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Wolfgang Rihm in Amsterdam

Nov. 29, 2011

Wolfgang Rihm in Amsterdam

Wolfgang Rihm, one of the most prolific composers living today, receives two national premieres in Amsterdam in December. The performances, Das Gehege on December 10, and Fremdes Licht on December 17, represent the matter-of-course with which Rihm’s works are being programmed, a testament to the strength and sonic diversity of his output. 

Soprano Hellen Kwon and the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, under the direction of Edo de Waart, perform Rihm’s monodrama, Das Gehege, for soprano and orchestra. Commissioned by the Bavarian Staatsoper, the work is a setting of the final portion of Botho Strauss’ play, Schlusschor. The tale is a psycholgical exploration in which the principal character holds a dialogue with an eagle in a game reserve. In so doing she illuminates – with all the concentration and expressivity of contemporary (musical) language – the desires for strength and devotion, for self-realization and social integration, that exist directly alongside one another in human beings – thus revealing a sister relationship with another figure placed on the operatic stage roughly a hundred years earlier – Salome.

Fremdes Licht, the other work to receive its Dutch premiere this month, is a setting of the poem Phantasie by the early German Romantic writer Clemens Brentano. Scored for soprano, violin, clarinet, and small orchestra, the premiere features soprano Mojca Erdmann, violinist Carolin Widmann, and clarinetist Andreas Schablas with the Radio Kamer Filharmonie and conductor Michael Schonwandt. The work was premiered by clarinetist Jörg Widmann and Erdmann in 2006, with Peter Eötvös conducting the Sinfonie Orchestre des Bayerischen Rundfunks.

Both performances will take place at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.

For more information on Wolfgang Rihm and the upcoming premieres, visit:

www.radiokamerfilharmonie.nl and www.radiofilharmonischorkest.nl.

Learn more on Wolfgang Rihm at his composer profile on www.universaledition.com.

Wolfgang Rihm
Fremdes Licht (2005)
for high soprano, violin, clarinet and small orchestra
2.2.0.2-2.0.0.0-str
30’

Das Gehege (2004-2005)
A nocturnal scene
for soprano and orchestra
text from Botho Strauss’ play Schlusschor
3(pic).2.ca.2.bcl.2.cbsn-4.3.ptp.3.cbtba-timp.3perc-hp.pno-str
45’

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