Peter Eötvös, Hungarian Export

[snyprrr]

Which CD is that?  The DG recording uses countertenors.  It's superb, but I must say that I'd rather listen to females.  (I'm not big on countertenors.)

Aside from Three Sisters, I've only heard his Replica, which is very good.  He's a superb conductor, too, and recorded my favorite take on Bluebeard's Castle.

3 Sisters is on Erato.

[CRCulver]

3 Sisters is on Erato.

It's on Deutsche Grammophon, a recording in the label's "20/21" series.

[Brian]

Ah, since we've revived this thread I've got a chance to do a bit of reviving of my own. Here's a blog post I wrote in January...

The London Philharmonic Orchestra program last night opened with a UK premiere, "Shadows" by Peter Eötvös. It's sort of a mini concerto for flute, clarinet, a percussionist with snare drum and suspended cymbal, and orchestra. It also calls for a bizarre orchestral layout in which some of the forces sit with their backs to the audience. Here's a diagram:



I couldn't figure out why the orchestra was asked to sit like this based on the music itself: to muffle the brass? To divide the strings really dramatically? Aside from placing the solo instruments literally in the center of the ring, there seemed to be no particular aural advantage to this. Since the performance was recorded for a CD, perhaps the CD experience will explain Eötvös' decision.

As for the music itself: it fairly clearly was originally a chamber piece; the best movement was scored for flute and clarinet alone. At other points the orchestra interjected Scary Music chords, reminiscent of Jaws or film noir, and there were some interesting coloristic effects – neat sounds being produced by the ensemble as a whole or individual soloists. Still and all, I'm not entirely sure I could deduce from listening why Eötvös actually wrote the piece. My cynical guess is he had a nice chamber duet sitting around and fulfilled a commission by arranging it up (N.B. looking at his website, this guess is wrong; it was originally for the soloists plus a small wind ensemble and handful of strings). It achieved interesting colors and sounds but didn't develop any sort of argument or even conversation.

Possibly this says as much about the listener as the listened.

[karlhenning]

Extracted for Henningmusick-related emphasis:

. . . the best movement was scored for flute and clarinet alone . . . .

[snyprrr]

It's on Deutsche Grammophon, a recording in the label's "20/21" series.

It must be the same performance repackaged. I do remember seeing it on Ebay (so, you know, it true! ). I am aware of the DG, so I must've subconsciously assumed. But, there is an Erato cd, a very early one, with the timing on the booklet cover if I remember correctly, and a very 'white' cover, I believe. Licensing,... ahhh.

[klingsor]

Here are two more Eötvös works, live recordings from BBC Total Immersion:

Levitation: https://rapidshare.com/files/3206307353/E__tv__s_-_Levitation_-_Hosford_Bradbury_BBC_Sym__E__tv__s___May_2011_.flac

Zero Points: https://rapidshare.com/files/3217989227/E__tv__s_-_Zero_Points_-_BBC_Sym__E__tv__s___May_2011_.flac

[Octave]

Re: the Eotvos THREE SISTERS opera:

It's on Deutsche Grammophon, a recording in the label's "20/21" series.

I owned the 20-21 recording and had it basically stolen from me by an ungrateful borrower: will I never learn?
I see that there is a 2012 edition from Budapest Music Center, a licensed reissue of the DG.  Does anyone know about this BMC edition, i.e. does it come with libretto in some form?  The cover is pretty ugly, but the DG is only affordably available as a burn-to-order CDR from Arkiv.  Here's a link to the BMC reissue:

[asin]B007BJOM3Y[/asin]

The web page for the BMC edition has a messy libretto in romanized (?) Russian, plus liner notes:
http://www.bmcrecords.hu/pages/tartalom/index_en.php?kod=190

[vers la flamme]

I'm now hearing Replica for Viola & Orchestra (on ECM, w/ Kim Kashkashian) for the first time and really enjoying it a lot. Kind of in that Dutilleuxish/Lutoslawski-ish vein for me, a slice of contemporary music that I enjoy a good bit. Where to next with Eötvös...?

[Maestro267]

I'm a big fan of his Multiversum, for pipe organ, Hammond organ and orchestra.

[ritter]

I first got to know Eötvös's music through his opera Three Sisters (on Chekhov), recorded by DG after the premiere in Lyon in the mid-90s, and then reissued by BMG. One of the great operas of the late 20th century, IMHO.

[asin]B007BJOM3Y[/asin]

About 5 years ago, I saw Eötvös conduct the Plural Ensemble here in Madrid in his Steine (for chamber ensemble) and his Sonata per sei (a sort of Bartók Sonata for two pianos and percussion gone berserk), and both were quite appealing (the program started with Stockhausen's Kontra-Punkte and Boulez's Improvisations sur Mallarmé 1 & 2, and it was an extraordinary concert).

[asin]B00004T74U[/asin]
[asin]B00HV3W4OO[/asin]

There's plenty more Eötvös in my collection, but these are the pieces that come to mind now. I regard him as a great all-round musician, not only as a composer--he maintains a link with the apostles of high modernism of the 50s and 60s, but has a very personal voice--, but also as a conductor (his recordings of e.g. Stravinsky's Les noces and Berio's Sinfonia, are of the highest quality).

[vers la flamme]

I first got to know Eötvös's music through his opera Three Sisters (on Chekhov), recorded by DG after the premiere in Lyon in the mid-90s, and then reissued by BMG. One of the great operas of the late 20th century, IMHO.

[asin]B007BJOM3Y[/asin]

About 5 years ago, I saw Eötvös conduct the Plural Ensemble here in Madrid in his Steine (for chamber ensemble) and his Sonata per sei (a sort of Bartók Sonata for two pianos and percussion gone berserk), and both were quite appealing (the program started with Stockhausen's Kontra-Punkte and Boulez's Improvisations sur Mallarmé 1 & 2, and it was an extraordinary concert).

[asin]B00004T74U[/asin]
[asin]B00HV3W4OO[/asin]

There's plenty more Eötvös in my collection, but these are the pieces that come to mind now. I regard him as a great all-round musician, not only as a composer--he maintains a link with the apostles of high modernism of the 50s and 60s, but has a very personal voice--, but also as a conductor (his recordings of e.g. Stravinsky's Les noces and Berio's Sinfonia, are of the highest quality).

Thank you for your thoughtful feedback. I think I will seek out that Kairos disc and perhaps also the Wergo, which seems pricey, but I'll check it out first and see what I think. I too find him interesting as a conductor, seeing him as somewhat in the same vein as Pierre Boulez and Matthias Pintscher. I've been meaning to check out his Rite of Spring; I've heard it's really good. I have a disc of him conducting Stockhausen and another of him conducting Kurtág's song cycles and ...quasi una fantasia...—a really good disc.

[brewski]

Coming on January 19, the world premiere of Valuska, commissioned by the Hungarian State Opera, and apparently Eötvös' first opera written in Hungarian. The stream will be available for six months.

PS, the composer celebrated his 80th birthday on Jan. 2.

https://operavision.eu/performance/valuska

-Bruce

[pjme]

"In three  movements -fast-slow-fast-, this concerto would fit into the most classical pattern,.....
"Allegro e felice," says Péter Eötvös at the head of the first movement. Could this be joy inspired by its interpreter Xavier de Maistre? "Xavier is sporty and knows how to dance, that's one aspect of the portrait I made of him," confides Péter Eötvös, before specifying: "I find most of the existing concertos very well written for harp, but they don't venture hardly in the modernities of recent decades. This is why I tried to nourish the harp writing with more current elements, and to associate it with a small orchestra. »....."

Extrait du concert enregistré le 18 janvier 2024 à l'Auditorium de la Maison de la Radio et de la Musique.

Eötvös light, I'd say. A bit spooky and full of "farfadets, incubes, lutins, faunes, diablotins, chèvre-pieds, gnomes, démons, loups-garous, elfes, et des myrmidons,...." (Ravel/Ronde).
I will listen again!
Peter

[brewski]

And another sad loss for the music world: Peter Eötvös has died, apparently after a long illness. Haven't found details yet, but there's this on the Harrison Parrott website:

https://www.harrisonparrott.com/artists/peter-eotvos-1944-2024

-Bruce

[ritter]

Another sad loss indeed! I very much admire him as a composer and conductor.

I had the chance to exchange some words with him here in Madrid after a conference he held, and he inscribed a copy of the CD edition (from Glyndebourne) of his opera Of Love and Other Demons (based on García Márquez) to me.

The following evening he conducted a superb programme, consisting of Stockhausen's Kontra-Punkte, Boulez's Improvisation sur Mallarmé I & II, and his own Steine and Sonata per sei. It was quite clear how Eötvös was intimately connected with the great masters of the post-WWII avant-garde, whose successor and arguably last living representative he was.

R.I.P. Péter Eötvös .

[brewski]

Another sad loss indeed! I very much admire him as a composer and conductor.

I had the chance to exchange some words with him here in Madrid after a conference he held, and he inscribed a copy of the CD edition (from Glyndebourne) of his opera Of Love and Other Demons (based on García Márquez) to me.

The following evening he conducted a superb programme, consisting of Stockhausen's Kontra-Punkte, Boulez's Improvisation sur Mallarmé I & II, and his own Steine and Sonata per sei. It was quite clear how Eötvös was intimately connected with the great masters of the post-WWII avant-garde, whose successor and arguably last living representative he was.

R.I.P. Péter Eötvös .

What a beautiful snapshot! And to have both the signature and that concert immediately after.

My most recent encounter with his music was in 2015, when the New York Philharmonic did Senza Sangue. (Link to the NYT review is free.) I wish they had paired it with Bluebeard's Castle, but never mind.

-Bruce

[Pohjolas Daughter]

And another sad loss for the music world: Peter Eötvös has died, apparently after a long illness. Haven't found details yet, but there's this on the Harrison Parrott website:

https://www.harrisonparrott.com/artists/peter-eotvos-1944-2024

-Bruce

Sorry to hear that.  Ironically, I've just been getting to know a tiny bit of it. 

PD

[T. D.]

RIP. Sad loss as both composer and conductor.

[relm1]

That is sad, a very gifted composer.  RIP. 

[Herman]

Eighty years is a lot, and yet it's a loss.

Eötvös started as a Wunderkind, being able to read music before he could read the alphabet. Often he regarded himself as a Transsylvanian composer, rather than Hungarian. It's hard not to think a whole Central European cultural world is coming top a close with Eötvös's death.