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Contents:
DDD 69.52 Recorded: Dom St Jakob, Innsbruck,Austria – 10 & 11 October and 20 November 2001 PAUL ENGEL - VENETIAN DÉJÀ-VU (VENEZIANISCHES DÉJÀ-VU) “Venezianisches Déjà-vu“ (Venetian Déjà-vu) is a virtuoso piece, which in a rather free manner is based both on the motet Jubilate Deo omnis terra and the well-known Sonata No. XIII for eight instrumental voices in two choirs by Giovanni Gabrieli. It was composed for the ensemble ART OF BRASS, Vienna. Even though this roughly 15 minute long composition cannot be decidedly regarded as sacred music, it was still composed for performance as part of a concert of church music. It refers back to early Christian music, such as Gregorian Chant and organum technique, to Venetian music for several choirs, to bitonality and to contemporary music. In the final section Paul Engel deliberately plays with the beginning of his Te Deum, whose harmonics also allow certain associations with Armenian and Balinese music. “Venezianisches Déjà-vu“ takes its listeners on a journey of sound and leads them through lively, richly ornamented pictures whose colours are expressed by a slim ‘espressivo-leggiero‘. CYRILLUS KREEK „Kreek is immersed in his art in a solemnly religious manner and with ecstatic denial of sensation and noise … a musical inhabitant of the desert, an ascetic who joyfully dedicates himself to his aesthetic loneliness“, Mart Saar wrote in 1929 on the occasion of the 40th birthday of his colleague Cyrillus Kreek. Cyrillus Kreek worked like Bartók for many years as a musical researcher. He collected spiritual folksongs, which he catalogued and revised. He wrote 450 songs for choir with various voices and arranged 500 hymns in polyphony. In 1927 he completed his „Estonian Requiem“, which is regarded as his main composition. Kreek’s settings of David‘s Psalms form a kind of bridge between the comprehensive form of the requiem and the filigree spiritual folksongs. The psalm compositions distinguish themselves through their emotional balance, which is never monotonous. The very exact – almost visual – musical transposition of the text on which they are based is impressive. JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Toccata, Adagio and Fuge C-Dur BWV 564 were probably composed during Bach‘s time in Weimar (1708-1717). The sequence of the three movements reminds us of the form of the Italian concerto grosso. The introduction of the Toccata has two parts: the first twelve bar show rapid runs followed by a long pedal solo, also consisting of twelve bars, which is probably the most difficult one he wrote. The subsequent concerto movement is based on two themes, which are developed from the introduction. The Adagio with its harmonic and melodic turns could well be part of a concerto – this can also be said of a solo violin, whose cantilena rises above a continuo background. The immediately following Grave surprises us through its chromaticism in the Northern German accord style and also its toccata style reminiscent of Frescobaldi; it leads the a minor back to the c tonic and so prepares the harmonic ground for the fugue movement. The swift fugue in 6/8 time itself with its theme, its homophony and its clear disposition of key does not stress the ‚learned‘, but rather the serene aspects. The hemiola sections, which complete the theme, are of importance. The coda initially begins with demisemiquavers. The surprising finish is achieved by a terse accord in C major. Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein/ und wissen nicht, wo aus noch ein,/ und finden weder Hilf noch Rat,/ ob wir gleich sorgen früh und spat,.../(When we are in dire need/ and do not know what to do/ although we endeavour all day long) The richly ornamented upper voice of this chorale from the Organ Book symbolises in its ascending and descending runs a futile effort, which is given by the text. In other voices the beginning of the chorale melody is connected in contrapunctual manner – this could be a pointer to the last line of the chorale. KNUT NYSTEDTKnut Nystedt was born in Oslo and studied composition with Bjarne Brustad and Aaron Copland, organ with Arild Sandvold and Ernest White and conducting with Øivin Fjeldstad. From 1946 to 1982 he was organist at the Torshov Church in Oslo and from 1964 to 1985 he was professor for choir conducting at the University of Oslo. From 1950 to 1990 he directed the Norwegian Soloist Choir and together they went on concert tours in Scandinavia, Germany, France and the United States. In 1978 they went on a further, extended tour through Japan, Hong Kong and Thailand and then followed concerts in China (1982) and Israel (1984 and 1988). As a composer Knut Nystedt played a central role over a long period of rapidly changing musical trends. With his sure artistic feeling he was able to integrate new developments in music into his own, very personal compositional style, which is colourful but also extremely differentiated. Most of his symphonic, instrumental and vocal works were premiered by the Olso Philharmonic and its own choir. He is one of the few Norwegian composers whose works are performed world-wide. Through this he gained both national and international recognition. The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir has performed Knut Nystedt‘s music in many concerts all over the world. „Immortal Bach“ was composed in 1988. The work is based on the Bach chorale „Komm, süßer Tod“. Nystedt interprets this chorale in a manner typical for his style by attempting to unite the old with the new. PAUL ENGEL - TE DEUM The Te Deum for choir, brass and percussion was commissioned by the town of Ingolstadt. The work was premiered on June 26th 1988 in the Liebfrauenmünster (Minster of Our Lady) in Ingolstadt. The text of the Te Deum - a very impressive invocation - contains a positively mysterious, spiritually archaic force. Pauls Engel‘s setting is a piece in four movements of approximately 25 minute duration which form a musical arch beginning with the music for several voices of the occident and stretches to a modern, generally harmonic tonal language. Here the text is directly transposed into music which shows a spontaneously comprehensible structure of sound and clearly constructed columns of sound. This Te Deum represents both the externally directed action of a ceremonial invocation and the internally directed prayer, a meditation, an internal collection In the first movement of the Te Deum it appears as if archaic sounds are released from a painting in the dome. The second movement, Te gloriosus begins with intensively performed individual sound from the trombones, which gradually unfold and mix with the choir. From this then a rhythmically punctuated, expressive declamation develops, which is concluded by an ecstatic organ solo. The third movement Tu Rex gloriae develops above a timpani ostinato. In the foreground with have the admiration and the joy of the perspectives of spiritual seeing, hearing, feeling and living, the internal process of the concentration of the word, the struggle for spiritual freedom, which is realized. In the last movement, Te ergo quaesumus, lingering bells fuse with wind and organ accords, which form the background for a large soprano solo. Later on xylophone cascades remind us of the redemption: Æterna fac cum sanctis tuis in gloria numerari. Added to the traditional text we find a thrice repeated Ita est.
Page revised 26.06.03 |
