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SM358-Voyager Quartett-Book-Lay06.Indd WAGNER MAHLER BOTEN DER LIEBE VOYAGER QUARTET TRANSCRIPTED AND RECOMPOSED BY ANDREAS HÖRICHT RICHARD WAGNER TRISTAN UND ISOLDE 01 Vorspiel 9:53 WESENDONCK 02 I Der Engel 3:44 03 II Stehe still! 4:35 04 III Im Treibhaus 5:30 05 IV Schmerzen 2:25 06 V Träume 4:51 GUSTAV MAHLER STREICHQUARTETT NR. 1.0, A-MOLL 07 I Moderato – Allegro 12:36 08 II Adagietto 11:46 09 III Adagio 8:21 10 IV Allegro 4:10 Total Time: 67:58 2 3 So geht das Voyager Quartet auf Seelenwanderung, überbringt klingende BOTEN DER LIEBE An Alma, Mathilde und Isolde Liebesbriefe, verschlüsselte Botschaften und geheime Nachrichten. Ein Psychogramm in betörenden Tönen, recomposed für Streichquartett, dem Was soll man nach der Transkription der „Winterreise“ als Nächstes tun? Ein Medium für spirituelle Botschaften. Die Musik erhält hier den Vorrang, den Streichquartett von Richard Wagner oder Gustav Mahler? Hat sich die Musikwelt Schopenhauer ihr zugemessen haben wollte, nämlich „reine Musik solle das nicht schon immer gewünscht? Geheimnisse künden, die sonst keiner wissen und sagen kann.“ Vor einigen Jahren spielte das Voyager Quartet im Rahmen der Bayreuther Andreas Höricht Festspiele ein Konzert in der Villa Wahnfried. Der Ort faszinierte uns über die Maßen und so war ein erster Eckpunkt gesetzt. Die Inspiration kam dann „Man ist sozusagen selbst nur ein Instrument, auf dem das Universum spielt.“ wieder durch Franz Schubert. In seinem Lied „Die Sterne“ werden eben diese Gustav Mahler als „Bothen der Liebe“ besungen. So fügte es sich, dass das Voyager Quartet, „Frauen sind die Musik des Lebens.“ das sich ja auf Reisen in Raum und Zeit begibt, hier musikalische Botschaften Richard Wagner versendet, nämlich Botschaften der Liebe von Komponisten an ihre Musen. Und wieder mussten dazu die Werke auf unsere Besetzung übertragen werden. „Niemals sind wir ungeschützter gegen das Leiden, als wenn wir lieben.“ Die größte Herausforderung war dabei sicher das quasi neu geschaffene Sigmund Freud Streichquartett Nr. 1.0 von Gustav Mahler. Ich verbinde Werke aus seinem „Das Beste in der Musik steht nicht in den Noten.“ gesamten musikalischen Schaffen zu einem Neuen. Angefangen mit dem Gustav Mahler Jugendwerk, dem fragmentarischen Klavierquartett, über das Adagietto aus der 5. Sinfonie hin zur wieder unvollendeten 10. Sinfonie werden Mahlers „Reine Musik stehe über der Verbindung von Musik und Wort, wie sie im Liede, Kompositionen übertragen, verbunden und weitergeführt. über der Verbindung von Musik und Handlung, wie sie in der Oper herrsche.“ Arthur Schopenhauer 4 5 Die Sterne Mathilde (…) Es ist früher Morgen am 23. Dezember 1857 und die bittersüßen Klänge eines Sie schweben Kammerensembles, das eine leidenschaftliche Liedbearbeitung aufführt, weht Als Bothen durch die Villa auf Zürichs „grünem Hügel“ – eine schöne Art, die Dame des Der Liebe umher, Und tragen Hauses, Mathilde Wesendonck am Morgen ihres 29. Geburtstages zu wecken. Oft Küsse Die romantische Geste wurde von Richard Wagner initiiert, und das Lied, das Weit über das Meer. aufgeführt wird, ist sein kürzlich komponiertes „Träume“ zu ihrem Text. Aber (…) Carl Gottfried von Leitner die Frau, die gerade aufwacht, ist nicht seine Frau, es ist die Frau seines Wohltäters, seine Muse. Die Wesendonck-Lieder sind als Vorstufe zum „Tristan“ Isolde Maria Krebs 2. Violine Die Liebe Tristans und Isoldes als Passion steht hier über allen gesellschaftlichen Normen. Wir werden zu Komplizen einer verbotenen, heimlichen Liebe. Von dieser Musik geht eine süchtig machende Sogkraft aus, die sich wohl in Worte nur schwer fassen lässt. Das beginnt schon mit dem berühmten Tristan-Akkord. Dieser Akkord hat die Musik verändert wie keiner zuvor und keiner danach. 1849 hatte sich Richard Wagner ins Exil nach Zürich begeben, wo wenige Jahre später die Liebesromanze mit Mathilde Wesendonck begann. Aus dieser aufwühlenden Liebe entstand „Tristan und Isolde“, wofür ihr der Komponist „aus tiefster Seele in alle Ewigkeit“ dankte. 6 7 Alma Mahlers Idol war schon in jungen Jahren Richard Wagner. Die dramatische Stimmung, die Mahler bereits als Jugendlicher erzeugen konnte, spricht für seine frühe Begabung. Das Fragment seines Klavierquartetts ist ein einzigartiges und sein einziges Kammermusik-Dokument. Das Adagietto schrieb Mahler wohl im November 1901 als wortlose Liebeserklärung an Alma. Statt eines Briefes sandte er ihr das Manuskript, weiter kein Wort dazu. Sie hat es verstanden. Das traumverlorene Adagietto, das zudem ein Zitat aus Wagners „Tristan“ enthält, ist in jeder Hinsicht ein Ausnahmestück. Es hält die Zeit an in einer Welt des absoluten Friedens. Als Gustav Mahler im Sommer 1910 von der Affäre seiner Frau Alma erfährt, wendet er sich an Sigmund Freud. Ein an Mahler adressierter Liebesbrief von Walter Gropius galt eigentlich Alma. Der gefeierte Komponist ist am Boden zerstört. Ohne Zweifel stellt dieses Adagio in seiner alle traditionellen Grenzen überschreitenden emotionalen Radikalität den Gipfel in Mahlers Spätwerk da. Dieses Adagio ist die Essenz spätromantischer schmerzvoller Schönheit: Ein zu verstehen, der ja ebenfalls das Werk der unerfüllten Liebe zu Mathilde ist. Gesang der Liebe und der Klage in nie nachlassender emotionaler Intensität Der gesamte Zyklus gilt seit seinem Erscheinen unzweifelhaft als eines der und todestrunkener Melancholie und mit vagen Zitaten des geliebten Wagner- Meisterwerke deutscher Liedkunst. Werks „Tristan“. 8 9 erfolgreich mit unterschiedlichen hochkarätigen Programmen unterwegs ist. Voyager Quartet 2020 bekam ihre CD „Winterreise for String Quartet“ von Schubert (Solo Musica, SM 335) international höchste Anerkennung. Im Beethovenjahr 2020 spielte Das Voyager Quartet hat sich 2014 gegründet. Seine Mitglieder können das Quartett an sechs Abenden vor einem kleinen aber begeistertem Publikum auf ein erfolgreiches Musikleben in berühmten Streichquartetten wie sämtliche Streichquartette von Beethoven als Ersatz für die ausgefallenen Cherubini Quartett, Modern String Quartet und in Orchestern von Weltrang Bayreuther Festspiele in der Villa Wahnfried. wie dem Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks blicken. Mit dem Erfahrungshintergrund von unzähligen Konzerten weltweit auf renommierten Musikfestivals und in berühmten Konzerthäusern haben sich die Musiker zum Voyager Quartet zusammengeschlossen, das nun seit mehreren Jahren MESSENGERS OF LOVE To Alma, Mathilde and Isolde Nico Christians What should we do after the transcription of “Winterreise? A string quartet by 1. Violine Richard Wagner or Gustav Mahler? Isn’t that what the music world has been waiting for? A few years ago, the Voyager Quartet played a concert at the Villa Wahnfried during the Bayreuth Festival. We were totally fascinated by the place and that laid down a marker. Inspiration came once again from Franz Schubert. His song “Die Sterne” celebrated the stars as “Bothen der Liebe”, messengers of love. So it came about that the Voyager Quartet, which after all goes on journeys in time and space, is sending musical messages here, messages of love from composers to their muses. And once more, the works had to be adapted to our quartet formation. 10 11 The music takes the pride of place that Schopenhauer sought for it, where “pure music should reveal secrets that no other can know or say.” Andreas Höricht “One is as it were nothing but an instrument on which the Universe plays.” Gustav Mahler “Women are life’s music.” Klaus Kämper Richard Wagner Violoncello “Never are we less protected against suffering than when we love.” Sigmund Freud The biggest challenge was surely the “newly written” String Quartet No. 1.0 by “The best of music is not in the notes.” Gustav Mahler. I wove together pieces from his entire musical output to create Gustav Mahler a new work. An early essay of his, the fragmentary Piano Quartet leads the way “Pure music stands above the association of music and words as in song, above to the Adagietto from his Fifth Symphony and to another unfinished work, his the association of music and drama that predominates in opera.” Tenth. In this string quartet, Mahler’s compositions are transposed, connected Arthur Schopenhauer and developed. This is the ethereal journey of the Voyager Quartet, delivering love letters in sound, hidden messages and secret news. It is a psychogram in captivating tones, recomposed for string quartet, the medium for the spiritual message. 12 13 Die Sterne (the stars) (…) They soar above As messengers Of love, And often bear Kisses Far over the sea. (…) Carl Gottfried von Leitner Isolde The love of Tristan and Isolde as passion surpasses all society’s norms. We are made accomplices of a forbidden, secret love. This music exerts a compelling magnetism upon us, which can scarcely be conveyed in words. That begins with the famous Tristan chord. This chord changed music like nothing before and nothing since. Richard Wagner went into exile in Zurich in 1849, and it was in Zurich that his romance with Mathilde Wesendonck began some years later. This turbulent love gave birth to “Tristan and Isolde”, for which the composer thanked her “from the depths of his soul in all eternity”. 14 15 unfulfilled love for Mathilde. The entire cycle has been universally recognized Mathilde since its first appearance as one of the masterworks of the German Lieder repertoire. It is early in the morning of December 23, 1857, and the bitter-sweet sounds of a chamber ensemble performing a passionate setting of a song ring through the villa on Zurich’s “green hill” – a lovely way to wake the lady of the house, Mathilde Wesendonck, on the morning of her 29th birthday. The romantic gesture was instigated by Richard Wagner, and the song that is being performed is his Alma recently composed “Träume” to her text. But the woman who is just waking The young Mahler’s idol was Richard Wagner. The dramatic mood that Mahler up is not his wife but his patron’s wife, his muse. The Wesendonck Lieder must was able to generate, even in his youth, proves his precocious talent. The be understood as a curtain-raiser to “Tristan”, which is equally the work of his fragment of his piano quartet is a unique piece of chamber music and his only documented chamber work.
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