Alfred Schnittke Festival at the Academy of Music and Theatre in Hamburg on 15 /16 November 2008
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the death of Alfred Schnittke, the Academy of Music and Theatre in Hamburg will be organising a Schnittke Festival on 15 and 16 November 2008. Schnittke spent the last years of his life in Hamburg and taught at the Academy. As one of the most important Russian composers, Schnittke opened up new dimensions in the Russian music of the twentieth century. The anniversary year of his death is the occasion for Studio 21 of the Music Academy to call attention to the composer with a small series of events. Together with the ensemble Intégrales, works of the German-Russian composer will be performed on two evenings. The Ensemble 21 will place Schnittke’s work into context on Saturday, 15 November, and is working out a collage from his chamber music oeuvre, Russian texts and film excerpts. The Ensemble Intégrales will then place the work of Schnittke into a sonic connection with works of Sofia Gubaidulina and Sergei Nevsky.
The programme in detail:
Collage about Alfred Schnittke
15 November 2008, 8:00 PM
Forum Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg
Schnittke, Alfred (1934-1998)
Canon in memoriam Igor Stravinsky for string quartet
Piano Quartet
Moz-art for 2 violins
Curriculum Vitae for 4 metronomes, 3 percussionists and piano
Portions of the Quintet for Piano and Strings
Stravinsky, Igor (1882-1971)
Double Canon (Raoul Dufy in memoriam) for string quartet
Mahler, Gustav (1860-1911)
Piano Quartet
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791)
Pantalon and Columbine, Music for Pantomime (K. 416d)
[Fragment] for 2 violins, viola and double bass
Schnittke – einBlick
16 November 2008, 8:00 PM
Forum-Theater Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg
Introductory talk at 6:45 PM
Sofia Gubaidulina: The Tightrope Walker for violin and piano
Alfred Schnittke:
Piano Trio
Variations for piano solo
Performers: Barbar Lüneburg (violin), Sonja Lena Schmid (violoncello), Ashley Hribar (piano), Burkhard Friedrich (saxophone)
Excerpts from texts for the programme of the Academy of Music and Performing Arts, Hamburg:
Russia, a land of upheaval and new beginnings, with Moscow as the pulsing centre of the country. The grande dame of Russian music, Sofia Gubaidulina, whose music was considered “irresponsible” in Soviet Russia, immigrated to Germany in the early 1990s. Sofia Gubaidulina’s “The Tightrope Walker” could stand as a symbol for Russia, the country in upheaval, in a difficult process of democratisation, between past and renewal, old structures and new ideas: the extensive use of the inside of the piano and the rather traditional violin part melt together into a virtuoso tightrope act.
