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Home , Cello suites (Britten), Krzysztof Penderecki, Sofia Gubaidulina, Walter Fink

3 CD-SET

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH The Suites Mayke Rademakers | György Kurtág | Alfred Schnittke | Improvisations

1 The Cello Suites Mayke Rademakers Sofia Gubaidulina | György Kurtág Krzysztof Penderecki | Benjamin Britten Alfred Schnittke | Improvisations CD 1

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) GYÖRGY KURTÁG (1926) nr. 1 in G-major [14] Message-consolation 2:59 [1] Prelude 1:53 [2] Allemande 5:17 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) [3] Courante 2:40 Suite nr. 3 in C-major [4] Sarabande 2:53 [15] Prelude 3:15 [5] Menuet 1 & 2 3:41 [16] Allemande 4:08 [6] Gigue 1:44 [17] Courante 3:24 [18] Sarabande 3:45 SOFIA GUBAIDULINA (1931) [19] Bourrée 1 & 2 4:16 [7] Prelude Con sordino senza sordino 3:07 [20] Gigue 3:13

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Suite nr. 2 in D-minor total time 60:09 [8] Prelude 3:54 [9] Allemande 4:48 [10] Courante 1:59 [11] Sarabande 4:28 [12] Menuet 1 & 2 3:21 [13] Gigue 2:43

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KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI (1933) JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) [1] Per Slava 5:39 Suite nr. 5 in G-minor [9] Prelude 6:04 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) [10] Allemande 6:29 Suite nr. 4 E flat-major [11] Courante 2:43 [2] Prelude 4:21 [12] Sarabande 4:46 [3] Allemande 4:53 [13] Gavotte 1 & 2 5:31 [4] Courante 3:34 [14] Gigue 2:40 [5] Sarabande 3:53 [6] Bourrée 1 & 2 4:44 ALFRED SCHNITTKE (1931-1998) [7] Gigue 2:51 [15] Klingende Buchstaben 5:24

BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913-1976) [8] Tema Sacher 1:13 total time 60:06

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JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750) Suite nr. 6 in D-major [1] Prelude 5:29 [2] Allemande 9:10 [3] Courante 3:54 [4] Sarabande 4:39 [5] Gavotte 1 & 2 5:27 [6] Gigue 4:25

Improvisations on electric cello Constant [7] One 1:49 [8] Two 4:06 [9] Three 5:17

Distant [10] One 3:53 [11] Two 4:38 [12] Three 1:28 [13] Four 5:47

total time 60:01

8 9 In conversation with…

You are presenting the Bach cello suites in quite an exceptional setting, inspired , sitting therefore perfectly alongside Bach. Kurtag’s combined with contemporary and improvisations. Could you Message consolations ends with a high C, forecasting the key of the subsequent describe your motivations behind all of this? Suite no 3, where Britten’s Tema Sacher predicts the drama and darkness of the These days, there exists a tremendous focus upon “historic” performance 5th suite. practices. Besides the positive and most valuable lessons that we have learned regarding instrumentation, articulation and musical editions, one tends to Together, these relatively short pieces expose an increasing intensity, ultimately forget that today’s listener hears within a completely different sphere to that of vanishing in the high and tenuous sounds of Schnittke’s Klingende Buchstaben. one who lived 300 years ago. An authentic listening experience is, despite what This stands as a metaphor for the celestial yearning so quintessential of Bach, we would all like to believe, simply not possible. both as man and composer.

It is for this reason that I have strived to make a connection with today’s world, And your improvisations? Why the use of a silent cello? by pairing the suites with works by contemporary composers, setting them in In contrast with our time, improvising was very common in Bach’s era. an unusual and incisive perspective. Composing, playing one or several instruments, alongside the art of improvisation belonged to the skills of every musician. This is designed as a modern reflection, with the hope and expectation that we will hear these suites in a different and more genuinely “authentic” I have always been intrigued to search for those notes which are not actually manner thereby. printed. Throughout these improvisations I was inspired by motives from the suites, the B.A.C.H.-motif and the various keynotes of the 6 suites. All are Could you disclose a little more regarding your choice of these particular used in a generically subliminal way, but with enough clarity to ensure that composers like Gubaidulina, Kurtag and Schnittke? a connection is felt. When improvising, I prefer the use of the silent cello due to The pieces I have chosen do link the suites most effectively. Exactly half-way, it’s remarkable possibilities in sound and expression. It also enables me to play between the 3rd and the 4th suite, Per Slava, composed on the B.A.C.H. motive, in an effectively polyphonic manner. functions like a centerfold of a magazine. Gubaidulina is a strongly spiritually-

10 11 Back to Bach. Can you elucidate why the suites –complicated as they are- The spiritual charge of Bach is very obvious in his church music, but do you do have such a tremendous attraction to you? sense this as well in his instrumental works? The Bach suites always have been an inexhaustable source of musical and Yes, the spirituality in his instrumental works is absolutley evident, with many technical inspiration. I have had the privilege to study with great masters examples to cite: Even disgregarding the numerous references to the Trinity like Navarra and Starker, and the suites were always on the music stand withing in the Welltempered Clavier I, we see the motif of the cross in the as a permanent Gradus ad Parnassum. beautiful fugue in C# minor and the stammering prayer in the prelude in B flat minor, followed in the fugue by an impressive answer from above in the This music is so incredibly rich and vital in polyphony, and colour, descending intervalls. Or listen to the Adagio from the Toccata for organ in C making it virtually inexaustable. major. What an intimate devotion! The unspeakable is captured here in sound. We could discuss this all day! I also tried to indulge in Bach as a human being, the man behind the notes, which is not easy since there is not much known about him, except that he His music can be described as music of consolation. It will be hard to find a was a very religious man, always respectfully aware of his Creator. better description.

Bach was not a revolutionary composer in the sense of creating a new style in For me, personally, the path to this recording was a long and winding road, which his “ with accompinament” would oversee his complex polyphony. full of challenges, demandings and surprises. You may call it a musical diary However, this should not be regarded as musical conservativism; but rather as a of a spiritual journey. composer ‘sans-trends’. Matthijs Verschoor in conversation with Mayke Rademakers That being said, he arranged a number of works of his contemporaries, showing his curiosity and respect for new musical developments.

Bach himself, however, remained faithful to his polyphonic style and developed it to the highest possible level. Therefore, he should be regarded as authentic and spiritual rather than conservative.

12 13 The Suites for violoncello solo

An exact chronology of the suites (regarding both the order in which the suites Unlike Bach’s solo , no autographed manuscript survived, thus were composed and whether they were composed before or after the solo ruling out the use of an urtext performing edition. However, analysis of violin sonatas) cannot be completely established. However, scholars generally secondary sources, including a hand-written copy by Bach’s second wife, believe that – based on a comparative analysis of the styles of the sets of works Anna Magdalena, has produced presumably authentic editions, although – the cello suites arose first, effectively dating the suites pre-1720, the year on critically deficient in the placement of slurs and other articulation. As a the title page of Bach’s autograph of the violin sonatas. result, many interpretations of the suites exist with no solo accepted version. German cellist Michael Bach has stated that the manuscript of the suites by The suites were not widely known before the 1900s, and for a long time it was Anna Magdalena Bach is accurate. The unexpected positioning of the slurs generally thought that the pieces were intended to be studies. However, after corresponds closely to the harmonic development, and the details of his discovering Grützmacher’s edition in a thrift shop in Barcelona, Spain, at age analysis confirm this. 13, Catalan cellist Pablo Casals began studying them. Although he would later perform the works publicly, it was not until 1936, when he was 60 years old, that he agreed to record the pieces, beginning with Suites Nos. 1 and 2, at Abbey Road Studios in London. Casals became the first to record all six suites by 1939. Their popularity soared soon after, and Casals’ original recording is still widely available and respected today.

Attempts to compose accompaniments to the suites include a notable effort by Robert Schumann. In 1923, Leopold Godowsky realized Suites Nos. 2, 3 and 5 in full counterpoint for solo piano.

14 15 Mayke Rademakers first undertook tuition from Hungarian cellist György awarded with Stalin-fellowship. Her music was deemed “irresponsible” during Schiffer, and graduated with honours under his guidance. From the age of her studies in Soviet Russia, due to its exploration of alternative tunings. She 16, she was a participant in the masterclasses of Andre Navarra at the was supported, however, by , who in evaluating her final prestigious summer school of the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy. Her examination encouraged her to continue down her “mistaken path”.[3] However, talents impressed Navarra such that she was invited to continue her studies she was allowed to express her in various scores she composed with him in Vienna. This was to last for two years, after which she furthered for documentary films, including the 1968 production, On Submarine Scooters, her musical development (thanks to a Fulbright grant) with Janos Starker in a 70mm film shot in the unique Kinopanorama widescreen format. She also the United States. Returning to the Netherlands, she began to specialise composed the score to the well-known Russian animated picture “Adventures in chamber music with Elias Arizcuren. Her final examination at the Academy of Mowgli” (a rendition of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book). of Music in Utrecht was awarded the school’s highest honours. Gubaidulina became better known abroad during the early 1980s Mayke has appeared as soloist in numerous recitals, chamber music concerts, through ’s championing of her violin Offertorium. broadcasts and solo concerts both in Europe and the USA (Aspen Festival). In She later composed an homage to T. S. Eliot, using the text from the recent times, Mayke and her duo-pianist Matthijs Verschoor were awarded the poet’s Four . In 2000, Gubaidulina, along withTan Dun, Osvaldo silver medal by the Societé Academique Arts –Sciences-Lettres in Paris for their Golijov, and , was commissioned by the Internationale dedication to French music. Bachakademie Stuttgart project to write a piece for the Passion 2000 project in commemoration of Johann Sebastian Bach. Her contribution was the Johannes- Mayke plays a prize-winning instrument made by Saskia Schouten, one of the Passion. In 2002 she followed this by the Johannes-Ostern («Easter according foremost violin makers of our time. to John”), commissioned by Hannover Rundfunk. The two works together form a “diptych” on the death and resurrection of Christ, her largest work to date. Invited by , she was the 13th composer featured in the Sofia Gubaidulina (1931) was born in , in the Tatar ASSR. annual Komponistenporträt of the in 2003, the first She studied composition and piano at the Conservatory, graduating female composer of the series. Her work The Light at the End preceded in 1954. In she undertook further studies at the Conservatory Beethoven’s No. 9 in the 2005 proms. In 2007 her second violin with Nikolay Peyko until 1959, and then with Shebalin until 1963. She was concerto In Tempus Praesens was performed at the Lucerne Festival by Anne-

16 17 Sophie Mutter. Its creation has been depicted in Jan Schmidt-Garre’s crucial turning point; he refers to this piece as his Opus 1. He dedicated it to his film Sophia - Biography of a Violin Concerto. therapist, Stein.

Since 1992, Gubaidulina has lived in , Germany. She is a member of Between 1960 and 1968, he worked as repetitor at the National Philharmonia the musical academies in , Hamburg and the Royal Swedish Academy in Budapest. In 1967, he was appointed professor of piano and later also of Music. of chamber music at the Franz Liszt Academy, where he taught until 1993.

Kurtág’s international reputation began to take hold with Messages of the Late György Kurtág (1926) was born in Lugoj in the Banat region, Romania. In 1946, Miss R.V. Troussova for soprano and chamber ensemble, which had its premiere he began his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where in Paris in 1981. Since the early 1990s, he has worked abroad with increasing he met his wife, Márta, and also György Ligeti, who became a close friend. frequency. His piano teacher at the academy was Pál Kadosa; he studied composition with Sándor Veress and , chamber music with Leó Weiner, and Message consolation comes from Signs, Games and Messages for cello solo, theory with Lajos Bárdos. He graduated in piano and chamber music in 1951 written during the period 1987–2008. and received his degree in composition in 1955.

Following the Hungarian uprising in 1956, Kurtág’s time in Paris between 1957 Krzysztof Penderecki (1933) is a Polish composer and conductor. and 1958 was of critical importance for him. Here, he studied with Olivier has called him ’s greatest living composer. Among his Messiaen and . During this time however, Kurtag was suffering best known works are his Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima, St. Luke from a severe depression: ‘I realized to the point of despair that nothing I had Passion, Polish , , four , eight and believed to constitute the world was true...’. Kurtág received psychological other orchestral pieces, a variety of instrumental , choral settings therapy from Marianne Stein – an encounter that revivified the composer of mainly religious texts, as well as chamber and instrumental works. and strongly stimulated his artistic development. During this time he also discovered the works of and the plays of Samuel Beckett. The Born in Dębica to a lawyer, Penderecki studied music at Jagiellonian String he composed in 1959 after his return to Budapest marks this University and the Academy of Music in Kraków. After graduating from the Academy of Music, Penderecki became a teacher at the academy and he

18 19 began his career as a composer in 1959 during the festival. cappella choral work in 1934. With the premiere of Peter His Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string and the choral Grimes in 1945, he leapt to international fame. Over the next 28 years, he work St. Luke Passion, have received popular acclaim. His first , The wrote 14 more operas, establishing himself as one of the leading 20th- Devils of Loudun, was not immediately successful. Beginning in the mid-1970s, century composers in the genre. In addition to large-scale operas for Sadler’s Penderecki’s composing style changed, with his first violin concerto focusing on Wells and Covent Garden, he wrote chamber operas for small forces, suitable the and the . His choral work was written in the for performance in venues of modest size. Among the best known of these is 1980s, with Penderecki expanding it in 1993 and 2005. The Turn of the Screw (1954). Recurring themes in the operas are the struggle of an outsider against a hostile society, and the corruption of innocence. During his life, Penderecki has won several prestigious awards, including the Commander’s Cross in 1964, the Prix Italia in 1967 and 1968, the Knight’s Britten’s other works range from orchestral to choral, solo vocal, chamber and Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta in 1964, three Grammy Awards in 1987, instrumental as well as film music. He took a great interest in writing music for 1998 and 2001, and the for Music children and amateur performers, including the opera Noye’s Fludde, a Missa Composition in 1992. He composed Per Slava in 1986. Brevis, and the song collection . He often composed with particular performers in mind. His most frequent and important muse was his personal and professional partner, the tenor Peter Pears; others included Benjamin Britten (1913 –1976) was an English composer, conductor and Kathleen Ferrier, Jennifer Vyvyan, , Dennis Brain, Julian pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British classical music, with a Bream, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and . Britten was a range of works including opera, other vocal music, orchestral and chamber celebrated pianist and conductor, performing many of his own works in pieces. His best-known works include the opera (1945), the War concert and on record. He also performed and recorded works by others, Requiem (1962) and the orchestral showpiece The Young Person’s Guide to such as Bach’s Brandenburg concertos, Mozart symphonies, and song cycles the Orchestra (1945). by Schubert and Schumann.

Born in Suffolk, the son of a dentist, Britten showed talent from an early Tema Sacher was dedicated to the Swiss conductor Paul Sacher. age. He studied at the Royal College of Music in London and privately with the composer Frank Bridge. Britten first came to public attention with the a

20 21 Alfred Schnittke (1931-1998) His early music shows the strong influence of Dmitri Shostakovich, but after the visit of the Italian composer to the USSR, he took up the serial technique in works such as Music for Piano and Chamber Orchestra (1964). However, Schnittke soon became dissatisfied with what he termed the “puberty rites of serial self-denial.” He created a new style which has been called “”, where he juxtaposed and combined music of various styles past and present. He once wrote, “The goal of my life is to unify serious music and light music, even if I break my neck in doing so.” His first concert work to use the polystylistic technique was the Second Violin , Quasi una sonata (1967–1968). He experimented with techniques in his film work, as shown by much of the sonata appearing first in his score for the animation short “The Executive producers: Anne de Jong & Marcel van den Broek Glass Harmonica”. He continued to develop the polystylistic technique in works Recorded at: Podiumkerkje, Grevenbicht [NL] such as the epic First Symphony (1969–1972) and First Concerto Grosso (1977). Recording dates: September 2013, February & July 2014 Other works were more stylistically unified, such as his (1972–1976), Recording, editing & mastering: Martijn Alsters written in memory of his recently deceased mother. A&R Challenge Records International: Anne de Jong Liner notes: Matthijs Verschoor As his health deteriorated, Schnittke started to abandon much of the Translations: Chris Cartner extroversion of his polystylism and retreated into a more withdrawn, bleak style, Booklet editing: Sarina Pfiffi quite accessible to the lay listener. The Fourth Quartet (1989) and Sixth (1992), Cover photo: Georg Thum, www.wildundleise.de Seventh (1993) and Eighth (1994) symphonies are good examples of this. Some Product coordination: Boudewijn Hagemans Schnittke scholars, such as Gerard McBurney, have argued that it is the late Graphic Design: Natasja Wallenburg, newartsint.com works that will ultimately be the most influential parts of Schnittke’s output. After Art direction: Marcel van den Broek a stroke in 1994 left him almost completely paralysed, Schnittke largely ceased to compose. He did complete some short works in 1997 and also a Ninth Symphony. www.challengerecords.com /www.maykerademakers.com He wrote Klingende Buchstaben in 1988.

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