Wolfgang Rihm's 1. Abgesangsszene for Orchestra Performed by the Musikkollegium Winterthur
Feb. 16, 2024
Led by Roberto González-Monjas, the Musikkollegium Winterthur performed Wolfgang Rihm's 1. Abgesangsszene for orchestra at the Konzertsaal Stadthaus in Winterthur on February 15 alongside Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor.
After initially composing 1. Abgesangsszene for the Spohr Festival in Kassel in 1979, Rihm carried on that same year to compose a cycle of five Abgesangszenen [“farewell scenes”], the last of which he completed in 1981. The first of them is somber, ominous music, quite slow, its dynamics restrained – almost seven minutes pass before a fortissimo outbreak. Initially, fragments of a melody pass among several instrumental groups; then the melody emerges in its entirety and the music gains momentum, although its somber atmosphere remains throughout.
Listen to Rihm's Gesungene Zeit - I. Beginning: Quasi Senza (1991-92) for violin and orchestra:
Wolfgang Rihm/Gesungene Zeit - I. Beginning: Quasi Senza/Anne-Sofie Mutter/Chicago Symphony Orchestra/James Levine, conductor
To learn more about Wolfgang Rihm, visit universaledition.com.
Wolfgang Rihm
1. Abgesangsszene (1979)
for orchestra
2.2.2.2.-4.2.2.1-timp-str(14.12.10.8.6)
9'