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Dieter Ammann's Viola Concerto "No templates" Premiered by Nils Mönkemeyer and the Sinfonieorchester Basel, led by Fabien Gabel

Jan. 31, 2025

Following the premieres of his Violin Concerto “unbalanced instability” (2012/13) and Piano Concerto “Gran Toccata” (2016–19), Dieter Ammann devoted himself to the composition of the Viola Concerto "No templates," a commission from the Sinfonieorchester Basel, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Lucerne Festival, Tongyeong Music Festival, and Esprit Orchestra Toronto. Ammann was particularly attracted to the deep tessitura of the instrument’s lowest string, “because this has the range which I didn’t have in my Violin Concerto, and I love hearing the viola at the bottom of its range,” he notes.

The concerto begins with an ironic examination of the genre: the instrument is intended to “imitate the process of tuning up”, according to the performance instructions in the first bar of the solo part. First of all the open C string is heard, but a minor second too high, followed by a fifth. Finally, after a diminished fifth, two further perfect fifths are heard above this. It is not only the two lowest strings of the instrument which appear to be “out of tune”, but the instrument also has an additional “imaginary” fifth string. But this “joke” at the beginning is the only jolly thing about the work. What starts out as fun soon becomes serious, and a “struggle” between solo instrument and orchestra begins. Thus, the composer notes, “The viola has to make its voice heard as an individual pitted against the tutti.” The confrontation of the individual and the collective, the different degrees of “convergence and divergence” are themes explored by the composer in all his concertante works.

Read more about this work in Robert Krampe's article for [t]akte here.

Listen to Dieter Ammann's unbalanced stability (2012-13):

Violin Concerto "unbalanced stability"/Dieter Ammann/Carolin Widmann, violin/Musikkollegium Winterthur/Thomas Zehetmair, conductor

To learn more about Dieter Ammann, visit barenreiter.com.

Dieter Ammann
Viola Concerto "No templates" (2020/24)
for viola and orchestra
2.2.2.2-2.1.1.0-2perc-hp-str(6.5.4.4.2)
20'

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