Jörg Widmann

Jörg Widmann

Jörg Widmann (born 19 June 1973)[1] is a German composer, conductor and clarinetist. He lives and works in Berlin.[2]

Education and career

Widmann was born in Munich and first took clarinet lessons in 1980. A year later he became a composition student of Kay Westermann (born 1958), subsequently also studying with Hans Werner Henze, Wilfried Hiller, Heiner Goebbels and Wolfgang Rihm.[3] As a clarinetist, he studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München and at the Juilliard School in New York City.[1] After graduating with a Master's from Munich in 1997, he furthered his studies at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe.[3] From 2001 to 2015 he taught clarinet as a Professor at the University of Music Freiburg.[1] Since 2009 Widmann has been a demi-Professor of Composition, succeeding Mathias Spahlinger, at the Institute for New Music at the University of Music Freiburg.[1][4][5] Since 2011 Widmann has been Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Partner, since 2017 Principal Conductor and Artistic Partner of the Irish Chamber Orchestra.[6] Since 2017 Widmann has been the Edward-Said-Chair and professor of composition at the Barenboim–Said Akademie Berlin.[7]

Musical works

Widmann has achieved success both as a clarinetist and as a composer. As a soloist, he has performed with major orchestras in Germany and abroad, including the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, under conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Christoph von Dohnányi, Sylvain Cambreling and Kent Nagano. Several clarinet concerti have been dedicated to Widmann and premiered by him: in 1999 through "musica viva", he played Music for Clarinet and Orchestra by Wolfgang Rihm, in 2006 with the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cantus by Aribert Reimann, and in 2015 "über" by Mark Andre at the Donaueschingen Festival.[8]

Widmann's compositions draw on different musical genres. He has composed, for example, a Trilogy for orchestra examining the projection of vocal forms of instrumental ensembles. The Trilogy consists of Lied (premiered in 2003 and recorded on CD by the Bamberg Symphony with Jonathan Nott), Chor (premiered in 2004 by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with Kent Nagano) and Messe, premiered in June 2005 by the Munich Philharmonic under Christian Thielemann.[9] In 2007 Pierre Boulez and the Vienna Philharmonic premiered his orchestral work Armonica.[10]

His string quartets are of particular note among his chamber music works: the First String Quartet was written in 1997, and followed by Chorale Quartet and Hunting Quartet, premiered in 2003 by the Arditti Quartet. 2005 saw the first performances of the Fourth String Quartet and Experiment on a Fugue (Fifth String Quartet with soprano), with Juliane Banse and the Artemis Quartet.[11][12][13]

Widmann was Composer in Residence at the Lucerne Festival in 2009,[14] where he premiered on 5 September 2009 Heinz Holliger's Rechant for solo clarinet.[15] His oboe concerto, commissioned by the Festival, was performed by Holliger on 13 August 2009.[16] Widmann's music Free Pieces for Ensemble: Number X is used in Sophie Fiennes's documentary Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow (2010), about the German post-war artist Anselm Kiefer.[17] His études IV-VI for violin (2004–2010) were premiered by his sister Carolin Widmann at the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik on 23 April 2010.[18] From 2009 to 2011 he was the Daniel R. Lewis Young Composer Fellow at the Cleveland Orchestra.[19] He performed his Fantasie for clarinet (1993) to celebrate the 80th birthday of Walter Fink at the Rheingau Musik Festival on 16 August 2010 and in 2014 he was the festival’s Composer & Artist in Residence.[20][21] Widmann was the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich's Creative Chair in the 2015–16 season.[22][23]

On 9 September 2015, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra announced they were commissioning a work from Widmann as part of a planned collaboration by the two organizations beginning in the fall of 2017.[24] The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra announced Widmann's appointment as its first-ever Gewandhauskomponist (Gewandhaus composer) for the 2017–18 season.[25]

Widmann's oratorio ARCHE had its world premiere on 13 January 2017 on the occasion of the opening festivities of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. It was performed by the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano.[26][27][28] The Pierre Boulez Concert Hall was opened on 4 March 2017 with a concert performed by Daniel Barenboim, Anna Prohaska and Widmann.[29]

On 27 January 2018 a new quintet for clarinet and string quartet was played, as part of a European tour, in the Muziekgebouw aan het IJ in Amsterdam. It was performed by Widmann and the Hagen Quartet.[30] Partita, five reminiscences for large orchestra, commissioned by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was premiered in Leipzig on 8 March 2018 with Andris Nelsons conducting.[31]

Awards

Memberships

Works

Widmann's works are published by Schott Music.[41]

  • Absences, Schuloper (1990)[42]
  • Kreisleriana, concert piece for violin and chamber orchestra (1993)[43]
  • Fantasie for clarinet solo (1993)[44][45]
  • First String Quartet (1997)[46]
  • Five Fragments for clarinet and piano (1997)[47][48]
  • Nocturne for piano, clarinet and cello (1998)
  • Fever Fantasy for piano, string quartet and clarinet (with bass clarinet) (1999)[48]
  • Implosion for orchestra (2001)
  • Light Study I for orchestra (2001)
  • ad absurdum for trumpet and small orchestra (2002)
  • Free Pieces for ensemble (2002)
  • Toccata for piano (2002)[49]
  • Second String Quartet (Chorale Quartet) (2003)[50]
  • Hall Study for piano (2003)
  • Das Gesicht im Spiegel (The Face in the Mirror), opera in 16 scenes, libretto by Roland Schimmelpfennig (2003)
  • Third String Quartet (Hunting Quartet) (2003)[51]
  • Lied for orchestra (2003)
  • Chor for orchestra (2004)
  • Skeleton for percussion (2004)
  • Light Studies (I-VI) for violin, viola, accordion, clarinet, piano and orchestra (2004)
  • Fourth String Quartet (2005)[52]
  • Experiment on a Fugue (Fifth String Quartet with soprano) (2005)[48][53]
  • Messe for full orchestra (2005)[54]
  • Air for horn solo (2005)[19]
  • Labyrinth for 48 chordophones (2005)
  • Elegy for clarinet and orchestra (2006)
  • Echo-Fragments for clarinet and orchestral group (2006)[55]
  • Second Labyrinth for orchestral group (2006)
  • Armonica for glass harmonica and orchestra (2007)[44]
  • Violin Concerto (2007)[56]
  • Con brio for orchestra (2008)[57][44]
  • Antiphon for orchestral group (2008)
  • Oboe Concerto (2009)
  • Flûte en suite for flute and orchestral group (2011)
  • Babylon, opera in 7 scenes, libretto by Peter Sloterdijk (2012)
  • Third Labyrinth for soprano and orchestral groups (2013–2014)
  • Trauermarsch for piano and orchestra (2014)[58]
  • Viola Concerto (2015)[59]
  • Once upon a time..., five pieces in fairy-tale style for clarinet, viola and piano (2015)[60]
  • ARCHE, oratorio for soloists, choirs, organ and orchestra (2016)
  • Sonatina facile for piano (2016)[61]
  • Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet, Lento assai (2017)[62][63][64][65][66]
  • Partita, five reminiscences for large orchestra (2017–2018)
  • Violin Concerto No. 2 (2018)

Discography

Recordings as clarinetist

Recordings as conductor

  • ad absurdum (with Mendelssohn: Symphonien No. 1 & 4), Sergei Nakariakov, Jörg Widmann, Irish Chamber Orchestra (Orfeo 2016)
  • Experiment on a Fugue (with Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 5 "Reformation"), Mojca Erdmann, Jörg Widmann, Irish Chamber Orchestra (Orfeo 2017)
  • 180 beats per minute, Fantasie (with Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 "Scottish", The Hebrides), Jörg Widmann, Irish Chamber Orchestra (Orfeo 2018)

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 Bruhn 2013, p. 9.
  2. ↑ Rudiger, Georg (13 October 2017). "Es war einmal..." Badische Zeitung (in German). Freiburg. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
  3. 1 2 Fein 2005, pp. 13–34.
  4. ↑ Adam, Johannes (4 November 2010). "Die erogenen Zonen der Musik". Badische Zeitung (in German). Freiburg. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  5. ↑ Jahrbuch der Hochschule für Musik Freiburg 2008/09 (PDF) (in German). Freiburg: Hochschule für Musik Freiburg. 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  6. ↑ Bruhn 2013, p. 7.
  7. ↑ "Faculty members". Barenboim–Said Akademie. 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
  8. ↑ Benda, Susanne (30 January 2016). "Immer wieder über Grenzen gehen". Stuttgarter Nachrichten (in German). Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  9. ↑ Bruhn 2013, pp. 15–16, 63–79.
  10. ↑ Bruhn 2013, p. 18.
  11. ↑ Nyffeler, Max (December 2009). "Und immer wieder das Streichquartett". neue musikzeitung (in German). Regensburg. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  12. ↑ Service, Tom (8 October 2012). "A guide to Jörg Widmann's music". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  13. ↑ Bruhn 2013, pp. 81–109.
  14. ↑ Liese, Kirsten (31 August 2009). "Das Wasser, der Regen, die Linde". Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). Frankfurt. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  15. ↑ Hagmann, Peter (8 September 2009). "Neue Musikalität und alter Kommerzialismus". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Zürich. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  16. ↑ Bruhn 2013, p. 19.
  17. ↑ Bradshaw, Peter (13 October 2010). "Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow – review". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  18. ↑ "Freitag 23. April 2010" (in German). Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik. 2010. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  19. 1 2 Dempf, Linda; Seraphinoff, Richard (18 April 2016). Guide to the Solo Horn Repertoire. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253019356.
  20. ↑ Hauff, Andreas (8 September 2010). "Ehrungen und Raritäten. Die Endphase beim Rheingau-Musik-Festival". nmz online (in German). neue musikzeitung. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  21. ↑ von Sternburg, Judith (20 August 2014). "Romantik-Session". Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). Frankfurt. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  22. ↑ Batschelet, Sarah (8 July 2016). "Without dissonance, no harmonies: Jörg Widmann and Mozart in Zurich". bachtrack.com. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  23. ↑ Spinola, Julia (16 September 2015). "Im Dialog mit Eusebius". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in German). Zürich. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  24. ↑ "The BSO Partnership with Leipzig's Gewandhausorchester". bso.org. Boston Symphony Orchestra. 9 September 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
  25. ↑ "Season 2017/2018: Inauguration of Andris Nelsons & 275th Anniversary of the Gewandhausorchester" (PDF). gewandhausorchester.de (Press release). 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  26. ↑ Koch, Juan Martin (14 January 2017). "Mehrheitsfähiges aus dem Schiffsbauch: Zur Uraufführung von Jörg Widmanns Oratorium "Arche" in der Elbphilharmonie". nmz online (in German). neue musikzeitung. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  27. ↑ Thiel, Markus (15 January 2017). "Stapellauf fürs Themenfrachtschiff". Münchner Merkur (in German). München. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  28. ↑ Spinola, Julia (15 January 2017). "Materialschlacht an der Elbe". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). München. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  29. ↑ Swed, Mark (5 March 2017). "New Gehry concert hall in Berlin thrills with its sound — and its symbolism". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  30. ↑ Stapel, Joep (28 January 2018). "Eerste Strijkkwartetbiënnale opent opwindend". NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). Amsterdam. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  31. ↑ Korfmacher, Peter (9 March 2018). "Widmanns Partita uraufgeführt". Leipziger Volkszeitung (in German). Leipzig. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  32. 1 2 3 4 Bruhn 2013, p. 10.
  33. 1 2 3 4 5 Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste, Jahrbuch 21 (in German). Wallstein Verlag. 2007. p. 245. ISBN 9783835302471.
  34. ↑ Balk 2007, p. 15.
  35. ↑ "Claudio Abbado Composition Prize". berliner-philharmoniker.de. Berlin. 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  36. ↑ "Jörg Widmann mit Stoeger Prize ausgezeichnet". neue musikzeitung (in German). Regensburg. 22 December 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  37. ↑ "musikpreis des heidelberger frühling". heidelberger-fruehling.de (in German). Heidelberg. 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  38. ↑ "Jörg Widmann erhält den Robert Schumann-Preis für Dichtung und Musik 2018". neue musikzeitung (in German). Regensburg. 21 September 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
  39. ↑ "Musik: Ordentliche Mitglieder". www.badsk.de. München: Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste. 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  40. ↑ "Prof. Jörg Widmann". Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur. Mainz. 2018. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  41. ↑ Jörg Widmann, List of Published Works. Mainz: Schott Music. September 2012. ISMN 979-0-001-18462-5.
  42. ↑ Fein 2005, pp. 6, 16f.
  43. ↑ Fein 2005, pp. 19, 23, 25, 92.
  44. 1 2 3 Woolfe, Zachary (15 April 2013). "On Clarinet, the Composer". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  45. ↑ Dierickx 2018, p. 102.
  46. ↑ Bruhn 2013, p. 83.
  47. ↑ Schleusener, Jan (20 July 1999). "Warten auf die erste Sinfonie". Die Welt (in German). Berlin. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  48. 1 2 3 Smith, Steve (6 May 2012). "Romantics Heated Up and Served". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  49. ↑ Besthorn 2014, pp. 81–86.
  50. ↑ Bruhn 2013, p. 87.
  51. ↑ Bruhn 2013, p. 90.
  52. ↑ Bruhn 2013, p. 96.
  53. ↑ Bruhn 2013, p. 99.
  54. ↑ Lemke-Matwey, Christine (14 July 2005). "In Gottes Ohr". Die Zeit (in German). Hamburg. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  55. ↑ Service, Tom (13 March 2009). "The musical double-agent". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  56. ↑ Theurich, Werner (18 May 2013). "Die Fidel im Fitness-Test". Der Spiegel (in German). Hamburg. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  57. ↑ Tommasini, Anthony (14 January 2011). "Beethoven's Varied Descendants". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved 18 August 2017.
  58. ↑ Hanssen, Frederik (20 December 2014). ""Trauermarsch" von Jörg Widmann - Neue Musik mit viel Gefühl". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Berlin. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  59. ↑ Braunmüller, Robert (2 March 2016). "Antoine Tamestit über das Viola-Konzert von Jörg Widmann". Abendzeitung (in German). München. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  60. ↑ Willson, Flora (5 January 2018). "Jörg Widmann: the musical anarchist who brings a hefty dose of sheer joy". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  61. ↑ Loomis, George (4 April 2017). "Uchida Points Up Composer's Other Gift: The Clarinet". Classical Voice America. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  62. ↑ Rodriguez, Pablo L. (26 April 2017). "Catábasis - El compositor Jörg Widmann muestra en su "Quinteto con clarinete" su lado más íntimo y melancólico". El Pais (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  63. ↑ Klabacher, Heidemarie (24 January 2018). "Gesang, Schweben, Liebe". DrehPunktKultur (in German). Salzburg. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  64. ↑ Klabacher, Heidemarie (2 February 2018). "Und dann öffnen sich die Wolken…". DrehPunktKultur (in German). Salzburg. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  65. ↑ Dixon, Gavin (31 January 2018). "Hagen Quartet, Jörg Widmann, Wigmore Hall review – proportion and elegance". The Arts Desk. London. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  66. ↑ Berry, Mark (2 February 2018). "Widmann and the Hagen Quartet Penetrate to the Heart of Mozart's Clarinet Quintet". seenandheard-international.com. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  67. ↑ "Ein Märchen für unsere Zeit". crescendo.de (in German). Munich: Crescendo. 11 October 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2018.

Bibliography

  • Balk, Georgine Maria-Magdalena (2007). Zwischen Tradition und Innovation - "Das Gesicht im Spiegel" von Jörg Widmann und Roland Schimmelpfennig (in German). München: GRIN Verlag. ISBN 978-3-638-72776-1.
  • Besthorn, Florian Henri (2014). "Geräusch- und Klangwelten bei Jörg Widmann: zwei Einblicke". Geräusch – das Andere der Musik: Untersuchungen an den Grenzen des Musikalischen (in German). Bielefeld: transcript Verlag. pp. 75–90. ISBN 978-3-8376-2868-5.
  • Besthorn, Florian Henri (1 March 2018). Echo, Spiegel, Labyrinth: Der musikalische Körper im Werk Jörg Widmanns (Klangfiguren) (in German). 1. Königshausen & Neumann. ISBN 978-3-8260-6299-5.
  • Bruhn, Siglind (2013). Die Musik von Jörg Widmann (in German). Waldkirch: Edition Gorz. ISBN 978-3-938095-16-4.
  • Dierickx, Zachary (2018). The Clarinet Works of Jörg Widmann: A Performance Guide to Fantasie for Clarinet Solo with a Survey of Unaccompanied Clarinet Repertoire and Guide to Contemporary Techniques (DMA). Ohio State University.
  • Fein, Markus (2005). Im Sog der Klänge - Gespräche mit dem Komponisten Jörg Widmann (in German). Mainz: Edition Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. ISBN 978-3-7957-0535-0.
  • Jungheinrich, Hans-Klaus, ed. (2013). Spuren - Der Komponist Jörg Widmann (in German). Mainz: Edition Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. ISBN 978-3-7957-0847-4.
  • Tadday, Ulrich, ed. (2014). Jörg Widmann, Musik-Konzepte 166 (in German). München: edition text+kritik. ISBN 978-3-86916-355-0.
  • Official website
  • Literature by and about Jörg Widmann in the German National Library catalogue
  • Jörg Widmann at Schott Music
  • "Jörg Widmann biography" (in French). IRCAM.
  • Harrison Parrott (agents)
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