the chaos of the afternoon the concert went surprisingly well and there was a very special atmosphere. Merci beaucoup, EIC.

Good start

Great concert yesterday! Thanks for all. And thanks especially for Gabriel. I think it would be very difficult to find a singer more suitable for those stunning monologues by Frank Martin. There is something very special in these songs and I don´t think you have to be a religious listener at all to realise that there is a huge amount of hope behind this music and the beautiful text by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Martin´s music should be played more. Maybe in the future we´ll programme Polypyque or even Le Vin Herbé.

I suppose finishing the concert with the Poeme de l´Extase took us as far from Martin´s protestant world as possible. It´s a less complex piece than most people think but it´s certainly true that the huge amount of short themes make the symphonic development impossible and balancing difficult. I´ve tried to read the composers chaotic verses which he wrote to serve as some kind of an explanation of the piece but found the score much more informative. In Scriabin´s (and Wagners´s) case the music itself creates more profound and genuine feelings than the text on which it´s based on.

I was reminded this week that Beethoven was my age whan he composed his 7th symphony. For some reason I found that information spooky.

This weekend is dedicated for some rest and four scores by Jonathat Harvey. It´s been many years since I´ve conducted anything with this much electronics. Harvey is an interesting composer and studying his scores has been quite a journey. I´m looking forward to the first rehearsals with the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris on Tuesday.