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Matthias Pintscher with the Cincinnati and Dallas Symphony Orchestras

Jan. 04, 2017

Matthias Pintscher with the Cincinnati and Dallas Symphony Orchestras

Composer and conductor Matthias Pintscher leads the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in a performance of his own idyll for orchestra on January 13 as part of the orchestra’s MusicNOW festival. The festival, curated by Bryce Dessner, also features performances of Andrew Norman’s Play, which was recently awarded the 2017 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, and György Ligeti’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra with soloist Pekka Kuusisto, all conducted by Pintscher.

The seeds for what was to one day become idyll were planted when Pintscher wrote his solo piano piece, on a clear day, to commemorate the 80th birthday of a dear friend and mentor. When this friend passed away, Pintscher set out to compose a sort of “tombeau,” which incorporated ideas from the original piano work into an orchestral setting. Pintscher writes that “the piece is about the breathing of resonances, about fading away – with the whole sense of longing associated with this.”

Also this month, Pintscher leads the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and soloist Karen Gomyo in four performances of his violin concerto Mar’eh on January 5-8. Mar’eh, which is the Hebrew word for “face” or “sign,” requires impressive skills of its performers, employing not only intricate solo passages, but also extended techniques for the orchestra. The composer notes:

I have tried to shape the whole [work] in a very song-like fashion, so that the violin starts at the beginning and draws a line – or its vision – through to the end in the most varied registers, often quite high where it can only be continued in harmonics. I wanted this continual pacing out of a line. In the attempt to create horizontal arcs of sound, I was concerned with always giving the sound a direction in perspective. 

Originally commissioned for the Lucerne Festival and written for Julia Fischer in memory of Luigi Nono, this piece received its world premiere in 2011, and its US premiere with the National Symphony Orchestra in 2015.

For more information about Matthias Pintscher, please visit baerenreiter.com and matthiaspintscher.com.

Matthias Pintscher
idyll (2014)
for orchestra
4(2.afl, 3.pic).2.ca.2.bcl.cbcl.2.cbsn-4.3.3.1-5perc-2hp.pno.cel-str(14.12.10.8.6)
23’

on a clear day (2004)
for piano
8' 

Mar’eh (2010/2011)
for violin and orchestra
3(2.pic, 3.afl).2(2.ca).2(2.bcl).2(2.cbsn)-4.2.3.1-4perc-hp.pno-str
23’

Andrew Norman
Play (2013, rev. 2016)
for orchestra
3(2.,3.pic).2.ca.3(3.ebcl).3(3.cbsn)-4.3.2.tbtn.1-4perc-pno-str(16.14.12.10.8)
47'

György Ligeti
Concerto (1990; rev. 1992)
for violin and orchestra
2(1.afl, soprano recorder; 2.pic).1(soprano ocarina).2(1.Ebcl, sopranino ocarina; 2.bcl, alto ocarina).1(soprano ocarina)-2.1.ttbn.0-3timp.2perc-str
28’

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