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Festival |
The other genre which the festival represented, was that of theater music and the interconnection between music and theater. This was well presented with a theatrical performance, at the Young Generation Theater, of a children’s play, "Musila, Der Musiker", the text and the music of which was written by young Dresden composer, Bert Handrick. The story was an old Indian Buddhist folk-tale of Musila, the musician, who set about competing with his teacher, and attempting to gain the upper hand over him in terms of success. When they played in contest before the king, the teacher won and Musila gets thrown in jail for confronting his teacher; there, Musila finally achieved a victory—a spiritual mastery over his ambition.
The music presented a curious but harmonious and successful combination of traditionally sounding theater music, elements of avant-garde musical style and ethnic Indian folk music, the latter enhanced by the addition of several Indian musical instruments, used along with Western ones. The costumes and scenery were very imaginative, and the whole performance produced a very favorable impression on children and adults alike, including professional musicians.
Ukrainian contemporary music ensemble, the "Frescos," directed by composer Vadim Larchikov, performed a program of music by Ukrainian, Lithuanian and Macedonian composers. This was organized in conjunction with a group of poets from different countries (Germany, Romania, Ukraine, Belarus), who recited poetry in their own languages in between the performances of the pieces. The poetry project was directed by German poet, Marion Poschmann and featured poets Nora Iugha from Romania, Maryna Kononchuk from Ukraine, Maria Shaton from Belarus and Alexia-Adela Sirbu from Romania. The director of this whole project was Andreas Lorenz.
"Odyssey Balkanica—Macedonia 2001 by young Macedonian composer Darija Andovska," a short, concise and pungently dramatic piece, presenting the emotional impact of the war in Macedonia with the Albanian terrorists, last year, contained dramatic tutti instrumental effects, such as holding notes and dynamic, polyphonically marked passages, greatly aided by percussion. The instrumental passages were interspersed with words spoken by the performers, such as: "There is a war", "Where can we find peace?", "Peace is within you". The latter words, towards the end of the piece evoked totally different music—lyrically gentle, less rhythmically marked, and emphasizing lyrical lines by the solo violin. The piece produced a very favorable impression by its emotional message and textural inventiveness.
"Epitaph to Marquis de Sade" for two cellos by Sergei Zazhytko from Ukraine was a lively, extravagant composition with rhythmically sporadic, dramatic instrumental effects, a considerable amount of vibrant extended techniques, very impressive in its music, despite the unsavory subject matter.
"Sound Illusions II" for string trio by Liudmila Yurina from Ukraine was a very impressive piece with innovative harmonies and very delicate textures, often giving prominence to solo instruments, as well as a very intricately lyrical, expressive mood.
"Frequency" for two cellos and electronics by Antanas Jasenka from Lithuania was a more eclectic type of piece with rough, obtrusive instrumental effects, alternating with more delicate textures at brief times rock music effects in the electronic part and an overtly repetitive texture.
Vadim Larchikov’s "Pieta in August" for accordion and piano was an extensive piece with contrasting sections, basically an atonal type of harmony, with occasional incursions into overt tonality, lyrically expressive textures, especially in the solo violin line, and a rather episodic type of development, successfully combining rather heterogeneous thematic and textural material.
"For Hero" for bassoon, violin, cello, piano and electronics by Ukrainian Alla Zagaykeych was a very impressive piece with imaginative textures and a lively, dramatic mood. The electronic writing as well as the combination with the instrumental writing stemmed from the best traditions of the IRCAM school. This was undoubtedly the most impressive piece on the program.
Another genre, demonstrated by the festival was that of opera. A one-act opera "Ich bin du" or der Raub der Futurina by Spanish-born Elena Mendoza-López, a resident of Berlin, which took place at the Sclosstheater, combined, in an impressive way, a very serious, dramatic type of avant-garde musical language, resembling Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s music, with a very light and humorous story of people in outer space in a distant future time, highlighted by colorful scenery and costumes and very light-weight action on stage. A large section in the middle of the opera featured the accompaniment of one bass clarinet, with the full chamber ensemble starting and finishing off the opera.
A concert of compositions for solo violin and string orchestra, titled as "Violin Concertos from Three Continents," was performed by a string orchestra ensemble, assembled especially for this concert, which did an outstanding job of performance. Violin Concerto by New-York-based composer Steven Rosenhaus was a three-movement work, featuring a rather traditional musical harmonic and textural language, utilizing George Perle’s system of "twelve-tone tonality" albeit in an original manner, not imitating Perle’s musical style, the harmonies sounding quite consonant all the time. It was a sturdy, well-built composition with a substantial form and a reserved type of expressivity, at times the mood being vibrantly spirited and at other times, gentle and lyrical.
Arvo Pärt’s famous "Tabula Rasa" for two violins, prepared piano and string orchestra from 1977 was given a superb performance by the soloists and the orchestra, one that Part, who was present in the audience, was especially pleased with.
Japanese composer Akira Miyoshi "Etoiles à cordes" for Violin and String Orchestra was in four contrasting movements, and combined more innovative, avant-garde harmonies and textures with a very Romantic emotional mood and Neo-Romantic textures.
"Violin Triple Concerto" by Dresden-based composer Karsten Gundermann was an extravagant work utilizing three types of violin—the Swedish Hardangerfele, the Chinese Erhu and the Mid-West American cajun-fiddle—as well as three types of folk music styles—the Swedish, Chinese and American. The composition was a lively work, written in an entirely traditional musical idiom and utilizing a wide assortment of folk-material, though it was all stylization written by the composer with almost no quotation from the actual folk-music of the three countries represented.