Mahnkopf Straße

Started by Mandryka, May 23, 2020, 03:09:31 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Mandryka

Can I kick this off by asking if anyone can let me have a scan of the booklet for this extraordinary CD, if it contains anything interesting (I like psycho-metaphysical spiritual poetic babble the most.)




Hommage à Kurtag gives the impression of being complicated music, with lots of space, lots of air, lots of opportunity for the gestures to breath, and I like that. I have a feeling that this is music to revisit many times. It feels rich and strange, a challenge and a joy to grasp, like op 131 or Ferneyhough 6.

Mahnkopf's is an original voice as far as know. Yes there may be  intimations of Barraqué - but only slightly (the silences of the sonata, the textures of the concerto.)  Maybe the guitar writing owes something to Ferneyhough - but maybe not.

But I can say this much, if you have the taste for Barraqué and Ferneyhough, this is worth hearing.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

#1
I have now seen the booklet for the above CD and have learned that Hommage a Kurtag is inspired by Kurtag's  Grabstein für Stephan, which I just heard for the first time in a performance with Abbado at the helm.

What to say. The Kurtag is wonderful and so is the Mahnkopf . . . and the debt that Mahnkopf owes to Kurtag is really palpable. I don't know whether that detracts from his achievement . . . That being said the Kurtag lasts for less than 10 minutes and the Mahnkopf lasts for more than an hour . .  . 

It also turns out that Mahkopf's Kurtag cycle is bigger than the music on the CD, it includes

Hommage a Gydrgy Kurtag for guitar and ensemble
Kurtag-Duo for 2 guitars
Todesmusik I for 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, cimbalom and percussion 
Todesmusik II for 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, cimbalom and 2 percussionists
Hommage a Mark Andre for cimbalom
Kurtag-Cantus I—IV for clarinet in A; piccolo; violin; horn


I'm not sure if all of these pieces are available to hear, Kurtag Cantus II is available here at least

https://www.youtube.com/v/TCU6qM28A6g
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

https://www.youtube.com/v/6b1sGz96f50


Intimations of Nono in parts I think, but there's some distinctive music nonetheless I think, void—un delitto italiano—Un epitaffio.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

#4
https://www.youtube.com/v/gk0ILSoEHI4

This is very strange to hear at home. Gun shot. Music made of explosions and metal noises. But there's a lot of it. It's not really suitable for home listening I think

QuoteUpon my first visit to the Jewish Museum in Berlin I noticed a specific acoustic, especially
in the "Holocaust Tower". In December 2002 I visited the museum to record sounds there and
in one of the "Voids", where Menashe Kadishman's installation Fallen Leaves was located.
I subsequently worked with these recordings at the Experimentalstudio des SWR in Freiburg,
resulting in the spatial composition void-ma/ d'archive. Except for a few oboe notes, the work
is a fonn of musique concrete. It is for 8 loudspeakers, and develops a spatial landscape in which
these sounds are used to tell a story whose concretion each listener must conceive for themselves.
mat d'archive is the title of a book by Jacques Derrida; in this context, it refers to something being
inscribed in a gap in the memory.

This helps to make sense of it

https://www.youtube.com/v/7PsNk2ZdAu0&ab_channel=LifeWithLee
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

#5


I'm listening to Volumes 1 and 2 of the above CD. It is gorgeous with a voice which is, while clearly indebted to Ferneyhough and Hubler, is nevertheless distinctive and lyrical. Strapped to the seat! Will move to  3 later.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

mabuse

I would have to listen to this Hommage à Daniel Libeskind again ... I remember being quite disappointed.
I had much preferred Hommage à György Kurtág.
...

I really like Mahnkopf but exploring his work is still a bit arduous to me...  :-\

Now I'm listening to the last released album :



Mandryka

I think you can hear the influence of Ferneyhough, though I'm not sure I could put into words what it is exactly. I'm very much enjoying Ferneyhough at the moment, by the way, and that openness I've developed for his music has maybe helped me appreciate Mahnkopf more.

Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen

Mandryka

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-V7tJuheAs&ab_channel=KlangForumHeidelberg

Astonomica -- it has been released on a new CD which I haven't heard. Sounds like the sort of thing where you have to understand German: I'll pass.
Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen