OLGA NEUWIRTH — Solo

OLGA NEUWIRTH Solo Klangforum Wien © Harald Hoffmann Olga Neuwirth (*1968 ) 1 CoronAtion I: io son ferito ahimè ( 2020 ) for percussion and sample 06:06 Commissioned by Klangforum Wien and funded by the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung 2 Weariness heals wounds I ( 2014 ) in memoriam Michael Glawogger for viola 13:08 3 Torsion ( 2003 ) for bassoon 14:10 4 Magic flu-idity ( 2018 ) for flute and Olivetti typewriter 14:45 5 Fumbling and Tumbling ( 2018 ) for trumpet 10:43 6 incidendo / fluido ( 2000 ) 1 Björn Wilker, percussion for piano with CD 12:46 2 Dimitrios Polisoidis, viola 3 Lorelei Dowling, bassoon 4 Vera Fischer, flute 5 Anders Nyqvist, trumpet TT 71:42 6 Florian Müller, piano 3 “I can’t make the real world any better than it is.” Olga Neuwirth This realisation, however, by no means Neuwirth calls it “Calamity-Music”; it is prevents the cosmopolitan from inter- dominated by her outrage which, how- fering with old (listening) habits, from ever, endows her with the power for provoking, polarising and of course creative expression. from taking a political stance. Her music contains deferrals, fractures, defor- “I know that the arts won’t change any- mations and associative links. Always thing, but art can point towards what in search of the fascinating Other, has become ossified and reveal the she explores the materials at hand – desolate state of society and politics. sounds, images and languages of var- I refuse to be yodelled away.” (Olga ious textures and from the most di- Neuwirth) verse backgrounds – and manages to link them without compromising their And so she produces continuously originality. Even the solo performance changing musical textures, incessant- is interfered with – as in Magic flu-id- ly posing questions, boldly and impet- ity – the help of an Olivetti typewriter. uously combining the most contrasting Unpredictable developments result in elements. Like in Torsion for bassoon, a certain disorder, but her music un- where long drawn-out notes of the in- folds organically, rampantly, leading strument are contrasted with electron- to a strange, unusual, particular equa- ic recordings – without either of them tion, the solution of which lies in itself. disturbing the other. The supporting 4 sounds of the bassoon begin to trem- sions coalesce in a subtle fashion. The tension-field between calm and un- ble, harsh scratching sounds graze work coronAtion I: io son ferito ahimé rest. Long drawn-out notes and rap- the atmosphere and in between, frag- for percussion was commissioned for id, nervously driven movements are ments of traditional music repeated- this solo-project. Wonderfully ambig- contrasted with noises and sonorous ly invoke short moments of remem- uous titles can frequently be found in sounds, quiet retreats and loud erup- brance. Past and present oscillate in a Olga Neuwirth’s oeuvre; this one could tions. This is all expressed in unusual striking manner, revealing their roots. loosely be translated as: The culmina- proportions owing to a special scorda- tion of humanity: Oh, I’m wounded! tura, a systematic re-tuning of the vio- This juxtaposition of different sound rela’s strings. alities can be seen as the avant-garde During the middle 1980s, Olga characteristic of Olga Neuwirth’s mu- Neuwirth, drawn by her great affinity Fumbling and Tumbling could be a pos- sic – a ubiquitous element. In incidendo / towards the cinema, embarked on a sible reaction to such a listening expe- fluido – which roughly translates in- training course in San Francisco, where rience; except for Olga Neuwirth they to I’m burning, I’m flowing – she adds a her compatriot and future film direc- represent her way of pushing the lim- CD-recording of notes from an Ondes tor, the late Michael Glawogger, al- its – a process that lies at the core of Martenot to the sound-space creat- so studied. Her work Weariness Heals this work. In this piece, various tech- ed by a piano, which remains restrict- Wounds I is dedicated to his memory – niques, extremes of pitch and quarter ed to medium range. The CD player is because he had indeed looked very tones are demanded of the trumpet positioned inside the body of the pia- tired during their last meeting. The title player; but at the same time they rep- no which thus becomes an additional refers to a Japanese mass phenome- resent a sympathetic interpretation of resonance chamber. The scant num- non called Hikkikomori, which denotes the eponymous processes. Time and ber of overtones of the narrow piano young grown-ups who withdraw from again, Olga Neuwirth places the lis- part is augmented by the notes of the the world for several months or even teners between chairs, where she also ondes Martenot in new ways; the pia- years at a time, owing to the immense finds herself, inviting them to change no itself is innovatively prepared. Fast pressure to achieve, coupled with so- perspectives and to think about things moving, virtuoso parts are thus amal- cial constraints, to which they are sub- in a fresh way. gamated with the spherical sounds of jected. From her own experience, Ol- the electronic feed, the piano with the ga Neuwirth adds “hyperactivity and ondes Martenot, this ethereal sound- its confederate, multitasking” to the Sylvia Wendrock ing instrument from the first days of mix, allowing her to feel close to such electronic sound production. Musi- yearnings for withdrawal. As a result, Translated from German by cal disruptions, quotations and allu- the piece opens up a highly charged Dr Vera Neuroth 5 Klangforum Wien Open-minded, virtuosic in perfor- rope, America and Asia. In a mutual- mance and aurally perceptive, Klang- ly rewarding collaboration with many forum Wien – one of the internationally of the world’s leading composers, the most renowned ensembles for con- ensemble has formed a great num- temporary music – devotes itself to ber of formative artistic friendships. the artistic interpretation and expan- Since 2009, the musicians of Klangfo- sion of experiential space. A perfor- rum Wien have devoted themselves to mance of Klangforum Wien is an event sharing their comprehensive mastery in the best sense of the word; it offers of playing techniques and forms of ex- a sensual experience, immediate and pression with a new generation of art- inescapable; and the novelty in its mu- ists in the context of their collective sic speaks, acts and beguiles. professorship at the University of Mu- sic, Graz. Ever since it was founded by Beat Furrer in 1985, the ensemble – which, Klangforum Wien is made up of 23 mu- over the years, has received a great sicians from Australia, Bulgaria, Ger- number of awards and distinctions – many, Finland, France, Greece, Ita- has written music history: It has pre- ly, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland and sented around 600 world premières of the United States. At the start of the works by composers from four conti- 2018/19 season, Bas Wiegers was ap- nents; it boasts an extensive discog- pointed First Guest Conductor, tak- raphy of more than 90 releases, ap- ing over from Sylvain Cambreling who, pearing at the most important concert however, has maintained a close rela- and opera venues, but also in the con- tionship with the ensemble as its First text of young, committed initiatives, Guest Conductor Emeritus. and at the major music festivals in Eu- 6 Olga Neuwirth For over 30 years Olga Neuwirth’s Gergiev; the Cleveland Orchestra un- works have explored a wide range of der Franz Welser Möst performed the forms and genres: operas, radio-plays, work in Autumn 2019. Olga Neuwirth was born in 1968 in sound-installations, art-works, pho- Graz, Austria and studied at the Vienna tography and film-music. In many The BBC Proms programmed Aello-bal- Academy of Music and San Francisco works she fuses live-musicians, elec- let mecanomorphe in August 2018 for Conservatory of Music, also studying tronics and video into audio-visual ex- Claire Chase and the Swedish Cham- painting and film at San Francisco Art periences. Among numerous prizes, ber Orchestra. Most recently her new College. Her composition teachers in- she was the first-ever woman to re- opera Orlando after Virginia Woolf was cluded Adriana Hölszky, Tristan Murail ceive the Grand Austrian State Prize premiered at the Vienna State Opera in and Luigi Nono. She sprang to interna- in the category of music (2010). December 2019, the first woman com- tional prominence in 1991, at the age of missioned in the 150 year history of the 22, when two of her mini operas with Le Encantadas from 2014 is an im- house and was named World Premiere texts by Nobel prize-winner Elfriede mersive electronics/space/ensemble of the Year by the magazine Opernwelt. Jelinek were performed at the Vien- work receiving multiple performances A new work for orchestra, counterten- na Festwochen. Since then her works throughout Europe. or and children’s chorus Keyframes have been presented worldwide. for a Hippogriff – in memoriamHester Masaot/Clocks without Hands, for Diamond was commissioned for world Highlights include two portrait con- the Vienna Philharmonic under Dan- premiere by the New York Philharmon- certs at the Salzburg Festival (1998); iel Harding was premièred in 2015 ic in May 2020, sadly that performance her multi-media opera Bählamms Fest and in New York at Carnegie Hall as was postponed due to the outbreak of (1993/1998) after Leonora Carrington; co-commissioner, conducted by Valery Covid-19. Clinamen/Nodus for Pierre Boulez and the London Symphony Orchestra (2000); composer-in-residence at the Lucerne Festival in 2002 and in 2016; world première of her music-theatre work Lost Highway (2003), after David Lynch which won a South Bank Show Award (ENO at the Young Vic, 2008); and two new operas while living in New York (2010/11): The Outcast – Homage to Herman Melville and American Lulu, based on Alban Berg’s Lulu.

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