Launched in 2007, NEOS is a German label with a focus on compositions from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, many of which are world premiere recordings. In order to achieve a high level of artistic and editorial quality, great value is placed on selecting the performers and collaborating exclusively with renowned ensembles and cultural institutions. NEOS (Greek for "new") is the responsibility of Wulf Weinmann, who was previously the owner and label manager of col legno. Varied in his interests, Weinmann is constantly seeking out discoveries in the wilds of New Music. He considers himself particularly fortunate to have arranged future collaborations with long-standing partners such as the Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt (IMD), the Donaueschingen festival of the SWR, musica viva (Bayerischer Rundfunk), and the Salzburg Festival. As a confessed lover of the arts Weinmann places great importance on the technical quality of the recordings and their visual presentation. All of the productions are released in attractive digipacks with extensive textual information. Many releases are Stereo/5.1 multichannel hybrid CD/Super Audio CD formats that can be played on any CD player.
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NEOS 11910CD
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Italian composer Agostino di Scipio closely investigates ways to incorporate electronics with music. He is primarily interested in mutual influences between instrument, live electronics, and space. To process sound, he uses a variety of methods, in which conventional analog technologies can play as much of a role as cutting-edge computer programs, electronic sound processing of a simple pitched pizzicato sample, or experimental playing techniques on string instruments. Di Scipio is a professor of electroacoustic composition in L'Aquila. His compositions and sound installations are presented worldwide and are internationally recognized as outstanding contributions to current experimental music and sound art.
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NEOS 11916CD
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Roland Chadwick began to compose for his instrument, the guitar, during his youth. Today his works are played around the globe and many of his recordings have achieved cult status. The fact that German guitarist Detlev Bork has now gone into the studio to record Chadwick's most important compositions is a real gift, with a number of world première recordings that provide invaluable perspective over nearly 40 years of the composer's work.
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NEOS 11905CD
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Zwei Frankfurter Préludes (Two Frankfurt Préludes) presents a live recording of the twos première given on November 19, 1999 with the hr Sinfonieorchester conducted by Arturo Tamayo. The titles of these works are nearly identical ("Two Cranes and Clouds" and "Two Cranes and Clouds / Double") and are conceptually related, though they could hardly be more different. One is based on an extreme accumulation of density over about a minute and a half, while the other explores a radical expansion in both time and space. Each work is scored for large orchestra and the second of them, which lasts some 50 minutes, positions the musicians along a diagonal line that bisects the performance space.
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NEOS 41901CD
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Bach today, "Baroque classics in a groovy jazz style". Bach today offers a colorful, versatile and multifaceted program. Well-known works for the flute by J.S. Bach and his son C.P.E. Bach form the basis for the CD. Through the filigree groovy background of the highly virtuosic baroque pieces by the experienced percussionist and enriched with astonishing improvisations, these "baroque classics" appear in a completely new light and are very contemporary.
Stefan Keller is an internationally active flutist. He plays a broad spectrum of music styles on different instruments, as is apparent from his wide-ranging projects and invitations to flute festivals. Boundary-crossing offerings like "Under Water", "Carpenter", "Factory", and others attest to his rich variety of concert music and performance activities, from a yodel choir in a carpentry workshop, to computer animations in the church, to a welder in a factory, or an indoor swimming pool in "unter Wasser". Unusual combinations such as flute and contrabass, flute and percussion or flute and live electronics also appear. Keller's artistic work has been generously supported by the Aargauer Kuratorium multiple times. He has had residencies in Aargau's ateliers in Paris and Berlin. As a flutist, he specializes in low and extremely low flutes like the alto, bass, contrabass and subcontrabass.
At the tender age of five, Beda Ehrensperger was already honing his drumming skills on his mother's pots and pans. He began his first lessons after his uncle gave him a percussion set as a present. At eight he had his first band. During his studies at the Zurich University of the Arts, Ehrensperger dedicated himself to Jazz, which provided him with a link to African rhythms. He felt compelled to move to Ghana, where he worked with master drummer Kofi Missiso and the "Ghana Cultural Ballet" and assimilated African music. Once he was back in Europe, he became firmly established in the European reggae scene with The Dubby Conquerors and proved his versatility as a rhythmic jack-of-all-trades in jazz and African music projects, choirs, classical ensembles, improvisation, and solo works. These days, he lives in Ghana and presents his own compositions under the name Beda Massive Tribe.
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NEOS 11903CD
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Rudolf Kelterborn has had a significant influence on contemporary music making in Switzerland for many decades. In addition to his extensive teaching activities, he has served as the chief editor at Schweizerische Musikzeitung, director of the Musik-Akademie Basel, and head of the music department for the Swiss-German radio service. His compositional oeuvre is wide-ranging, internationally recognized, and has been awarded numerous prizes and distinctions. This CD contains "Ensemble-Buch I" (Ensemble-Book I) (1990) and "Gesänge zur Nacht" (Songs to the Night) (1978), two important vocal works based on texts by Erika Burkhart and Ingeborg Bachmann. Kelterborn composed "Musik mit 5 Trios" (Music with 5 Trios) in 2016/17 for Musikkollegium Winterthur, dedicating the work to the ensemble's chief conductor, Pierre-Alain Monot.
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NEOS 11933CD
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This 33rd volume of the Musica Viva series on NEOS documents an extraordinary concert. The program comprises exclusively works by Peter Ruzicka, conducted by the composer himself, to commemorate his 70th birthday in July 2018. One of the CD's highlights is the world premiere of the fulminant trumpet concerto, "LOOP". One of the work's two soloists plays only piccolo trumpet while the other occasionally switches to flugelhorn. This way, the piece exploits the fullest conceivable extent of the instrument's range -- as well as the boundaries of what's technically possible. Other works presented here provide a multilayered insight into Ruzicka's orchestral works from 1984 to the present.
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NEOS 11729CD
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Sir Harrison Birtwistle is doubtless one of the most important and influential British composers of the last decades. This CD brings together two works with a strong link to the tradition: "Responses" is a piano concerto that, in accordance with historical convention, focuses on the dialogue between the soloist and the orchestra. Birtwistle's second large-scale opera, "Gawain", deals with the legend of King Arthur. In the orchestral version, "Gawain's Journey", which was published the same year the opera premiered, the voice parts are allocated to various instruments. Instead of merely cobbling together selected passages into an orchestral suite, Birtwistle composed them into a standalone orchestral work of immense musical power.
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NEOS 11904CD
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With his second chamber music CD on NEOS, Michael Quell has once again provided a large variety of forms and instrumentations. In addition to the Freiburg-based Ensemble Aventure, this recording features four top-class guitarists who play microtonal guitars developed by Tolgahan Çoğulu. Other guests include soprano Christine Simolka and conductor Hermann Beyer. The works' titles betray the fact that Quell is intensely devoted not only to music, but to philosophy, theosophy, and the natural sciences.
Michael Quell was born in Fulda, Germany in 1960. He teaches at the Institute of Musicology at the Goethe University Frankfurt and is a guest lecturer at various universities. His works are performed regularly in Europe, the USA, Canada, South America, and Asia.
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NEOS 11913CD
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"33 approximations to silence" is how Markus Schimpp describes the collection of piano miniatures recorded here. The catalyst and starting point for this composition was his relationship to the music of Ludwig van Beethoven. On this disc, Schimpp seeks out quiet moments, experimenting with simple harmonies and contemplative repetitions -- silent music as a counterbalance to the daily onslaught of media overstimulation.
Markus Schimpp was born in Augsburg in 1964. After earning a degree at the Leopold-Mozart-Konservatorium there, he set out on an unusual career path. Today he works as a cabaret pianist, singer, host, and composer in Bonn.
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NEOS 11802CD
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Philippe Manoury is one of the most important French composers working today and is a pioneer in combining music with live electronics. With Le Temps, Mode D'emploi (Time -- a User's Guide) he created an evening-length work about the phenomenon of time and various possibilities for sculpting and experiencing it. Two real pianos positioned in the middle of the hall are surrounded by four virtual pianos that sound from loudspeakers. This highly complex work is dedicated to the GrauSchumacher Piano Duo, who premiered it in 2014 in Witten, Germany in cooperation with the SWR Experimentalstudio and have worked again with them here to produce the studio recording for this CD.
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NEOS 11908CD
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Peter Ivan Edwards was born in New York, studied in the USA and Germany, and is now a professor of composition in Singapore. Extramusical influences can often be found in his work, such as computer-supported processes, algorithmic processes, or a linguistic model as in ionobia. Edwards also teaches computer music, though the computer itself is only used once on this CD: in "Ssoonro" for bassoon and electronics. Otherwise, this CD focuses on a variety of instrumentations. The number and quality of the interpreters is evidence of both the fact that Edward's music is performed internationally and of the surprisingly diverse and colorful new music scene in Singapore. Performers include: Trio SurPlus; Ensemble Interface; Ensemble Wu Xian; Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra; Jason Lai - conductor; Matteo Cesari - flute; Pieter Jansen - violin; Christoph Wichert - bassoon.
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NEOS 11804CD
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Five first-class brass players have joined together to form a quintet called Ensemble Schwerpunkt. Their brilliant debut CD contains Luciano Berio's "Call" and Sofia Gubaidulina's "Quattro", standard works from the brass repertoire, but the focus is on compositions written specifically for the ensemble. After all, these five musicians are dedicated to promoting a broad, demanding repertoire for their instrumentation. This means taking risks and pushing the boundaries of what's technically possible: Benedict Mason's "Brass Quintet" lay in a drawer for 25 years until any quintet dared to undertake it. Ensemble Schwerpunkt's first performance and the world premiere recording here capture their fiery interpretation of this work. Ensemble Schwerpunkt is: Matthew Brown - trumpet; Matthew Sadler - trumpet; Cecilie Marie Schwagers - horn; Mikael Rudolfsson - trombone; Janne Matias Jakobsson - tuba.
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NEOS 11928CD
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Music for voice(s) is one of the richest and perhaps unexplored areas in contemporary music. Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf wrestled for many years with himself and dedicated serious thought to fundamental issues before composing vocal music. Today, he has written a number of compositions with quite different approaches: While he was radically committed to incomprehensible texts in the 1990s, he later did just the opposite. The breadth of vocal forces is also enormous; on this CD they range from solo baritone in "Esė apie vandenis" to a work for a 24-voice ensemble, "voiced void". Again and again, Mahnkopf deals with the topic of the void: "void -- un diletto italiano" for six voices is an epitaph for Pier Paolo Pasolini. Performers include: ExVoCo; SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart; Rupert Huber - conductor; Neue Voklasolisten; Jeffrey Gavett - baritone.
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NEOS 11824CD
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Hommage à Jean-Paul Sartre et Simone de Beauvoir. A chamber opera about love based on texts by Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre -- that's what René Wohlhauser wanted to compose in the spring of 2014. When Sartre's estate categorically refused permission for the texts to be used, Wohlhauser refused to abandon the project. He replaced Sartre's words with his own sound poetry and stated a concertante version of the work with Ensemble Polysono during its 2015 and 2016 European tours. This CD documents this production in the form of a studio recording.
René Wohlhauser is a composer, singer, pianist, and conductor. After some years' experience as a rock and jazz musician, he now composes primarily contemporary classical music. He tours regularly throughout Europe with Ensemble Polysono and the Simolka-Wohlhauser duo.
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NEOS 11901CD
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The album Kinderszenen with music by Yoichi Sugiyama is a portrait CD in the best sense. It not only shows various facets of the composer, but the works also have strong biographical connections. Like many Asian composers of his generation, Sugiyama combines Eastern and Western influences in his music. At times this is readily apparent, as in the work Kuguhi for 17-string bass koto (a Japanese zither), or quite subtle, as when he used Schumann's Kinderszenen as the initial material for a complex and richly differentiated viola quartet.
After growing familiar with the Japanese new music scene -- and also influencing it himself, it was Sugiyama's fascination with contemporary Italian composers that led him to travel to Europe. Today he is internationally established as a composer and a conductor. Performers include: Kazue Sawai - 17-string bass koto; Wonjung Kim - voice
Richard Stoltzman - clarinet; Ah Ling Neu - viola; Stephen Gosling - piano; Tokyo Gen'On Project; The Imai Viola Quartet.
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NEOS 11812CD
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Stefan Schulzki is known for his especially creative implementation of live electronics. While this can be heard on Chamber Music, the program offers a much more comprehensive overview of Schulzki's work. The recording features chamber works with various instrumentations, from a simple piano song (a new setting of Goethe's "Erlkönig") to a piano concerto with chamber ensemble and electronics written in 2018, from the bitterly ironic Politisches Lied 2011 to the lyrically expressive theater music Die Zeit und das Zimmer (Botho Strauss). All of the recordings were studio productions except for the piano concerto, which is a live recording of the première.
"Piano Concerto (2018)" performed by: JU[MB]LE (Jugendensemble für Neue Musik Bayern); Vincent Neeb - piano; Stefan Schulzki - electronics; Johannes X. Schachtner - conductor. "Politisches Lied 2011 (2011)", with text by Norbert Niemann, performed by: Salome Kammer - mezzo-soprano; Alexander von Hagke - tenor saxophone; Claus-Dieter Jäkel - trombone; Johannes Öllinger - electric guitar; Stefan Schulzki - piano; Walter Bittner - percussion; Kai Wangler - accordion; Yasuka Morizono - violin; Uli Fiedler - double bass. "Widerschein II - fragment / auskopplung -- another place (2009)" performed by: Evgeni Orkin - soprano saxophone; Stefan Schulzki - Hammond organ and electronics. Erlkönig (2012) (4:45), with text by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, performed by: Peter Schöne - baritone; Stefan Schulzki - piano. "Drei Epigramme nach Bertolt Brecht (2014)" performed by Beatrice Ottmann - soprano; Stefan Schulzki - electronics and piano. "Die Zeit und das Zimmer (2001)" performed by Aaron Dan - flute; Andrej Makiy - viola; Simonetta Ginelli - harp.
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NEOS 11814CD
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Ataç Sezer draws inspiration for his compositions from highly varied sources: the 24 different tonal systems of Turkish makam music, for which he has developed new forms of notation, and also from microtonality and electronic music. He likes to experiment with new playing techniques and loves combining Western and Eastern instruments. Ataç Sezer studied piano and musicology as well as the ney, the traditional flute of Ottoman court music. On Simultaneity, a portrait CD which offers an exclusive selection of chamber, ensemble and orchestral works, it becomes clear how present the influences of two musical traditions are in Sezer's work.
"mirror-reversed" performed by: Sercan Halili - kemençe; Young Euro Classic Festival Orchestra Turkey-Germany; Cem Mansur - conductor; "relativity of simultaneity" performed by: Soloists of Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; TrioCoriolis; "infinitimal" performed by Studio Musikfabrik; Peter Veale - conductor; "Toned Melisma" Münchener Kammerorchester; Alexander Liebreich - conductor; "time loop" performed by Johannes Öllinger - electric guitar; MGNM Festival Ensemble; Peter Hirsch - conductor; "A-Circle" performed by Stefanie Schumacher - accordion; TrioCoriolis.
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NEOS 11902CD
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The organs that Hans Eugen Frischknecht plays on this CD are extraordinary, one-of-a-kind instruments. He wrote his compositions precisely for these instruments, turning each one's characteristic sound and capabilities into a main feature of each piece. Among these "special organs" are two quartertone organs, one is tuned in meantone temperament with split sharps and two prototypes from the INOV-ORGAN-UM research project. On these latter organs it is possible to adjust the air pressure, even after pressing the keys, to cause variations in the loudness and even pitch of the notes. Hans Eugen Frischknecht has traveled to many countries as an organist, often performing his own works. He studied with Boris Blacher and Michael Schneider, and later also with Olivier Messiaen in Paris.
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NEOS 11816CD
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The Slovenian clarinetist Uros Rojko and his compatriot, accordionist Luka Juhart, are performing composers -- as well as composing performers. They are both quite determined to leave this issue undetermined. They have known each other for many years, and, over time, a deep friendship has grown, which is documented on this CD. Their ensemble playing has a natural ease, but also a great intensity. They know and enjoy not only their own works, but those of the other. The program on this CD is supplemented with miniatures by Iris ter Schiphorst that currently belong to the standard repertoire for this special instrumentation. Personnel: Uros Rojko - clarinet; Luka Juhart - accordion.
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NEOS 11829CD
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Since its founding in 1993, Collegium Novum Zürich has advanced to become one of the leading international ensembles for contemporary music. Just in time for their 25th anniversary, NEOS is releasing an exclusive collection of live recordings that represent the ensemble's programmatic identity. When selecting these works, preference was given to world premieres and first performances. Works by Vinko Globokar, Martin Jaggi, Sascha Janko Dragićević, and Marko Nikodijevic.
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NEOS 11907CD
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With his new CD, Quiet Stone, Laurie Altman abducts the listener into a musical world that is completely different to that of his previous three NEOS recordings. In a certain sense, his background as a jazz pianist shines through; Instead of large, fully composed works he offers miniatures with some improvised passages. The recordings are strongly characterized by the presence of a 13-string guitar belonging to Laurie Altman's stage partner of many years, Anders Miolin.
Performers includes: Andreas Kühnrich - cello; Laurie Altman - piano; Nedyalko Petkov - clarinet; Anders Miolin - 13-string guitar; Isabel Pfefferkorn - mezzo-soprano; Matthias Mueller - clarinet.
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NEOS 11906CD
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In recent years, Maja Mijatović has tirelessly commissioned new compositions for her instrument, the harpsichord. This album contains the works of eight composers who not only come from different generations, but also strongly contrasting cultural backgrounds. This has resulted in a collection of pieces that demonstrate the great potential for discovery that the harpsichord still has to offer to new music. Features works by: Margareta Ferek-Petrić, Rafael Nassif, Christian Diendorfer, Sylvie Lacroix, Peter Jakober, Tamara Friebel, Manuela Kerer, and Hannes Dufek.
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NEOS 11818CD
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The music of Wolfgang Jacobi is worth (re)discovering. Born in 1894 on the island of Rügen in Germany, he pursued university studies and worked in Berlin until his music was banned by the Nazis. Following a brief exile in Italy he resettled in Munich in 1935 where he played a significant role in the public music scene of the post-war era. Jacobi had a pronounced affinity for instruments considered unusual at the time such as the harpsichord, saxophone, and especially the accordion, his use of which is pioneering in contemporary music. In 2018, the Megève Festival Savoy Truffle dedicated a series of performances to Jacobi's music using prominent musicians. These performances, which include a world premiere recording of Jacobi's string quartet by the Arditti Quartet, are now being released on NEOS to commemorate his 125th birthday.
"Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra Op. 31 (1927/1947)" performed by: Andreas Skouras - harpsichord; Orchestre des Pays de Savoie; Sándor Károlyi - conductor; "Italian Songs for Soprano and Piano (1954)" performed by: Marion Grange - soprano; Ambroise de Rancourt - piano; "String Quartet (1948)" performed by Arditti Quartet (Irvine Arditti and Ashot Sarkissjan - violins; Ralf Ehlers - viola; Lucas Fels - violoncello); "Serenade and Allegro (1958)" performed by: Dimitri Bouclier - accordion; Union Accordéoniste Mixte Genève; Pierre-André Krummenacher - conductor.
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NEOS 11825CD
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Contemporary music is a central component of conservatory training today and is practiced at the University of the Arts Bern at the highest level, as this recording attests. When they were written (between 1983 and 1995), these three pieces would have been neither technically nor logistically possible to play at a music conservatory. Each work poses its own challenges. In "Ryoanji" by John Cage it is the unusual structure, which is based partially on chance and requires the interpreters to go beyond merely executing the notation. In his "Two men meet, each presuming the other to be from a distant planet", James Wood employs electronics in a way that exhausted the capabilities of the equipment in the 1980s such that it is necessary to perform the work using these "historical" electronic devices to get the proper sound today. In terms of its instrumental technique, Brian Ferneyhough's "La Chute d'Icare" is music of an almost absurd difficulty.
"Two men meet, each presuming the other to be from a distant planet (1995)" performed by: Brian Archinal - percussion; Ensemble VERTIGO der Hochschule der Künste Bern; Lennart Dohms - conductor. "Ryoanji (1983-1985)" performed by Livia Schönbächler - flute; Ensemble VERTIGO der Hochschule der Künste Bern; Lennart Dohms, conductor. "La Chute d'Icare (1988)" performed by Shuyue Zhao - clarinet; Nouvel Ensemble Contemporain; Lennart Dohms - conductor.
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NEOS 11809CD
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Intensity and precision of expression alongside brevity of form are particular sources of fascination for the soprano Katrin Frauchiger and the pianist Katharina Weber when it comes to the composition and interpretation of songs. Here they come together with Jürg Wyttenbach. With their rather simple character, his eight duettini are not entirely typical of his work, but in these pieces, all of which last between 34 and 71 seconds, he reveals himself once again as a master of concentrated theatrical effect. His cycle "Drei kurze Gebete an die japanische Göttin der Barmherzigkeit Kannon Bosatsu" ("Three Short Prayers to the Japanese Goddess of Compassion Kannon Bosatsu") is tailor-made for the Frauchiger-Weber duo and dedicated to them. Aside from Wyttenbach's songs, the CD also includes works by the two performers, as well as rarely-performed longs by Hanns Eisler and Alban Berg's "Seven Early Songs", rounding off the selection with musical contrasts. Songs by Jürg Wyttenbach, Katrin Frauchiger, Katharina Weber, Hanns Eisler, and Alban Berg. Personnel: Katrin Frauchiger - soprano; Katharina Weber - piano.
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