KARL AMADEUS HARTMANN – CENTER

Composed immediately after the National Socialists seized power in 1933, Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s first String quartet stands exemplarily for the canon of compositions with which he composed against National Socialism. At the age of 28, he rigorously refused any form of appropriation and went into internal emigration in Germany. He smuggled his works abroad, however, in order to speak there all the more eloquently. By constantly including Jewish melodies (especially the Passover song Eliyahu hanavi) as well as music and text quotations of ostracized and forbidden artists, Hartmann tried to convey his message of boundless humanity in all his compositions.
Furthermore, our ensemble hartmann21 is dedicated to compositions by the young Dresden composer Jadwiga Frej (UA) and the renowned composer Mark Andre. Twenty-one years old Jadwiga Frej, who was born in Poland and grew up and lives in Dresden, must already be counted among the most exciting voices of her generation. The composer Mark Andre, born in Paris in 1964, creates existential spaces of experience in his music, which are characterized by subtle processes of change. The Hamburger Abendblatt called his chamber music, which is as fine as it is concentrated, „Kartenhäuser des Klangs, die kein Wind umzublasen vermag“ [“houses of cards of sound that no wind can blow around”]. …zu…, whose title refers to the Revelation of John from Patmos (22,5), ist joined by Andre’s iv8. “iv” is the abbreviation for i(ntro)v(ertiertheit). It is about inner compositional spaces that are developed by focusing on fluctuating and fragile sound form.
Where are the limits of perception, of notation, of sound experience? We would like to explore these questions together with the composers Jadwiga Frej and Mark Andre.

An event of the © Karl Amadeus Hartmann-Gesellschaft e. V., sponsored by Bayerische Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Kulturreferat der Landeshauptstadt München, LfA Förderbank Bayern and Bezirk Oberbayern.

With Helmut Lachenmann and Peter Eötvös, we can welcome two of the most incisive composers who have cruciallly shapened the music history of the 20th and 21st century. Lachenmann set very individual impulses, especially through systematic exploration of the instruments and innovative expansion of their playing techniques. In this way, the way music is created is included as well as, for example, timbre and volume. “TemA” – created in 1968 – is probably one of the first compositions in which breathing as an acoustically mediated, energetic process was a central theme. Entirely in the spirit of Karl Amadeus Hartmann, music here claims a socio-critical potential: „Schönheit als verweigerte Gewohnheit.“ [“Beauty as a denied habit”] (Helmut Lachenmann)
In his works “Psy” for flute, violoncello and piano and “Two poems to Polly” (text by Lady Sarashina from the 11th century) for a “speaking cellist”, Peter Eötvös also explores the field of tension between sound and language. His music has a language-analogue structure and draws from a rich fund of colours and moods. It is a special pleasure to meet Peter Eötvös – one of the most renowned conductors and pianists – also as interpreter of his own compositions “Erdenklavier – Himmelklavier” and “Un taxi l’attend, mais Tchékhov préfère aller à pied”.
With our new own ensemble hartmann21, we continue to feel committed to Hartmann’s intention to promote young, highly talented composers and performers. In this singularly composed programme we would like to introduce the Hungarian Máté Balogh and the Munich-based Swede Henrik Ajax, who in their newly created works refer to the two “light figures” of contemporary music, Lachenmann and Eötvös, trace content-related references and reflect and condense the theme of “music and language” in their respective individual ways.

An event of the © Karl Amadeus Hartmann-Gesellschaft e. V., sponsored by Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Kulturreferat der Landeshauptstadt München, LfA Förderbank Bayern and Bezirk Oberbayern.

SZ (February 2, 2018): “The Karl Amadeus Hartmann Society allows itself a new ensemble of its own. The critical spirit of the eponym is thus to be brought into the present.”

We feel particularly committed to the intention of Karl Amadeus Hartmann to promote young, highly talented composers and performers and to introduce them to the humanistic and socio-political dimensions of his works. Within the framework of our series of events hartmann21 – with its soloist concerts and the format “Podium of Young Composers” – this request was taken into account in the past two seasons. Now we would like to build on this, but also break new ground and present to you for the first time our newly founded ensemble, the ensemble hartmann21.
In order to intensify the promotion of young national and international composers and to achieve a higher density of content, we have also developed a new concept for our concert series. An essential part of this is the collaboration with outstanding composers and performers, such as Peter Eötvös and Helmut Lachenmann (concert in June 2018) or Mark André (concert October 2018). Their extensive experience and international networking should benefit our musicians and composers and carry their quality perspectively to the “outside world”.
Under the title “Vexierbilder” we are pleased to present you in our premiere concert compositions by Jörg Widmann, Michael Jarrell and Toru Takemitsu as well as world premieres by Diana Syrse, Sebastian Schwab, Jan Masanetz, Tom Smith and Hans-Henning Ginzel. From solo, duo to trio instrumentation, the ensemble hartmann21 will carry you off into a play of light and shadow.

An event of the © Karl Amadeus Hartmann-Gesellschaft e. V., sponsored by Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Kulturreferat der Landeshauptstadt München, LfA Förderbank Bayern and Bezirk Oberbayern.

Following the intention of Karl Amadeus Hartmann, the “Podium junger Komponisten“ [“Podium of Young Composers”] is a platform that enables selected young composers to create a programme for an entire evening and to compose temporally comprehensive works for it. Following in the footsteps of the great contemporary diagnostician Karl Amadeus Hartmann, works are created especially for this concert that consciously seek an artistic examination of today’s “realities of life”. The portrait concert focuses on works by the Armenian Arsen Babajanyan and the Georgian Ovanes Ambartsumian. Both understand literature as a source of inspiration for their works. Thus verses of love and the harsh realities of Armenian poet Hovhannes Tumanyan’s life are directly set to music for voice, while William Shakespeare’s 30th sonnet serves exclusively as the intellectual foundation for a purely instrumental composition.

An event of the © Karl Amadeus Hartmann-Gesellschaft e. V. in cooperation with the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, sponsored by Kulturreferat der Landeshauptstadt München, Anja Fichte Stiftung, Theodor-Rogler-Stiftung and LfA Förderbank Bayern.

With the violinist Thomas Zehetmair, one of the most outstanding and exciting musicians encounters Hartmann’s work, exposes himself to it, reflects, traces references and, as an interpreter, lets the listener participate in his individual world of experience. In a singularly composed programme, Zehetmair, together with violist Ruth Killius, creates a kaleidoscope of different perspectives and modes of perception and in this way allows one to experience Hartmann’s musically progressive Second sonata for violin solo in a new way, which is radically border-crossing in its tonal language. After Bach and Reger, it was probably only Hartmann who succeeded in giving the violin such an unusually complex polyphony.
The theme of the artistic sublimation of human borderline experiences brackets together the concerts of the 2017 season. In the Sonata for solo viola from 1955 Bernd Alois Zimmermann dealt with the death of his daughter in the same year. In reference to Alban Berg’s violin concerto, he dedicated the work: „… an den Gesang eines Engels“ [“… to the song of an angel”]. The final section of the composition quotes the chorale “Gelobet seist Du Jesu Christ” [“Praise be to You, Jesus Christ”]. Zimmermann described the piece accordingly as a chorale prelude. In this sense, the preceding sections can be understood as a gradual crystallization and condensation of the chorale theme that emerges in its pure form towards the end of the work.
In Bohuslav Martinus’ “Three Madrigals” and Gideon Klein’s “Duo im Vierteltonsystem”, violin and viola now meet and relate to each other in a variety of ways – sometimes as equal partners, sometimes as the upper and lower sides of a page, or as an object and its shadow. Within the Three Madrigals, composed in 1947 in American exile, a playful humour is at work. Alongside and in the middle of the game, however, a deep sadness is also felt, recalling songs and dances from the past. What can no longer be sung and danced, can still be played. Gideon Klein finally composed his “Duo im Vierteltonsystem” in 1940 during his studies in Prague with Alois Hába, the founder of micro-interval composition and long-time companion of Karl Amadeus Hartmann.

An event of the © Karl Amadeus Hartmann-Gesellschaft e. V., sponsored by Staatsministerium für Bildung und Kultus, Wissenschaft und Kunst and Stiftung Künstlerische Musikpflege.

#Listen#Out will cooperate from 2018 on with the big and over Munich well known concert series hartmann21!

The event concept consisting of a concert, lecture and exhibition with Alexander Lonquich, which is dedicated to the subject of “Grenzgänge”, would like to invite the audience to experience border crossings of a special kind: both Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s piano sonata “27. April 1945” and Robert Schumann’s eighteen-part cycle “Davidsbündlertänze” each deal with human border experiences. Composed in the last days of the war before the final collapse of the “Third Reich”, Hartmann’s Piano sonata concludes the canon of compositions with which he tirelessly opposed and worked on National Socialism since 1927. Although Karl Amadeus Hartmann was regarded as the rising star in the composer’s heaven at the beginning of the 1930s, he rigorously refused to be appropriated by the totalitarian regime and went into internal emigration, while as a composer he sought to speak abroad all the more eloquently. He is therefore perceived in the world as the German antifascist composer par excellence, who was not only actively involved in resistance circles, but also took a loud and generally understandable stand with his music. In all his compositions written during the years of National Socialism, Hartmann attempted to convey his message of boundless humanity independent of political systems to the outside world by constantly including Jewish melodies, which became the ciphers of lamentation and accusation, as well as music and text quotations of ostracized and forbidden artists. The Jewish Passover song Eliyahu Hanavi, which he used in all his works and which became a cipher for Jewish culture for him, plays a central role here.
In the sonata “27. April 1945”, the melody once again gains special relevance. It is precisely in the knowledge of the significance of the theme in the genesis of this work that it becomes clear what this sonata is about: the population of Jewish origin almost exterminated by the Holocaust, but also the dissidents and opponents of the regime whom Hartmann saw passing by on 27 April 1945 in the death march of concentration camp prisoners from Dachau. The concert is facetted by graphics by the Austrian sculptor Alfred Hrdlicka, whose work obeys the credo “Aufdeckung statt Flucht“ [“Disclosure instead of flight”], seeks the wound in the everyday and – like Hartmann and Schumann – appeals to the viewer’s capacity for empathy.
The Kafkaesque “Trois Études blanches” by Wilhelm Killmayer, who celebrates his 90th birthday this year, complete the programme.

An event of the © Karl Amadeus Hartmann-Gesellschaft e. V., sponsored by Staatsministerium für Bildung und Kultus, Wissenschaft und Kunst and Stiftung Künstlerische Musikpflege.

In keeping with Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s intention, the “Podium of Young Composers” provides a platform that enables selected young composers to arrange an entire evening programmatically and to compose temporally comprehensive works for it. Following in the footsteps of the great time diagnostician Karl Amadeus Hartmann, works are created especially for this concert that consciously seek an artistic examination of today’s “realities of life”.
In Lieder in der Fremde, the human voice is now for the first time at the centre. The Jewish Passover song Eliyahu Hanavi will play a special role here. In all his compositions between 1933 and 1945, Hartmann attempted to convey his message of boundless humanity, independent of political systems, to the outside world by constantly incorporating this Jewish melody, which had become the cipher of lamentation and accusation.
The composers of the evening, who come from the most diverse continents, pick up where they left off, both musically and in terms of content, and in this way shape their own songs abroad. An in-depth discussion of the composers with Olena Garmash and the artistic director of the concert series Andreas Hérm Baumgartner (conductor) will round off the evening.

An event of the © Karl Amadeus Hartmann-Gesellschaft e. V. in cooperation with the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, sponsored by Kulturreferat der Landeshauptstadt München, Anja Fichte Stiftung, Theodor-Rogler-Stiftung and LfA Förderbank Bayern.

We feel particularly committed to the mission and intention of Karl Amadeus Hartmann to promote young, highly talented composers and performers and to introduce them to the humanistic and socio-political dimensions of his works. Within the framework of our new series of events, hartmann21, this request is now to be taken into account. In 2016/2017, renowned instrumentalists and composers such as Thomas Zehetmair (violin), Ruth Killius (viola), Francesco Dillon (violoncello), Alexander Lonquich (piano), Emanuele Torquati (piano) as well as Thomas Larcher (composer) will deal with Hartmann’s work in singularly “composed” programmes.
Following the intention of Karl Amadeus Hartmann, the “Podium of Young Composers” is a new platform that enables two selected young composers to create a programmatic programme for an entire evening and to compose temporally comprehensive works for it. The second portrait concert focuses on the South Korean composer Hankyeol Yoon and Jakob Stillmark, a native from Feldafingen. Following in the footsteps of the great time diagnostician Karl Amadeus Hartmann and referring thematically to the other events of the KAHG, works will be created especially for this concert, which consciously seek an artistic examination of today’s “realities of life”. In his works, Stillmark addresses inner restlessness as a symptom of our stimulus-flooded world, whereas Yoon gets to the bottom of the linguistic quality and linguistic ability of music. An in-depth conversation between the two composers and the artistic director of the concert series Andreas Hérm Baumgartner and Olena Garmash will round off the evening.

An event of the © Karl Amadeus Hartmann-Gesellschaft e. V. in cooperation with the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, sponsored by Anja Fichte Stiftung, Theodor-Rogler-Stiftung und LfA Förderbank Bayern.

With the Austrian Thomas Larcher, „einer der prägnantesten kompositorischen Persönlichkeiten der Musikszene“ [“one of the most incisive compositional personalities of the music scene”](NMZ) encounters Hartmann’s work, exposes himself to it, reflects, traces references and lets the listener participate in his individual world of experience. In a singularly composed program, Larcher and his instrumental soloists Francesco Dillon (cello) and Emanuele Torquati (piano) create a kaleidoscope of different perspectives and modes of perception, allowing one to experience Hartmann’s early piano pieces anew.
Thomas Larcher, born in 1963, grew up in Tyrol and studied composition and piano in Vienna. Already during his studies he became known as a pianist in the field of classical and contemporary music. He played with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez and Franz Welser-Möst and worked closely with composers such as Heinz Holliger, Olga Neuwirth and Isabel Mundry. Larcher is considered one of the most important and at the same time most interesting voices among contemporary composers. In his works, Larcher shows himself to be a border crosser of styles, who consciously walks alongside the orthodox paths of the so-called avant-garde. What they have in common is a rich musical texture, which creates a variety and variability of sound language.
Emanuele Torquati is regarded as one of the leading pianists, who is admired worldwide for his poetic and passionate music-making. The New York Times referred to him as „a thoughtful musician and a champion of contemporary music.“ He is assisted by Francesco Dillon, an outstanding cellist whose repertoire and style of interpretation are characterized by a high degree of openness, intensity and originality. He is equally at home as a soloist in the world’s great concert halls and as a guest of the most important international orchestras.

An event of the © Karl Amadeus Hartmann-Gesellschaft e. V., sponsored by Stiftung Bayerischer Musikfonds, Stiftung Künstlerische Musikpflege and LfA Förderbank Bayern.