German modern composers

[t-p]

I found another modern composer in BBC music magazin. Many people play his music now .
I thought people will be interested to hear his quartet. HIs name is Matthias Pinscher. I noticed that his music is performed often now.

[Neil McGowan]

Thank you :)  Do we know which composition (with Hebrew texts) he's discussing in this interview?

I think what he says about singers understanding the resonances of meaning in a text is very apposite. So often meaning becomes entirely warped through a half-understanding of a translated text.

[t-p]

It is difficult with translating opera and song into different language because  it is difficult to adjust language to written music. Often melodies are adjusted a little bit with some notes added.
To translate illusive meaning is very difficult.


I was able to find this link about composer Pinscher and his song cycle. http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/building-the-revolution/

[Neil McGowan]

Here's a bit of Heiner Goebbels, just to broaden the range of discussion a little :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi_35BDGUJ0&feature=related

Goebbels has said he is interested in "bridging the gap between opera and theatre", and he's clearly interested in new forms of musical theatre. This in itself is interesting for me, and some of these projects have gone off in new directions.

[t-p]

Neil, thank you for your post. It is very interesting to explore new names for me.

German composers of course developed symphonic genre in music. The genre was taken by composers of different nationalities.

There was very interesting program about symphony and how different composers developed the form. Every new generation re-evaluate composers. For example, Sibelius was not played as much and now his compositions are played and his music influences other composers.

I think symphonic genre even influenced opera and how composers wrote them. Wagner’s operas are composed through with leitmotivs and not separate numbers.
Composers still write symphonies now.
Here is a program that was very interesting about development of genre and re-evaluations that are made now.http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017chz0

[Neil McGowan]

Sometimes I wonder to what extent the "weight of the musical heritage" hangs over modern German composers - do they feel "obliged" to honour that heritage?

The obverse side of the same coin is whether having the good fortune to be "born a German" (or Austrian) can prop-up a merely average career?

[t-p]

This is very sensitive topic I think. In old time composer had to please his audience (or patron). Our times are different.
I think Sibelius was of old generation that wrote for people so to say and he is National composer at that writing for Finish liberation movement. He had long life and lived until Elvis Presley time. There were different times.
Maybe in our time one has to please critic. But even this is not enough now. Still the audience knows what they like.