GMG Classical Music Forum

The Music Room => Composer Discussion => Topic started by: Rinaldo on May 05, 2014, 09:40:32 AM

Title: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: Rinaldo on May 05, 2014, 09:40:32 AM
Wilkommen! Let me begin by stating the objective truth: this is f*cking amazing!!!

https://www.youtube.com/v/BoqvGLdjUhE

Reminds me of Grisey at certain points, when the orchestra 'shines' through, but boy what texture, what power!

Here's some additional reading if you're not satisfied with my scientific findings:

The twelfth-tone interval is so small that it is no longer heard as an interval, but rather as the shading of a single note. A single tone played by a romantic orchestra has a wider frequency.  The aural effect of a scale in twelfth-tone intervals is thus similar to a glissando. The effect of a cluster of twelfth-tones depends on the register: higher up, it is sharp, abrasive, biting, lower down it is soft, melting, rich. Of course it is also possible to build raw, dissonant chords with twelve-tone intervals – much more differentiated (also in the degree of acuteness) than with the traditional 12 tones per octave. But it is also possible to build much more "consonant" chords then in the traditional twelve-note scale: a close approximation of the twelve-tone scale can be produced in the overtone scale, accurate up to a twelfth of a tone. (http://www.universaledition.com/limited-approximations-for-6-micro-tonally-tuned-pianos-orchestra-Georg-Friedrich-Haas/composers-and-works/composer/278/work/13386)

Any Haas fans out there? After in vain and now this, I'm becoming one.
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: San Antone on May 05, 2014, 10:02:19 AM
Yep - G.F. Haas is one of the best (IMO) of this generation.  Here's a YouTube playlist with 20 videos of his music:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7gMMkgoMwZLB96KedyKC4MNeDrBB3Ian

Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: CRCulver on May 05, 2014, 02:49:01 PM
Funny, I've been listening to precisely Limited Approximations myself lately and was thinking to come on here and urge everyone to track down the Neos box set (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006B5X3KC?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B006B5X3KC&linkCode=xm2&tag=3636363-20) with this and a boatload of other worthy new pieces. Haas was deeply inspired by Wyschnegradsky's microtonal piano writing, and hearing the Wyschegradsky pieces alongside the Haas in that box set has only deepened my appreciation of both composers.

But all of Haas's CDs on Neos and Kairos are, I daresay, essential purchases for any fan of contemporary music. I would also strongly encourage people to avoid YouTube for this repertoire. Not only is it compressed to hell, but the two record companies that are championing Haas are facing a difficult financial outlook and could use your support.

What I like about Haas is his ability to make the ensemble sound like a single mighty organism, ever-growing. He's like Radulescu but with a clearer form, one that can also deeply move lovers of more traditional repertoire.
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: not edward on May 05, 2014, 03:34:11 PM
I've been a Haas admirer since the first Kairos disc of him came out in the '90s: I see him as someone who's managed to create a style that leads on from both Grisey and Ligeti. He may not be as radical as those two, but I think there's plenty potential in the area he has chosen to occupy.

Particular favourites of mine would include in vain (of course), limited approximations, the percussion concerto Wer, wen ich schriee, hörte mich and perhaps my favourite, the orchestral Natures mortes. Some of these works seem very claustrophobic and gloomy in tone (if I remember rightly, Haas has mentioned as an influence on his style the fact that he grew up in an Alpine village where in the winter you almost never saw the sun as it was blotted out by the mountains).
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: snyprrr on May 05, 2014, 05:23:16 PM
String Quartets 1-2 (Kairos Quartett;edition zeitklang 2004)

With CD in hand, I recall a very slow moving, glissandi laden sci-fi music that was quite spare. The two SQs each have a process by which it unfolds, and they are a bit 'different', but I'd have to get to it just a little later. It's certainly Arditti fare, as I was tracking down their Premieres. I don't know if it's fair to compare this to the Arditti's Eberhard Grosskopf disc on Neos, but I like EG's take on the whole "area of interest"- which I'd like to umbrella under the Quiet Maximalists (including Feldman, et al). This is music you can chill out to- it's Process- without any violent outbursts (which I think is always important to point out for those simply looking for meditative purposes). There's quiet music with outbursts, and there's quiet music without

Enthusiastically Recommended
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: CRCulver on May 05, 2014, 05:28:43 PM
Quote from: snyprrr on May 05, 2014, 05:23:16 PM
This is music you can chill out to- it's Process- without any violent outbursts (which I think is always important to point out for those simply looking for meditative purposes). There's quiet music with outbursts, and there's quiet music without

While those two quartets may be uniformly quiet, Haas is certainly capable of violent outbursts. There is one in "...Einklang freier Wesen..." that never fails to make me jump when I'm listening to the piece half-attentively, even though I've know the work for years already.
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: Rinaldo on May 06, 2014, 04:00:40 AM
Looks like Haas is quite appreciated here, good! I've got lots of catching up to do.

I like the fact that while he's very uncompromising, the result is still immediately approachable, which is the same experience I've had with Grisey - everything sounds so new but it clicks right away.
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: 7/4 on May 06, 2014, 04:29:34 AM
same here.
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: snyprrr on May 06, 2014, 10:14:58 AM
Quote from: Rinaldo on May 06, 2014, 04:00:40 AM
Looks like Haas is quite appreciated here, good! I've got lots of catching up to do.

I like the fact that while he's very uncompromising, the result is still immediately approachable, which is the same experience I've had with Grisey - everything sounds so new but it clicks right away.

Now how can anything be uncompromising and approachable at the same time? That's outrageous! :laugh:
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: snyprrr on May 07, 2014, 10:28:19 AM
Quote from: snyprrr on May 05, 2014, 05:23:16 PM
String Quartets 1-2 (Kairos Quartett;edition zeitklang 2004)

With CD in hand, I recall a very slow moving, glissandi laden sci-fi music that was quite spare. The two SQs each have a process by which it unfolds, and they are a bit 'different', but I'd have to get to it just a little later. It's certainly Arditti fare, as I was tracking down their Premieres. I don't know if it's fair to compare this to the Arditti's Eberhard Grosskopf disc on Neos, but I like EG's take on the whole "area of interest"- which I'd like to umbrella under the Quiet Maximalists (including Feldman, et al). This is music you can chill out to- it's Process- without any violent outbursts (which I think is always important to point out for those simply looking for meditative purposes). There's quiet music with outbursts, and there's quiet music without

Enthusiastically Recommended

Listen to these last night. No.1 is 30  minutes of what I'd call microtonal '70s Penderecki with some Feldmanesque dynamics. There is some "accumulation" which leads to some thick tuttis (still not shockingly loud), but overall there is a 'medium'ishness to the whole thing, somewhat amorphous, yet everything part of the process. No.2 seemed quieter, but my attention was drifting... zzzZZZzz... oh, I mean, yes,... uh...

There were not as I remembered from a couple of years ago. Huh, well, I guess I'll give them another try shortly. It's definitely assembled in the same detached Feldman lab as a lot of this kind of stuff is.

I'm going to knock it down to RECOMMENDED. I'd rather go for Holliger, Lachenmann, or Sciarrino before more Haas, perhaps.
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: Rinaldo on November 26, 2014, 07:53:15 AM
https://www.youtube.com/v/_KHuAzKzuTU
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: not edward on February 11, 2015, 05:57:53 AM
Haas's new work I can't breathe can be streamed from the Koln Philharmonie site for a limited time: http://www.philharmonie.tv/veranstaltung/12/
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: snyprrr on February 11, 2015, 06:27:34 AM
Quote from: edward on February 11, 2015, 05:57:53 AM
Haas's new work I can't breathe can be streamed from the Koln Philharmonie site for a limited time: http://www.philharmonie.tv/veranstaltung/12/

Please.don't.tell.me.it's.inspired.by."I can't breathe"... oy vey, please...
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: Rinaldo on February 11, 2015, 06:31:14 AM
Quote from: snyprrr on February 11, 2015, 06:27:34 AM
Please.don't.tell.me.it's.inspired.by."I can't breathe"... oy vey, please...

Don't hold your breath.

"I give no sound to the perpetrators." (http://www.musikfabrik.eu/en/blog/georg-friedrich-haas-i-give-no-sound-perpetrators-ein-kommentar)
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – ) --- BELL UP, DON'T TOOT---
Post by: snyprrr on February 11, 2015, 06:56:10 AM
Quote from: Rinaldo on February 11, 2015, 06:31:14 AM
Don't hold your breath.

"I give no sound to the perpetrators." (http://www.musikfabrik.eu/en/blog/georg-friedrich-haas-i-give-no-sound-perpetrators-ein-kommentar)

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugggggggggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh


I do NOT want my Avant Garde reminding me of Coney Island. >:Dhsssss

Really? Out of all the things that happened last year, this is the one that touched our poor German's heart???? Not the white phospherus(?) used in Gaza? German guy?? Not the dismantling of your society? No? Why didn't you just go Full Lib and call it 'Bell Up, Don't Toot'??????

ACK,now I feel like I know more than i want to about dear Mr. Haas. White Guilt Avant Garde... oy, he might as well be Swedish.


gag- I think I'm going to....


This is why I "hate" my love. Every time I turn around, another cool ass bloke/sheila turns out to be just another weenie whiner guilty guilty lib tard with some "social conscience" issue- just like how beauty contestants must want "world peace". Great, so now Haas is a "useful idiot"? Great, destroy the German people further. Gaaah, how about a little REVISION there, Georgy Boy??????

Seriously, Composers must not be saying anything important these days, for none of them are being Disappeared, or having Car Accidents, or having perfectly healthy Heart Attacks,... nope, it seems the whole lock, stock, and barrel of Modern Composers are in the Globalist Pocket, just lap dogs of the Socialist Regime known as Western Civ.

gag me with a spoon >:(


TRAITOR!!!!




Maybe Composer should stop listening to the sound of their belly buttons growing microtonally, and start writing some BITING SOCIAL ORATORIO?????? maybe to do with the Banqsters? No? ooops, they must be the protected class.... oy vey indeed. :(


RANT: end

really, I'd like to write him  aletter




as if Eric Garner is the voice of the trumpet.... I mean, shouldn't it have been a tuba??? seriously.... guy selling loose cigs is now an avant icon???? is it 1986 all over again???????
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: ibanezmonster on February 11, 2015, 07:07:37 AM
Quote from: sanantonio on May 05, 2014, 10:02:19 AM
Yep - G.F. Haas is one of the best (IMO) of this generation.
Indeed.
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: not edward on February 14, 2015, 06:43:51 PM
Quote from: Greg on February 11, 2015, 07:07:37 AM
Indeed.
Have to second/third this one. I've been revisiting some of his music over the last month for the first time in a few years, and I've found that's often when you really know if it's the real deal. Not everything has stood up so well, but I'm finding a list of pieces that emphatically do: the violin concerto and the solo violin piece De terrae fine; the percussion concerto Wer, wen ich schriee, horte mich; the almost Bergian cello concerto; the "concerto for light and orchestra", Hyperion (would love to see it in concert) and of course, Limited approximations and in vain. I need to revisit the quartets (there's eight of them, now) and have yet to explore any of his operas.

It strikes me that one of the key elements in many of these pieces is a kind of parallel to Webern's description of sonata form as a contrast between strict and free; except here we have a contrast (often, particularly in works from around 2000, closer to a battle) between comparatively conventional harmonies and pure microtonal writing.
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: Rinaldo on February 16, 2015, 01:19:06 PM
Just listened to the percussion concerto. The metallic pulses remind me of the sphere from Contact starting up. And I mean that as a compliment.

https://www.youtube.com/v/m0_C1O_WEhE

Oh, to hear this stuff live.. I still kick myself for missing a performance of in vain few years ago.
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: not edward on February 16, 2015, 01:35:19 PM
Quote from: Rinaldo on February 16, 2015, 01:19:06 PM
Oh, to hear this stuff live.. I still kick myself for missing a performance of in vain few years ago.
I've missed two! Once out of the country visiting family, once out of town courtesy of work. If it had been one of the more impractical pieces, like Hyperion or Limited approximations, work would have had to go shove it... at least I'll probably have another chance to hear in vain live (particularly now Haas is North America-based).

It's a shame that there's so few commercial recordings of his work. YouTube is the way to go for most pieces.
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: amw on February 18, 2015, 06:21:51 PM
Well, I listened to in vain. Not so impressed. It seems like a Grisey cover of Ligeti's Melodien dragged out for about fifty minutes longer. (Listened on CD so didn't have the benefit of the lighting changes, so I just flicked the lights on or off whenever it seemed suitably atmospheric to do so.) Any emotional impact it might have had was somewhat blunted by constant reminders of two other big cycles that hit most of the same notes while also having a lot more variety and being a lot more effective, Les Espaces Acoustiques and Quatre chants, plus flickers of Ligeti (Melodien, Chamber Concerto, Clocks & Clouds), flashbacks to Stimmung and (whenever the horns come in) flashforwards to the Hamburg Concerto. Basically sounded like an amalgamation of lots of good pieces without ever developing an identity of its own.

I did like the ending though, it was clever.

(I do like Limited Approximations, but it kind of betrays how far behind the curve the conventional concert hall is—yes, it's certainly a new idea to give to some pianos and violins and whatever, but people were doing similar things in electronic music [and Harry Partch was building 43-tone instruments] before Haas was born. It's not so much that Haas is doing it late, it's just that there's hardly any urgency or vitality or sense of inner necessity in his music; it doesn't feel like he's writing to express things that would otherwise be inexpressible.)
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: San Antone on February 19, 2015, 05:44:45 AM
If anyone else is interested, I created a YouTube playlist of all the string quartets (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDiCfbTwMDE&list=PLUzXoG2zEPcsvHqHyK6_F9luaMtZTdQev).


Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: snyprrr on February 19, 2015, 08:50:39 AM
Quote from: amw on February 18, 2015, 06:21:51 PM
Well, I listened to in vain. Not so impressed. It seems like a Grisey cover of Ligeti's Melodien dragged out for about fifty minutes longer. (Listened on CD so didn't have the benefit of the lighting changes, so I just flicked the lights on or off whenever it seemed suitably atmospheric to do so.) Any emotional impact it might have had was somewhat blunted by constant reminders of two other big cycles that hit most of the same notes while also having a lot more variety and being a lot more effective, Les Espaces Acoustiques and Quatre chants, plus flickers of Ligeti (Melodien, Chamber Concerto, Clocks & Clouds), flashbacks to Stimmung and (whenever the horns come in) flashforwards to the Hamburg Concerto. Basically sounded like an amalgamation of lots of good pieces without ever developing an identity of its own.

I did like the ending though, it was clever.

(I do like Limited Approximations, but it kind of betrays how far behind the curve the conventional concert hall is—yes, it's certainly a new idea to give to some pianos and violins and whatever, but people were doing similar things in electronic music [and Harry Partch was building 43-tone instruments] before Haas was born. It's not so much that Haas is doing it late, it's just that there's hardly any urgency or vitality or sense of inner necessity in his music; it doesn't feel like he's writing to express things that would otherwise be inexpressible.)

finally some ballast ;)

It seems we are all truly starved for TRUTH with All Caps,... think you not that compositional  brilliance can disappear in a generation? ... because they craved the electrolytes, oy,...
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: San Antone on February 19, 2015, 10:32:58 AM
I consider amw's criticism not well argued. 

While there is some superficial similarity between in vain and the works he mentions, one could say the same thing regarding many works written using soundscape textures, or even works by composers as far apart philosophically as Boulez's Structures 1a and John Cages's Music of Changes.  I do not find in vain essentially derivative. 

And to criticize Haas's use of micro-tonality as nothing new since Harry Partch was working with 43-note scales before Haas was born, would imply that Partch said all there is to say using microtones.  Another specious argument. 

This is not to say that I think Haas is perfect.  I am not a fan of art with a transparent political message.

 
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: 7/4 on February 24, 2015, 01:56:53 AM
He sounds a lot more like Xenakis than Partch (at least on the string qts I'm listening to now, thanks for the link).
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: amw on February 25, 2015, 08:29:14 PM
Quote from: sanantonio on February 19, 2015, 10:32:58 AM
I consider amw's criticism not well argued. 

While there is some superficial similarity between in vain and the works he mentions, one could say the same thing regarding many works written using soundscape textures, or even works by composers as far apart philosophically as Boulez's Structures 1a and John Cages's Music of Changes.  I do not find in vain essentially derivative. 

And to criticize Haas's use of micro-tonality as nothing new since Harry Partch was working with 43-note scales before Haas was born, would imply that Partch said all there is to say using microtones.  Another specious argument. 
 
If that's all you're getting out of my post, I think you've misread it.
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: Brian on February 24, 2016, 06:42:17 AM
If anybody was ever interested in Georg Friedrich Haas's kinky love life and his marriage to a "Perverted Negress", this news story is for you (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/24/arts/music/a-composer-and-his-wife-creativity-through-kink.html).
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: Rinaldo on February 24, 2016, 07:54:00 AM
Quote from: Brian on February 24, 2016, 06:42:17 AM
If anybody was ever interested in Georg Friedrich Haas's kinky love life and his marriage to a "Perverted Negress", this news story is for you (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/24/arts/music/a-composer-and-his-wife-creativity-through-kink.html).

"..probably member of the top 10 or 20 in my genre in the world.."

Quite modest, given there are how many, 10 or 20 spectralists in the world?

Interesting read, anyway. Especially that Tchaik comparison.
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: ptr on February 24, 2016, 10:26:02 AM
^^ So what's the problem, they seem like a normal and quite delightful couple! (No irony intended!)

/ptr
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: amw on February 24, 2016, 12:17:15 PM
Quote from: ptr on February 24, 2016, 10:26:02 AM
^^ So what's the problem, they seem like a normal and quite delightful couple! (No irony intended!)
Well, D/S relationships are never healthy as they replicate patterns of trauma and abuse (no one is born submissive or dominant). But that's not really the point.

I find it interesting that the relationship is described as mostly "she slaves for him so he can compose." It got me thinking as to whether there are any male composers who haven't been largely dependent on the physical, emotional and sometimes creative labour of women to write great music. The only exception I can think of offhand is Schubert, not because he did his own physical and emotional labour but because he was instead dependent on other men for it. (And maybe some women we don't know about—housekeepers, maids and so on.) Famous male composers who do their own washing-up and are emotionally stable enough not to need mothering are pretty thin on the ground.

(To a certain extent it also gives the lie to the idea that any composer is a "genius", as opposed to someone who simply has enough work done for them that they can spend 14-15 hours a day writing music.)
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: ptr on February 24, 2016, 10:24:25 PM
Isn't theirs just a wider view of the patriarchal thought that most Christian and Muslim marriages are built on? The woman slaving for their man, these just play it as an honest consequence of their relationship... I would think that it is part of the artists comment on the bigotry his adopted society. Had the woman been of the same skin tone as him, then no one would have bothered to mention it!

I still think that Mr Haas is one of the greatest living composers!

/ptr
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – ) UNCLE PERVY STRIKES!
Post by: not edward on March 03, 2016, 07:47:41 AM
Quote from: snyprrr on March 03, 2016, 07:22:48 AMit just seems like "music slumming" when you relate it to sex
It's something that shows up more in music than you might think..... better not listen to Tristan und Isolde any time soon. ;)
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: Brian on March 03, 2016, 07:56:54 AM
Leave it to snyprrr to really class up the joint.
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: Karl Henning on March 03, 2016, 08:24:50 AM
Smells like Teen Spirit.
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: Scion7 on March 03, 2016, 03:22:36 PM
Actually, more like Venus in Furs.

:-)
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: snyprrr on March 04, 2016, 06:48:23 AM
Quote from: Brian on March 03, 2016, 07:56:54 AM
Leave it to snyprrr to really class up the joint.

Don't blame me,...

Haas's new piece is called Taint (2016)!


I could go on... :)

Quote from: edward on March 03, 2016, 07:47:41 AM
It's something that shows up more in music than you might think..... better not listen to Tristan und Isolde any time soon. ;)

sex between "gods" is infinitely more acceptable than stereotypical Euro-Kink


You know, I could really mess up some people's day with what my daddy told me when I wuz yung...







don't scroll down if you don't wannna know... WARNING...







he said'...



"Son, men have nipples too"









Yes, I'm not sure I've ever recovered ??? :'( :o








Quote from: karlhenning on March 03, 2016, 08:24:50 AM
Smells like Teen Spirit.

smells more like a fresh porn shoot in the valley..... oops, just threw up a little in my mouth....






I mean, do you think Brahms even ever got a boner... ever?????




a boner, Karl, a big Brahms boner?





just can't "see" it














Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – ) re: Brahms
Post by: Scion7 on March 04, 2016, 11:29:07 AM
Of course he did.  By most accounts, it's pretty certain he lost it to a prostitute.
He was engaged once, and had many female friends.
I think he and Clara did the deed.

Haas topic return.   ;)
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: bhodges on December 22, 2017, 05:37:02 AM
Last night, heard Haas' String Quartet No. 9, performed by the JACK Quartet -- in total darkness. And I mean total darkness, as in doesn't matter whether your eyes are open or closed. The communication required from the musicians was astounding.

Here's a recording of the JACK guys from last November (presumably from their Vienna premiere). Now don't cheat: TURN OFF ALL THE LIGHTS.  8)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk_2bg3utv8

--Bruce
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: Mahlerian on December 22, 2017, 06:02:33 AM
Quote from: Brewski on December 22, 2017, 05:37:02 AM
Last night, heard Haas' String Quartet No. 9, performed by the JACK Quartet -- in total darkness. And I mean total darkness, as in doesn't matter whether your eyes are open or closed. The communication required from the musicians was astounding.

Here's a recording of the JACK guys from last November (presumably from their Vienna premiere). Now don't cheat: TURN OFF ALL THE LIGHTS.  8)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk_2bg3utv8

--Bruce

Sounds remarkable.  I might have to listen to that tonight.
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: bhodges on December 22, 2017, 06:17:41 AM
Quote from: Mahlerian on December 22, 2017, 06:02:33 AM
Sounds remarkable.  I might have to listen to that tonight.

It's really something -- the 45 minutes sped by quickly. And I actually heard it twice, partially for a somewhat mundane reason: I'm writing up the concert for The Strad, but obviously...couldn't take notes during the performance! (And only found out about this YouTube performance afterward.) I figured, better hear it more than once to cement impressions.

By all means, please post impressions if you give it a listen.

--Bruce
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: San Antone on December 22, 2017, 07:16:52 AM
Quote from: Brewski on December 22, 2017, 05:37:02 AM
Last night, heard Haas' String Quartet No. 9, performed by the JACK Quartet -- in total darkness. And I mean total darkness, as in doesn't matter whether your eyes are open or closed. The communication required from the musicians was astounding.

Here's a recording of the JACK guys from last November (presumably from their Vienna premiere). Now don't cheat: TURN OFF ALL THE LIGHTS.  8)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk_2bg3utv8

--Bruce

Thanks for posting this - I am listening to it and it is a fascinating work.  I can only imagine what the live experience in the dark must have been like.
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: bhodges on December 22, 2017, 10:09:07 AM
Quote from: San Antone on December 22, 2017, 07:16:52 AM
Thanks for posting this - I am listening to it and it is a fascinating work.  I can only imagine what the live experience in the dark must have been like.

I was a little astounded by the ability of the quartet to even play it, given that they cannot rely on any visual cues, e.g., where their fingers are on their fingerboards, how to manage attacks, etc.

And yes, if you like overtone scales...  ;D

--Bruce
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: bhodges on August 06, 2019, 04:10:55 PM
For anyone who has not heard Haas's HYENA, it is available for a limited time at the link below, with Bas Wiegers conducting Ensemble Musikfabrik.

For vocalist and chamber ensemble, Haas wrote it for his wife, Mollena, about her struggles with alcoholism. I heard her perform it here in 2017 with the Talea Ensemble, and found it riveting.

https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/georg-friedrich-haas-hyena-vertonte-alkoholsucht.1987.de.html?dram:article_id=450343

--Bruce
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: Mandryka on November 24, 2020, 07:27:13 AM
Quote from: Brewski on August 06, 2019, 04:10:55 PM
For anyone who has not heard Haas's HYENA, it is available for a limited time at the link below, with Bas Wiegers conducting Ensemble Musikfabrik.

For vocalist and chamber ensemble, Haas wrote it for his wife, Mollena, about her struggles with alcoholism. I heard her perform it here in 2017 with the Talea Ensemble, and found it riveting.

https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/georg-friedrich-haas-hyena-vertonte-alkoholsucht.1987.de.html?dram:article_id=450343

--Bruce

Here

https://www.youtube.com/v/5oa4uCKbj4g
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: bhodges on November 24, 2020, 07:31:51 AM
Quote from: Mandryka on November 24, 2020, 07:27:13 AM
Here

https://www.youtube.com/v/5oa4uCKbj4g

Thanks so much for digging this up! I'd like to revisit at some point.

--Bruce
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: Mandryka on July 08, 2021, 12:27:14 AM
Does anyone here have this in better sound than 192 kbps mp3? If so, can I have a rip please?  :)

(https://www.elliottcarter.com/site/assets/files/8712/jacksq.696x0.png)
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: Mandryka on July 08, 2021, 12:29:20 AM
Quote from: CRCulver on May 05, 2014, 02:49:01 PM
Funny, I've been listening to precisely Limited Approximations myself lately and was thinking to come on here and urge everyone to track down the Neos box set (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006B5X3KC?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B006B5X3KC&linkCode=xm2&tag=3636363-20) with this and a boatload of other worthy new pieces. Haas was deeply inspired by Wyschnegradsky's microtonal piano writing, and hearing the Wyschegradsky pieces alongside the Haas in that box set has only deepened my appreciation of both composers.

But all of Haas's CDs on Neos and Kairos are, I daresay, essential purchases for any fan of contemporary music. I would also strongly encourage people to avoid YouTube for this repertoire. Not only is it compressed to hell, but the two record companies that are championing Haas are facing a difficult financial outlook and could use your support.

What I like about Haas is his ability to make the ensemble sound like a single mighty organism, ever-growing. He's like Radulescu but with a clearer form, one that can also deeply move lovers of more traditional repertoire.

Clearly Radulescu, the 9th quartet made me think of Radigue's trilogie.
Title: Re: Georg Friedrich Haas (1953 – )
Post by: Mandryka on May 28, 2022, 11:32:58 PM
Why isn't this gorgeous cycle, in places quite original,  for voice and small ensemble, Wie stille brannte das licht, better known?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YjPQLsO4_eo