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OLGA NEUWIRTH …miramondo multiplo… Remnants of Songs … An Amphigory Masaot/Clocks without Hands Håkan Hardenberger Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester . Ingo Metzmacher Antoine Tamestit ORF Radio Symphonieorchester . Susanna Mälkki Wiener Philharmoniker . Daniel Harding 1999 20 YEARS 2019 OLGA NEUWIRTH (*1968) …miramondo multiplo… for trumpet and orchestra (2006) (for Håkan Hardenberger) 1 I. aria dell’ angelo 04:19 2 II. aria della memoria 03:56 3 III. aria del sangue freddo 03:51 4 IV. aria della pace 03:14 5 V. aria del piacere 03:23 Remnants of Songs … An Amphigory for viola and orchestra (2009) (in memoriam Betty Freeman) 6 I. Wanderer (Praeludium) 03:23 7 II. Sadko 03:37 8 III. …im Meer versank… 05:34 9 IV. Sils Maria 04:20 10 V. 04:37 11 Masaot / Clocks without Hands (2013) 24:37 (dedicated to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) TT 65:04 2 1 — 5 Håkan Hardenberger, trumpet Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester Ingo Metzmacher, conductor 6 —10 Antoine Tamestit, viola ORF Radiosymphonieorchester Wien Susanna Mälkki, conductor 11 Wiener Philharmoniker Daniel Harding, conductor 3 The musical ethics of have the potential to take on other recollection forms or move in other directions.” – The great importance that sound has long held for Olga Neuwirth can be seen in her continual effort to reflect on its further development and refine- ment. A concentrated desire for preci- se expression leads to the discovery of novel sounds. At “documenta 12” in Kassel in 2007, Olga Neuwirth presented a film that gave the viewer a sense of the long and at times tedious process of no- Olga Neuwirth’s art represents for her tating a composition (Olga Neuwirth: “the abstracted, codified love for the Music for Films, 0012772KAI, DVD). ‘human sound’ that lies deep inside us.” The composer’s hand writes a slowly Its sounds are nurtured by an affini- developing passage from her trum- ty for unusual sound producers “with pet concerto …miramondo multiplo… an amplified artificiality and a transfi- (2005/06) As the pencil scrapes guration of the means of sound” (fre- against the glass plate, the viewer he- quently a radical change in timbre), as ars musical sequences from the se- well as a proclivity for large orchest- cond and fourth movements of the ral apparatuses with transparent inst- work, which was premiered at the rumentation. The impact of the sound 2006 Salzburg Festival by the Vienna can also be used to create fractures Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez and or discontinuities, which are produced featured the work’s dedicatee Håkan by alienation effects and various idi- Hardenberger as soloist. At the end oms or frequently by musical allusi- of the film, the viewer is presented ons and a refined technique for cita- with the following text: “the libera- tion. “For me, the work on the sound ted trumpet alone in infinite space” – itself is always significant, work on for the composer, “a metaphor for the tiniest, most subtle particles that composerly existence in our society are constantly in motion and always and also for writing itself.” 4 Olga Neuwirth’s ambition to become a sustained trumpet tone emerges from centuated through rigorous structura- professional jazz trumpeter was fore- the mass of sound, as a solo cantile- tion, a gruff, pounding rhythmization ver dashed after a car accident during na organically segues into its continu- and repetitive elements. her youth that resulted in a serious ed development in the winds and per- jaw injury. The title …miramondo mul- cussion. As in other works, Neuwirth “Through my connection to jazz – tiplo… means “Viewing the world from also works here with musical topoi as Miles Davis was my role model – different perspectives.” Tracing the historical signifiers in order to gene- and to put it somewhat superficial- history of the genre, one discovers rate “signal effects.” For example, in ly, through this combination of air that the term “concerto” originally re- the score of the first movement, the and metal, the sound of the trum- ferred to vocal and mixed vocal-inst- listener hears Georg Friedrich Hän- pet provided for me the possibility rumental genres, before it became a del’s And peace on earth from the of sounding utterly rough and force- designation used primarily for instru- choir piece Glory to God in the hig- ful on the one hand and utterly me- mental music. The composer regards hest, as well as the aria Un pensiero lancholic and distanced on the other.” the trumpet as an “instrument of the nemico di pace. Citations and allusi- (Neuwirth) These oppositions beco- extension of human breath” and th- ons are deployed according to their me clear through the contrasting se- erefore gave each of the five mo- particular “sonic quality […] which quence of movements. As in the first vements the title “aria”. Air [Luft], at- is open for associations” (Neuwirth). movement, the aria della pace begins mosphere and melody are the terms The musical exchange between the with a long, sustained initial tone by connected with the English “air” that instrumental soloist and the large or- a – here internalized – trumpet can- characterize the functions of the solo chestra triggers a permanent transi- tilena. This leads into a citation from trumpet in this piece. tion between volume and timbre, as Georg Friedrich Händel’s aria, Lascia well as intricate colorations. The over- la spina, cogli la rosa, from the ora- In Olga Neuwirth’s solo concertos, all impact of the sound of the aria de- torium Il trionfo del Tempo e del Di- the dual aspects of virtuosity – of- lla memoria is also heavily shaped singanno, which is played by the or- ten associated with the genre – and by timbral play, which is produced in chestra. This alienated reminiscence, competition – at the expense of the quick succession by an oscillation of painted over by the orchestra, this ir- “cooperation, democratization and the solo trumpet’s playing techniques ruption of tonality opens up a door to precise, communal listening” of he- and a strongly modulating sequence history. Echoes of the Messiah in the terogeneous partners – notably rece- of dynamics. Jazzy bits of memory in brilliant, celebratory finale,aria del pi- de into the background. This abatem- the form of melodic fragments appear acere, cause Händel to remain an in- ent is already indicated in the opening again and again, as if from afar. In the vocatory authority in the final mo- measures of the first movement. The explosively charged aria del sangue vement. As in the beginning of the aria dell’angelo begins with a tut- freddo, the cold-bloodedness from work, when the solo trumpet relea- ti exclamatio played triple forte. The which the title derives its name is ac- ses itself first from the orchestral 5 tutti and then from the orchestral The piece is based on a missed en- course of the movement) is a quo- trumpets that accompany it, here too, counter with the philosopher Theodor te from Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. it has the final word. W. Adorno. In conversation, on an ima- Matthew Passion. The chorus vocali- ginary hike though the Sils Maria, Ce- zes Ruhe Sanfte (“Rest softly”) in its Remnants of Songs … An Amphigory lan associates the outsider role of the Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nie der (“We was written in 2009 for the French vi- Jew with the loneliness of the artist – sit down with tears”). In the Wande- olist, Antoine Tamestit. The title refers pain that poetry can provoke. A diffe- rer, space for association is also ma- on the one hand to song fragments or rent kind of pain can be recognized de for later periods in addition to quo- remains (Remnants) and on the other in another of Olga Neuwirth’s musi- tes from Schubert. For example, there hand to “nonsense poetry” (Amphigo- cal-poetic works: the prelude Wande- is an evocation of the song As Time ry). Neuwirth is a great fan of the Eng- rer (“Hiker”), dedicated to the memo- Goes By from the early 1930s … Ho- lish nonsense poet, musician and il- ry of Betty Freeman. This movement wever, the few Remnants, these bits lustrator Edward Lear and combines could also be read and heard as an of memory seem to evaporate in the the signification of ambivalent light- epitaph, especially since the initials very moment of their perception. Ol- heartedness with great seriousness. of the American patroness, who died ga Neuwirth’s “idea behind the who- Remnants of Songs is also the tit- in early 2009, play a subtle role in the le thing has always been: The wind le of a study about the topics of trau- score and two other sonorous initi- blows up against our ears and is then ma and the experience of modernity als make reference to another perso- immediately gone. Thus, the airy, ethe- in Charles Baudelaire and Paul Celan. nal loss of the composer. These four real sounds …” In the book, literary scholar Ulrich pitches, “decorated” by quarter-tones, Baer investigates to what extent po- cut through the viola’s lines as “pillars The second movement of Remnants, etry represents a model for the com- of orchestral screams” (Neuwirth). A Sadko, refers to the main character municability of traumatic experiences ratchet, a noise instrument, which in of an ancient Russian folk tale. Sad- or to what extent past traumatic mo- the Easter tradition of rural Austria ko, a salesman and bard from Nowgo- ments can be brought back to cons- replaces the church bells during Holy rod, wants to travel the seas in order ciousness and aesthetically bound, i.e. Week to banish death, interrupts the to bring riches to his hometown and is remembered.

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