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La
Voix Russe
Electric Currents
Joys of Noise
Leaving Home - On the Trail of the Hanseatic
Trading League
John Cage/The Unexpected
Made in Europe - East and West
Music and Language in the New Millenium
Electric
Currents
ensemble
Intégrales is celebrating its 10th birthday in 2003.
Since its foundation it has built an international reputation
for the performance of non-conducted chamber music.
ensemble Intégrales plays all over Europe and was
invited to renowned festivals like the Bregenzer Festspiele, Bludenzer
Tage für zeitgemässe Musik, Bodenseefestival, Schleswig
Holstein Festival and many others. In February 2002 ensemble
Intégrales successfully completed a concert tour through
The Netherlands.
What is most striking about ensemble Intégrales is
their expressive style of interpretation, experimental curiosity
and their enthusiasm for the variety of contemporary music.
Virtuosity, textual accuracy and responsibility towards the compositions
combine with fantasy, a relaxed undogmatic attitude and a multitude
of sonoric colours.
For the CD - series "Edition zeitgenössische Musik"
of the 'Deutsche Musikrat' ensemble Intégrales recorded
chamber music works of Burkhard Friedrich and Fredrik Zeller,
which have been specially written for the group.
ensemble Intégrales works interdisciplinary in the
fields of performance, live-electronics, music theater and film
music. It is in an ongoing creative relationships with emerging
and well known composers whom they often inspired to write various
new works.
Internationally acknowledged names like Yannis Kyriakides, Alvaro
Carlevaro, Peter Michael Hamel, Mayako Kubo, Ulrich Leyendecker,
Isabel Mundry, Manfred Stahnke, Manuel Hidalgo or Fredrik Zeller
can be found among those who wrote music for ensemble Intégrales
Last saison the program 'Leaving Home', excellentelly interpreted
by ensemble Intégrales, was enthusiastically received
by the audience in The Netherlands and Germany. Internationally
acknowledged composer of the younger generation wrote pieces for
it. For its new program 'Electric Currents' ensemble Intégrales
has again invited emerging composers, who rank high in the European
Music Scene, to write new pieces with live- electronics.
Yannis Kyriakides (winner Gaudeamus-prize 2000), Netochka
Nezvanova (co-director of STEIM/Amsterdam), Marko Ciciliani
(invited to the Bregenzer Festspiele, Biennale Zagreb, Bodenseefestival,
Rumori-Festival/ Amsterdam) and Burkhard Friedrich (distinguished
with the Bach- Prize Stipend 2000 and the Johann Josef Fux Prize
for opera composition 2002/Graz), Olga Neuwirth (EU-prize
for composition and prize of the Siemens- Kulturstiftung) and
the well known Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy stand for new
dimensions in sound and colours.
- concrete and synthetic sounds
- sounds - like organizms - evolving in a slow and unpredictible
manner into subtle and complex beings
- an electronic soundtrack acting like a rhythmic grid
- sample banks forming a memory of different stages of a piece
- electronics as an instrument of its own
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Leaving Home- On the Trail of the Hanseatic
Trading Routes
"Leaving
Home- On the Trail of the Hanseatic Trading Routes" features
composers from Amsterdam and Hamburg. All of them are
nationally and internationally acknowledged composers of the
younger generation, who wrote music for ensemble Intégrales.
Trading also means cultural exchange and encounters. The underlying
idea of the program is the question how emigration and cultural
exchange is influencing and enriching the work of contemporary
composers.
The
German/Croatian composer Marko Ciciliani is living in
Amsterdam. He studied composition with Nils Vigeland at Manhattan
School of Music (New York, USA) and with Louis Andriessen in
The Hague. He wrote music for various international music groups
(for example ensemble CHAOSMA, Orkest de Volharding, Marteen
Altena Ensemble) and his recent piece "fabric reverie"
was with great success performed at the Music Biennale Zagreb
in April 2001. Radio Bremen produced 2001 his composition for
piano solo "Tullius Rooms" for the CD-label "unsounds".
Yannis
Kyriakides studied musicology at York University and later
composition with Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory
in The Hague, The Netherlands. He works as a composer and musician
in a variety of fields, including concert music, dance, theater
and film. Yannis Kyriakides was awarded the Gaudeamus Prize
2000.
The
Chinese composer Xiaoyong Chen studied composition with
György Ligeti in Hamburg. His music has been performed
in Europe, Asia, the USA and South America as well as at international
festivals including Donaueschinger Musiktage, Holland Festival,
World Music Days or the Tanglewood Festival. He has worked with
prominent orchestras and musicians such as the SWF Symphony
Orchestra, the Orchestre Philharmonique Paris, the London Sinfonietta,
the Auryn Quartet, Arditti Quartet and the cellist Yoyo Ma.
Burkhard
Friedrich studied composition with Helmut Lachenmann in
Stuttgart. He has been a recipient of various grants and has
been awarded prizes by different composition competitions. In
March 2001 the Hamburgische Staatsoper performed pieces from
his chamber opera "Lancelots Spiegel". In 2000 he
was awarded the prestigious "Bach- Prize -Bursary"
of the Hansestadt Hamburg. In 2002 ensemble Intégrales
has produced a CD with chamber music works of the composer in
cooperation with the "Deutscher Musikrat" and the
Deutschlandradio for the CD series "Edition zeitgenössischer
Musik".
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John
Cage/The Unexpected
At
the 12th of August 2002 John Cage would have been 90 years
old. John Cage had always kept alive his curiosity towards
new fields of music, philosophy and thinking.
In remembrance to this famous composer ensemble Intégrales
will play a special variety of John Cages unusual, immense
versatile, gripping and playful musical oeuvre: compositions
written between 1933 and 1988, amongst others 'music for four',
'living room music', 'Freeman Etudes' and 'Nowth upon Nacht'.
The chosen compositions represent a composer, who walked
on many different paths.
...What
we desperately need in America is a laboratory for useless
musical activity, devoted to failure rather than to success,
and I record (shout) at this time that first
Varèse tried to interest companies both in Hollywood
and in New Jersey in such interest and then I myself spent a
year (1940) trying to realize the same dream. (John Cage,
1951, A Few Ideas About Music And Film)
...My
responsibility had become the asking of questions. (John
Cage, 1986, Tokyo Lecture and Three Mesostics)
...One
of the structural divisions (of Lecture on Nothing) was a repetition
of a single page in which the refrain occurred "if anyone
is sleepy let him go to sleep" some 14 times. Jeanne Reynal,
I remember, stood up part way through, screamed, and then said,
while I continued speaking, "John, I dearly love you, but
I can't bear another minute." (John Cage, 1959, Preface
to Indeterminacy)
...Shortly
I'll be writing again ...What will it be? I don't know. As usual
I want to keep from interrupting the silence that's already
here. "Bubbles on the surface of silence."
That's how Thoreau describes sounds, that way or nearly that
way. (John Cage, 1975, Contemporary Music Catalogue - C.F.Peters)
ensemble
Intégrales portraits the composer John Cage with virtuosity,
fantasy, a multitude of sonoric colours and fun in performing.
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Made
in Europe - East and West
1992 -2002
Characteristic
for ensemble Intégrales is the focus on close
collaborations with composers. They have been an inspiration
for many new works. To equal amounts their programs are featuring
works of emerging composers of the young generation as well
as those of distinguished masters.
Made in Europe - East and West is combining the works
of three different composers who have their roots in East European
countries (Marko Ciciliani - Croatia, Yannis Kyriakides - Cyprus
and Uros Rojko - Slovenia) with two others who are based in
Western Europe (Burkhard Friedrich - Germany and James Dillon
- Scotland).
All of them are nationally and internationally acknowledged
composers.
Marko
Ciciliani (1970 Zagreb/Croatia) studied composition, music
theory and electronic music in New York, The Hague and Hamburg.
He received various scholarships and grants. Since 1996 he is
living as a freelance composer in Amsterdam. His music has been
performed all over Europe and the Americas.
Characteristic of most of the recent compositions by Ciciliani
is a high amount of control that is given to the interpreters
regarding the form of the pieces and several aspects of its
materials. Thereupon Ciciliani’s experience with various
collaborative projects in the fields of music,
theater and dance had as much an influence as his activities
as a performer and improvising musician. His piece for chamber
orchestra, “Fabric Reverie”, for example was very
successfully performed at the Biennale in Zagreb in April 2001.
Yannis
Kyriakides studied musicology at York University and later
composition with Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatory
in The Hague, The Netherlands. He works as a composer and musician
in a variety of fields, including concert music, dance, theater
and film. Yannis Kyriakides was awarded the Gaudeamus Prize
2000. In his use of electronics and instruments, the sound
world of his country of origin, Cyprus, can often be traced.
Burkhard
Friedrich studied composition with Helmut Lachenmann in
Stuttgart. He has been a recipient of various grants and has
been awarded prizes by different composition competitions. In
March 2001 the Hamburgische Staatsoper performed pieces from
his chamber opera “Lancelots Spiegel”. In 2000 he
was awarded the prestigious “Bach- Prize -Bursary”
of the Hansestadt Hamburg. Taking the German avant-garde
as a starting point, his music is distinguished by a physical
sensuality in his use of instruments, sonoric colours and rhythms.
James
Dillon first became involved in music through playing in
traditional Scottish pipe bands and in rock groups. He studied
Music, Acoustics and Linguistics in London, but received no
formal training in composition.
Dillon’s music has been featured at several major festivals
in Europe and beyond, including Brussels (Ars Musica), Darmstadt,
Donaueschingen, Edinburgh, Glasgow (Musica Nova), Huddersfield,
La Rochelle, London (Almeida and BBC Proms), Paris (Festival
d’Automne and Présences), Strasbourg (Musica), Sydney,
Vienna (Wien Modern) and Witten. Dillon’s most recently
completed work, residue... for double choir (24 voices), received
its world première at the Witten New Music Days on 25
April 1999. Future projects include La coupure for percussion
and electronics, which will complete his ‘Nine Rivers’
cycle, and a violin concerto for the BBC Proms in 2000.
Uros
Rojko studied composition under Juros Krek from 1977-1981.
In 1983 he was awarded 1st prize at the Adre-Alpia competition
in Linz. For his string quartet he received the first
prize at the Alban Berg competition in Vienna in 1985. In
1985/86 he got a grant from the DAAD and studied composition
with György Ligeti. For “Tongenesis” he was given
the first prize at the Premio Europa in Rome 1985 and the
1986 Gaudeamus prize during the international Gaudeamus
music week.
Different
generations, different backgrounds, different musical languages
combined to a promising concerts full of surprises.
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Music
and Language in the New Millennium
Music and Language in its many sided variety between
humor and drama - in between those poles ensemble Intégrales
develops its artistic concept of the concert.
The writers' language and its reflection within the music
of today stays central: Middle High German verses, passages
of texts by Franz Kafka or Gertrude Stein, language and music
are undividably connected, always communicating, always different,
presenting the pulse of the time.
The longer compositions of the program are interspersed with
Frederic Rzewski's minute "TV-Operas". With
a wink of the eye American workers- and union texts will be
presented like tv-spots.
Luciano Berio's "Sequenza VII" for alto saxophone
solo is performed as a kind of "one man music theater piece"
often reminding to free jazz. Berio himself wanted his pieces
to be understood as short stagings, differently done by each
interpreter.
In his composition "Kafka-Fragmente" György
Kurtág, one of the most established living composers,
dedicates himself to the aphoristic form. He succeeds in catching
the atmosphere of the entries of Kafka's journal in a most graphic
and musical manner.
In John Cage's "Living Room Music" the musicians
present a vital and humorous speech quartet on a text by Gertrude
Stein in addition to showing their hitherto hidden qualities
as percussionists using objects of the living room as musical
instruments.
The "Vier Minnelieder" by Burkhard Friedrich
introduce a historic dimension to the program: Sung in Middle
High German, woven into a sound space of quarter pitches the
Minnelieder represent a composition which throws time out of
joint and captures the intensity of the moment.
Last but not least Mayako Kubo's "Bach-Variationen"
will be performed, a piece in which an additional CD-track will
deliver unusual connotations to the topic BACH.
This highly exceptional concert shows language bound into
new structures by contemporary music.
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Joys
of Noise
'ensemble
Intégrales represents a turning- point in musical
eras' a critic wrote about ensemble Intégrales after
their performance at the Bodensee-Festival in summer of 1999.
The music of their new program 'Joys of Noise' is playful, humorous
and at the same time demanding. It moves between ritual and
rhythm, theatre and sound and demonstrates clearly the ensembles'
love for creativity, interdisciplinary performances, their experimental
curiosity, fantasy and relaxed undogmatic attitude.
The
famous composers Steve Reich, Mauricio Kagel and Georges
Aphergis are well known for their fascination for foreign
cultures, theater and minimalism.
In 'Joys of Noise' their music ranges from the purely rhythmic,
that transfers the air into whizzing pulsation (Reich, 'music
for pieces of wood' for claves), to a humorous scenic performance
(Kagel 'Pas de cinque' for walking musicians) and dream worlds
of non ending sonoric colours and sounds (Aperghis 'requiem
furtif' for violin and claves).
ensemble
Intégrales places great importance on direct dialogue
with emerging as well as established composers and has been
an inspiration for many new works.
Burkhard
Friedrich’s 'HerbstTänze' for violin, saxophone
and piano developed from a close collaboration with ensemble
Intégrales: On the surface, HerbstTänze (autumn
dances) seems full of turmoil. But each dance has its very own
expression, the instruments jointly drawing outlines and painting
timbres from pure base pigments. An imaginary space opens up
before the eyes, felt and explored with all the sensory faculties.
Sergey Zagny’s 'Piece No 4' consists of raw musical
materials that have to be combined by the musicians according
to certain rules. A lot of flexibility remains in this process
that allows the interpreters to function as co-authors of the
composition. It lets them make use of all their colours, instrumental
skills and phantasy.
For
all its stylistic variety, this music is worlds away from both
the chilly arrhythmia of tradtional European modernism and the
easy listening of some later minimalism.
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La
Voix Russe
"La
Voix Russe", shows the enormous variety and richdom of
todays Russian music, that emerged after the fall of the
Sovjet Union. Many new paths developed in the Russian music
life through the new possiblities and influences that opened
during the 90s of the last century. This program presents 4
young composers who all found a unique and distinct voice, giving
a very personal interpretation to the time and culture they
are living in.
Russian
emotion transformed into a world of noises and hidden harmonies
gives one the creeps: Zergej Newski (*1972, Moscow) draws
his creativity and ideas from everyday’s life: collecting
sounds from his environment and forming it into his music language.
Discover the whistling of the hard working transformer unit
of Dutch high speed trains or the howling of a mentally disabled
person in Berlin’s metro in his compositions "Bastelmusik"
or "Rift".
Internationally highly acknowledged, Zergej Newski has won numerous
scholarships and been played at important international festivals
like Donaueschinger Musiktage or Wien modern.
Sergej
Zagnys "Piece No 4" consists of raw musical material,
which has to be put together by the musicians following certain
rules. A great amount of flexibility stays part of the composition,
which gives the interpreters the chance to a multiple co-authorship.
They make use of all their sonoric colours, their instrumental
mastership and phantasy.
With
"Aus der Stille" for flute and percussion Maria
Boulgakova (*1975) wrote a very pure piece of music. Her
sounds and rhythms calmly, beautifully, entchantingly transform.
Maria Boulgakowa finished her studies at the Moscow Tshaikowsky
Conservatory in 2001. Having gained a stipend of the German
Acadamic Exchange Service she is currently attending master
class studies at the Musikhochschule Hamburg with Manfred Stahnke.
Dmitri
Kourliandski (*1976), highly praised winner of the Gaudeamus
composers’ competition 2003 met ensemble Intégrales
during the festival 2003 in Amsterdam. Their mutual admiration
for each others work led to a new piece by Dmitri Kourlandski
that is also part of this program.
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