OMONÉRO

New Music for the Zither

• reviews
  

  Neue Musikzeitung, 07/2011
  Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, 05/2010
  MICA (music information center austria)
  Falter, 14.07.2010
  Tiroler Tageszeitung, 01.06.2010
  Diverse Zeitschriften

• text
  

  OMONÉRO - New Music for the Zither

  On the periphery of the performing arts — on the fraying edge, if one will — wondrous discoveries can be made. Not long ago, it looked as if the zither would forever remain a captive of its own stereotype. And yet, the instrument has recently experienced an astonishing Renaissance, especially in the area of contemporary music. The scope of sounds available on the zither is seemingly inexhaustible. The instrument commands a range of 5 ½ octaves, with five strings over a fretboard and 34 open strings.

  This rise in popularity may be attributed not only to a young generation of interpreters, but also to the successful efforts of zither craftsmen to modify the instrument to meet the demands of contemporary music. Perhaps the most important factor, however, has been a new, unorthodox approach to the instrument by composers, freeing it from its traditional role as an elicitor of nostalgic yearnings. From feeble beginnings in the 1970s (with works, for ex., by Mauricio Kagel and Walter Zimmermann), the zither movement has gained new impetus. We now have works for zither by such composer prominence as Bernhard Lang, Olga Neuwirth, Dieter Schnebel and Georg Friedrich Haas.

  The compositions available on this CD represent five very different approaches to the zither: Leopold Hurt’s LOGBUCH developed out of improvisations; SAMMELSURIUM, by Dieter Schnebel, is post-serial music; introspective tracings and reflections characterize KLEINE GÖTTERMUSIK by Franz Hautzinger; Manuela Kerer’s subtly funny IMPRESA OMONÉRO is innovative and zestful; and Georg Friedrich Haas’s EIN SAITENSPIEL reflects his microtonal sound cosmos.

  track list

  » Leopold Hurt (*1979)	LOGBUCH (Hommage à K.V.), 2007
  01 Erster Eintrag	03:35
  02 Zweiter Eintrag	04:22
  03 Dritter Eintrag	03:41
  » Dieter Schnebel (*1930)	Sammelsurium, 2006
  04 wie?	01:13
  05 Auf!	01:26
  06 so oder so	01:40
  07 vielleicht...	00:55
  08 ja! ja! ja!	00:37
  09 nein, nein... oder?	01:08
  10 und doch!	01:29
  11 nach und nach	02:06
  12 nochmals	00:42
  » Franz Hautzinger (*1963)	kleine Göttermusik, 2009
  13 Göttertisch	02:35
  14 Göttertrank	02:58
  15 Götterspeise	01:12
  16 Godess	01:43
  17 Goldstaub	01:37
  18 Göttertisch II	00:46
  19 Göttertisch	01:23
  » Manuela Kerer (*1980)	Impresa Omonéro, 2009
  20 Gedanken (ver)MISCHEN	00:38
  21 Austeilen haal	01:19
  22 Ziehen hinterfotzig	03:09
  23 Paare ablegen hinterrux	00:59
  24 Farbe bekennen fregiert	02:35
  25 HETSCHEPETSCH Strof	01:01
  » Georg Friedrich Haas (*1953)	2001
  26 Ein Saitenspiel für umgestimmte Diskantzither	09:08
  Instrumente:
  Altzither Klemens Kleitsch 2003:	1.-3.
  Diskantzither Klemens Kleitsch 2007:	4.-11., 13.-19., 20.-25.
  Diskantzither Ulrike Meinel 2003:	26.

• audio examples
  
  • Leopold Hurt (*1979)
    LOGBUCH (Hommage à K.V.), 2007
    Erster Eintrag
  • Dieter Schnebel (*1930)
    Sammelsurium, 2006
    und doch!
  • Franz Hautzinger (*1963)
    kleine Göttermusik, 2009
    Göttertisch I
  • Manuela Kerer (*1980)
    Impresa Omonéro, 2009
    Gedanken (ver)MISCHEN
  • Georg Friedrich Haas (*1953)
    Ein Saitenspiel
    Sample 2: Ende
• order
  
  The CD is available from your dealer:
  label: Extraplatte, catalog number EX-SP 032-2
  or via E-Mail: Martin.Mallaun [at] uibk.ac.at
  price: 18€ excluding shipping costs

zwischen steinen

Baroque lute music
and contemporary New Music for the Zither

• text
  

  zwischen steinen

  Martin Mallaun - zither

  Martin Mallaun’s solo debut album zwischen steinen contrasts the magnificent compositions of Silvius Leopold Weiss, lutenist to the king, with music of our time.

  Born in Breslau, Silvius Leopold Weiss (1686–1750) learned the art of lute playing from his father Johann Jacob Weiss. After a stint in the Düsseldorf court orchestra and some years in Italy, Weiss spent most of the remainder of his life as a member of the Saxon court orchestra in Dresden. This orchestra prospered during the reigns of Augustus II the Strong and his successor Frederick Augustus II, boasting not only Weiss but also other highly prominent musicians of the day.
  Witnesses attest to Weiss’ unbelievable virtuoso facilities on the lute and to his propensity for brilliant improvisations. His pupil, the German lutenist, composer and writer on music Ernst Gottlieb Baron, attests in his Investigations on Lute Instruments (1727): “[Weiss] was the first to show that one could make more out of the lute than had been believed up till then,” and further, “Weiss’ manor of playing this instrument is the best, the most practical, the most gallant and the most perfect.” Weiss was highly acclaimed not only as a virtuoso, but also as a composer. Johann Nikolaus Forkel, the first biographer of J. S. Bach, asserted that the Weiss compositions were written “in pure and pithy taste ... approximating in this respect the keyboard works of the late Joh. Seb. Bach.”

  Weiss wrote his Suite in f-moll and his Tombeau sur la mort de Mr. Cte de Losy lute. Martin Mallaun has transcribed the original tablature and arranged the composition for the alto zither.

  track list

  » Silvius Leopold Weiss (1686 – 1750)
  01 Tombeau sur la mort de Mr. Cte de Losy	07:10
  » Robert Zollitsch (* 1966)
  02 zwischen steinen	11:59
  » Silvius Leopold Weiss	Suite in f-moll
  03 Allemande	04:21
  04 Courante	04:01
  05 Bourrée	03:12
  06 Sarabande: adagio	06:15
  07 Menuet	03:08
  08 Gigue	03:55
  » Fredrik Schwenk (* 1960)
  09 Insaturabilien II	04:28
  Instrumente
  Altzither Klemens Kleitsch 2003:	1, 3-8
  Diskantzither Ulrike Meinel 2003:	2, 9

• audio examples
  
  • Silvius Leopold Weiss (1686 – 1750)
    Tombeau sur la mort de Mr. Cte de Losy
  • Robert Zollitsch (* 1966)
    zwischen steinen
  • Silvius Leopold Weiss
    Suite in f-moll

    Allemande
    Menuet
    Gigue

  • Fredrik Schwenk (* 1960)
    Insaturabilien II
• order
  
  The CD is available from your dealer:
  label: Extraplatte, catalog number EX-SP 028-2
  or via E-Mail: Martin.Mallaun [at] uibk.ac.at
  price: 18€ excluding shipping costs
• awarded Pasticcio Prize of Austrian Radio (Ö1)