European American Music Distributors Company is a member of the Schott Music Group

Music of Georg Friedrich Haas in Chicago and New York

Jan. 31, 2013

Music of Georg Friedrich Haas in Chicago and New York

Audiences in the US have several opportunities this month to attend premiere performances of works by Georg Friedrich Haas. Chicago’s Ensemble Dal Niente provides a rare performance of Haas’ Trois Hommages (1984) on February 23 at the Chicago Fine Arts Building with pianist Mabel Kwan. The work, scored for solo pianist, requires the simultaneous performance of two pianos that are tuned one quartertone apart. On February 28, the Dal Niente presents the Chicago premiere of in vain (2000) at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. The ensemble has dubbed the performance of in vain as a “cornerstone of the 2012-2013 season.”

Also on February 23, the Argento Chamber Ensemble performs the US premiere of …wie stille brannte das Licht, for soprano and ensemble. The performance features soprano Sharon Harms and takes place at the DiMenna Center in New York City. ...wie stille brannte das Licht was written in 2009 for soprano Sarah Wegener whose unique and skilled facility has been immortalized in the work’s mesmerizing vocal solo.

On February 25, members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra present the US Premiere of Haas’ REMIX (2007). The program, led by conductor Benjamin Schwartz, is part of the orchestra’s MusicNOW series. REMIX, for chamber ensemble,was commissioned by the Remix-Ensemble of Porto and premiered by the Klangforum Wein.

Of REMIX, Haas writes: 

InREMIX I did not actually want to attempt anything new. I only wanted to take elements that I had already tried out, and with which I had been able to gain experience, and place them in a different relationship.The result is a very dense piece with a large number of notes, which makes high demands of the performers’ virtuosity. In the process, musical meaning emerges not from the individual notes and sounds (nor from the events in the individual instrumental parts), but only from the total sonority. In this density, this manic concentration on elements which are hastily flowing past (or falteringly and bumpily hastening past), I thus entered what was for me new territory after all – despite my original intention.

For more information on Georg Friedrich Haas, please visit www.universaledition.com.

Details on Dal Niente’s programs can be found at www.dalniente.com.

To learn more about the Argento Ensemble performance, please visit www.argentomusic.org.

Further details on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra program can be found at www.cso.org. 

Georg Friedrich Haas
Trois Hommages (1984)
for two pianos (tuned a quarter-tone apart), two hands
60’

in vain (2000)
for 24 instruments
2.1.2.1.sax-2.0.2.0-2perc-hp.acc.pno-3vn.2va.2vc.db
70’ 

…wie stille brannte das Licht (2009)
for soprano and chamber ensemble
1.1.1.1-1.1.1.1-2perc-pno-str(1.1.1.1.1)
20’

REMIX (2007)
for chamber ensemble
1.1.1.1-1.1.1.0-2perc-pno-2vn.va.vc.db
25’

News