TT 421: Wolfgang Rihm
Important Composer dies at 72
The New York Times obit is by Jeffrey Arlo Brown [gift link].
Tom Service has a helpful overview of the composer at The Guardian.
Interscriptum is a charismatic “duo for string quartet and piano.” There is something almost humorous in the way tonality and beat are repeatedly engaged and discarded. Events large and small are doubled at the unison, which is one way to give an abstract chamber work irresistible forward motion.
The Arditti Quartet and Nicolas Hodges are among the finest performers of high modernism. What a great thing to have a scrolling score video of this amazing turn-of-the-century music!
Rihm was prolific but less known in America than Europe. The only record of his I saw regularly on NYC CD racks back in the day was on DG, the ‘90s violin concerto Gesungene Zeit (“Time Chant”) played by Anne-Sophie Mutter accompanied by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Levine. It’s a beautiful and ghostly work, infused with an aura of the forbidden.
A much more conventionally romantic concerto, composed in 2020, is Concerto en Sol (“Concert in G”). As it was written for cellist Sol Gabetta, the title is a pun. Gabetta is fantastic in well-made video alongside Sylvain Cambreling conducting the Basel Chamber Orchestra.
This is almost tonal music! At times Concerto en Sol is next to Shostakovich or even Samuel Barber. Don’t worry, there’s no danger of cheap pastiche, for in the end Rihm’s harmony remains deliciously unpredictable and true to his modernist heritage.
Sad to hear, I was introduced to Mr. Rim's music through Paul Smoker's wife Beverly, who gave an amazing performance of his piano pieces. Since that first hearing I became a staunch fan of his music..