MUSIC REVIEW: Two contrasting pieces by Wolfgang Rihm.

Wolfganag Rihm (born 1952) is a German composer and academic. He is Muscial Director at The Institute of New Music at The University of Karlsruhe, and his ouevre is vast, with more than 500 compositions already under his belt spanning many different configurations and styles.

The first piece I listened to was called "Astralis - Ueber Die Linie III" which was written in 2001 and is scored for chamber choir, cello and timpani. It's a substantial piece and is an interesting and rewarding listen. The choir sing extremely lush and close harmonies. The work is based on Novali's poem 'Astralis', which is about his vision of a wonderous and bright future which dissipates and dissolves into ruin and tears. The choir I think were singing voiced sounds but wordless, it wasn't always easy to tell, but the sounds they created were hymn-like and aethereal

Combine these sounds with a solo cello, which adds a sorrowful, weeping line to the choir, and a couple of barely perceptible timpani, just rumbling in the distance like approaching thunder. It's a very prescient work, and a rather sensuous piece of writing too.

In this recording the choir was Rias Chamber Choir directed by Christiph Rademann and the cello was played by Dirk Wietheger and the timpani, Rie Miyama.

Inspired by this piece I then went on to listen to his piece "Frage" (Question). which was written between 1999 and 2000 and recorded here at the piece's world premiere performance at the Funkhaus Wallrafplatz in Cologne.

This was a completely different kettle of fish, and much more avant-garde and experimental. Scored for solo mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble, this was a disjointed, unconnected series of discordant noises seemingly designed to give the listener a headache. So in order to give you, the reader, a fairer assessment, I quote from the programme....

"In Rihm's composition there is a continual energy inherent in the sound objects themsleves that the composer senses and liberates. Rihm coined the term, 'vegetative composing' for this particular relationship to the material. 'Frage' stands out for its two essential design approaches from the visual arts: linearity and the planar, object-like; and its use of two painting techniques - overpainting and inscription. More than that however, the work is embedded into a network of references to the visual arts."

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 16/6/20