On June 16, 2015 Vladimir Jurowski – one of the most renowned and interesting conductors of his generation – and Vladimir Spivakov (violin) performed Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s “Concerto funebre” with the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia “Evgeny Svetlanov” at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow.
The deserving Dutch label Challenge Classics has ensured that the Hartmann discography has been enriched by some significant contributions.
A new complete recording of Hartmann’s eight symphonies with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic was released in early 2014. These are live recordings under the direction of conductors Ingo Metzmacher, Christoph Poppen, Michael Schönwandt, Markus Stenz, Osmo Vänskä and James Gaffigan – on three SACDs. The FONO FORUM spoke of a “new reference” in view of the consistently outstanding artistic and tonal quality of the recordings.
A new recording of Hartmann’s opera “Simplicius Simplicissimus” (in the revised version of 1957) was also made with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. The title role is sung by Juliane Banse, Markus Stenz stands at the podium of the orchestra. This recording is based on a live performance on November 24, 2012 at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam.
Finally, violinist Linus Roth presents his interpretation of the “Concerto funebre” on Challenge Classics – coupled with works by Mieczyslaw Weinberg as well as the first recording of an unfinished violin sonata by Dmitri Shostakovich.
Andreas H. Baumgartner with the outgoing Management Board members Bernhard Pfau, Kurt Scharl and Dr. Raphael Woebs (from left to right) on December 12, 2014.
PRESS RELEASE (originally in German)
Munich (February 6, 2015)
The General Assembly of the Karl-Amadeus-Hartmann-Gesellschaft e. V. elected a new Board of Directors on December 16, 2014. Under the chairmanship of the confirmed managing director Andreas Hérm Baumgartner (conductor, artistic director), the conductor Christoph Poppen was elected president. Appointed to the board were the musicologist Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Rathert (LMU-Munich) as deputy managing director, the lawyer Andreas Ammersbach as treasurer and the musicologist Thomas Schulz as secretary/media director.
The members of the Karl Amadeus Hartmann Society include not only music lovers and scholars, but above all personalities from national and international cultural life, including Helmut Lachenmann, Wolfgang Rihm, Jörg Widmann, Udo Zimmermann, Friedrich Cerha, Fabio Luisi, Ingo Metzmacher, Marek Janowski, Kurt Masur, Thomas Zehetmair, Ingolf Turban, Siegfried Mauser and Reinhold Kreile.
Contact:
Karl-Amadeus-Hartmann-Gesellschaft e.V.
Franz-Joseph-Straße 20
D-80801 Munich
Tel.: +49 (0)89 34 79 67
Fax: +49 (0) 3212 1357 315
E-mail: info@hartmann-gesellschaft.de
Agenda:
Ordinary General Meeting 2011
On December 9, 2011, 4:30 p.m.
The Managment Board reserves the right to make any changes or additions.
Andreas Hérm Baumgartner
Managing Director of the Karl Amadeus Hartmann Society
We have succeeded in winning Minister of State Dr. Wolfgang Heubisch as patron of the Karl Amadeus Hartmann Year 2013!
We would also like to express our sincere thanks through this medium. This is a very important signal from the Free State of Bavaria, which also expresses the importance of the composer in Bavaria.
With the support of the State Ministry of Science, Research and Art, the Karl Amadeus Hartmann-Gesellschaft e.V. tries to initiate and coordinate a wide variety of events, concerts, exhibitions etc. Furthermore, for the first time, scientific papers on specific themes from Hartmann’s work are to be awarded.
2013 marks the 50th anniversary of Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s death and the music world will pay tribute to this grand composer.
The Bavarian State Ministry for Science, Research and Art has therefore decided to proclaim a “Karl Amadeus Hartmann Year 2013”.
Minister of State Dr. Wolfgang Heubisch will assume the patronage.
The Karl-Amadeus-Hartmann-Gesellschaft e.V. acts as initiator, intermediary, source of inspiration and organizer.
The artistic director of the festival is the conductor Andreas Hérm Baumgartner.
From: Merkur (October 27, 2010)
Source (originally in German): http://www.merkur-online.de/lokales/murnau/weltmusikfestival-grenzenlos-herausragende-leistung-fast-leeren-saal-973150.html
Murnau – freedom as conscious attention to the fate of individual people. This is the ambitious theme of the world music festival Grenzenlos 2010. It started with a special concert. (© AUTO_MUR)
Two professionals who understand each other: Conductor Andreas Hérm Baumgartner and first violinist Jeany Park of the Bavarian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. Few have heard the moving performance of the works of the anti-fascist composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann. Photo: kolb
In his speech at the opening of the festival, Michael Rapp, Mayor of Murnau, made it clear that freedom only comes into consciousness through the personal experience of the opposite: being locked in. The critical impulses of the comprehensive topic of “boundlessly free” required a high degree of tolerance, which the Murnau Cultural Association, namely the chairmen Thomas Köthe and Konstantin Zeitler, would take up in an exemplary manner.
But disappointment prevailed on the first evening of the festival, which lasts until tomorrow’s Sunday: the chamber orchestra of the Bavarian Symphony Orchestra played in front of an almost empty hall. Almost 60 listeners do not do justice to the anti-fascist composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann. The concert was a moving homage to the Munich composer whose work, buried in the parish garden of the Christuskirche (we reported), survived the Nazi regime.
The chamber orchestra had an excellent leader in Andreas Hérm Baumgartner. The conductor preceded Hartmann’s 4th Symphony with a specially written orchestral version of Franz Schubert’s string quartet “Der Tod und das Mädchen”. With this variety of violins, the inner drama of the late work came to the fore even more clearly. Baumgartner focused on the colouring and description of sound forms. In the large version for orchestra, the death motif of sound repetition showed a similarity to the idea in Ludwig van Beethoven’s 7th Symphony. Through the superimposition of the string parts, the unconditional nearness of death spread almost palpably throughout the hall. If one adds the oppressive stage design by Christian Schied and Bernd Weber to the description – a section of bars over which blurred, faded rows of numbers ghost – then the transition to Hartmann’s work is perfect.
“The Inner Emigrant” is the name of a concert and exhibition (we reported) on the life and work of Karl Amadeus Hartmann. This highly committed, impressive and moving performance with music made clear what life in the Third Reich had actually meant.
A current overview of the performances of works by Karl Amadeus Hartmann can be obtained from Schott Music.
Enclosed you will find two reviews of two performances (Murnau on October 21, 2010 & Wasserburg on October 23, 2010) of Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s 4th Symphony (and Schubert’s “Der Tod und das Mädchen”) by the Chamber Orchestra of the Bavarian Philharmonic conducted by Andreas Hérm Baumgartner.
A Karl Amadeus Hartmann exhibition was also held in Murnau (October 18 to 24, 2010).