pelodelperro | Ulrich Stranz - Scene 2 @pelodelperro | Uploaded 9 years ago | Updated 2 days ago
Scene 2, from "Szenen fur Orchester" (1980)
Münchner Philharmoniker
Wilhelm Killmayer
Scene 2 from "Szenen fur Orchester" was written in 1980. It was also intended to form the central pas de deux of a projected ballet "Erste Liebe" (First Love) after the likenamed novella by Turgenev. As Stranz remarked of this work: "One peculiarity of the piece which corresponds directly with the idea of the pas de deux as regards compositional technique is the multiple application of a two-part canon (at a major 3rd). Just like the main characters Vladimir and Sinaida, the two parts never come together even though both couples, the stage figures as well as the canonic parts, are bound to each orher and follow one another at an unbridgeable distance. Besides this concrete relation to the libretto there are also some less obvious qualities in the score which result from my 'awareness of writing for the dance theatre. Above all, I tried to attain the clearest and most transparent orchestral texture possible, avoiding the heterophony and overlapping sound layers which I had used so frequently hitherto. By concentrating on clear lines I in turn "was able to pursue avenues of orchestration I had never tried before, such as coupling instruments in the manner of organ stops, or forming narrow or broad bands of sharp colour contrasts, or treating the entire piece under a more or less uniform timbral heading of 'weich/gedämpft' (soft/muted). Even if these new paths led me superficially in the vicinity of traditional solutions, I was nevertheless able to achieve a new and completely individual 'orchestral colour scheme'."
Three of the "Szenen fur Orchester" were given in a concert performance in Hamburg early in 1983. Later, others appeared which were intended as self-contained concert pieces irrespective of their function within the ballet. Their structural features and distinctive timbres unite in a work which is thoroughly grounded in tradition and yet continues that tradition in a meaningful way, belying simplistic definitions such as "New Impressionism". Vividness and subtlety combine in an immediatelv effective manner which is characteristic of this composer.
--Wolf-Eberhard von Lewinski
Art by Isamu Noguchi
Scene 2, from "Szenen fur Orchester" (1980)
Münchner Philharmoniker
Wilhelm Killmayer
Scene 2 from "Szenen fur Orchester" was written in 1980. It was also intended to form the central pas de deux of a projected ballet "Erste Liebe" (First Love) after the likenamed novella by Turgenev. As Stranz remarked of this work: "One peculiarity of the piece which corresponds directly with the idea of the pas de deux as regards compositional technique is the multiple application of a two-part canon (at a major 3rd). Just like the main characters Vladimir and Sinaida, the two parts never come together even though both couples, the stage figures as well as the canonic parts, are bound to each orher and follow one another at an unbridgeable distance. Besides this concrete relation to the libretto there are also some less obvious qualities in the score which result from my 'awareness of writing for the dance theatre. Above all, I tried to attain the clearest and most transparent orchestral texture possible, avoiding the heterophony and overlapping sound layers which I had used so frequently hitherto. By concentrating on clear lines I in turn "was able to pursue avenues of orchestration I had never tried before, such as coupling instruments in the manner of organ stops, or forming narrow or broad bands of sharp colour contrasts, or treating the entire piece under a more or less uniform timbral heading of 'weich/gedämpft' (soft/muted). Even if these new paths led me superficially in the vicinity of traditional solutions, I was nevertheless able to achieve a new and completely individual 'orchestral colour scheme'."
Three of the "Szenen fur Orchester" were given in a concert performance in Hamburg early in 1983. Later, others appeared which were intended as self-contained concert pieces irrespective of their function within the ballet. Their structural features and distinctive timbres unite in a work which is thoroughly grounded in tradition and yet continues that tradition in a meaningful way, belying simplistic definitions such as "New Impressionism". Vividness and subtlety combine in an immediatelv effective manner which is characteristic of this composer.
--Wolf-Eberhard von Lewinski
Art by Isamu Noguchi
