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Jörg Widmann's Lied at The Cleveland Orchestra

Jan. 10, 2013

Jörg Widmann's <em>Lied</em> at The Cleveland Orchestra

On January 17 and 19, Franz Welser-Möst leads The Cleveland Orchestra in two performances of Jörg Widmann's vivid homage to Schubert, Lied. Commissioned by the Bamburg Symphony Orchestra, the 25-minute work premiered in December 2003 led by Jonathan Nott. Lied, or “Song”, was written in honor of Franz Schubert’s vibrant musical legacy.

“Schubert was a melodic genius,” Widmann comments, and indeed the composer's orchestral score for Lied exhibits his admiration for Schubert’s gift of communicating simply through song. Widmann employs intense melodies as building blocks in the work, capturing and drawing-in listeners, and effectively adapting the intimate form of the art song to a large instrumental group. His original idea was to write an orchestral monody – one line, or melody, that gradually unfolded throughout each section of the ensemble. But instead, Widmann chose to channel Schubert’s ideas of musical “traveling” exploring different harmonic backgrounds throughout the work and hinting at Schubertian themes from select string quartets and the Octet as the work develops over the course of its duration.

For more concert information, visit The Cleveland Orchestra's website, www.clevelandorchestra.com.

To find out more about Jörg Widmann, visit www.joergwidmann.com or www.schott-music.com.

Jörg Widmann
Lied (2003, revised 2009)
3(3.pic).2.3.2(2.cbsn)-4.3high tp.3.1-perc-hp.acc-str
25’

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