Since the 1990s, solo concertos have become increasingly important for Peter Ruzicka. In his oeuvre, they mediate between the dramatic forms of music theater and orchestral or ensemble works. The four compositions on this CD were written over a period of more than a decade: AULODIE in 2011, STILL in 2016 (which became the final movement of the chamber symphony in 2021), and in 2020 and 2021, the second concertos for viola and violin and large orchestra (with a chamber choir added to the violin concerto). DEPART and EINGEDUNKELT were written when cultural life was brought to a standstill by the COVID pandemic. For both, memory acts as an elixir of life, and in both, Paul Celan returns to the moving center of Ruzicka's music. In DEPART, the title and form refer to the poet “who knew how to name the wounds of the 20th century like no other” (P. Ruzicka), while in EINGEDUNKELT his poetry forms the center.
Peter Ruzicka once again brings together top-class musicians on this CD: Nils Mönkemeyer (viola), Carolin Widmann (violin), Albrecht Mayer (oboe), Kris Garfitt (trombone), the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the SWR Vocal Ensemble with the SWR Symphony Orchestra, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival Orchestra, and Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. In addition to Ruzicka himself, Matthias Pintscher, Bas Wiegers, and Massimiliano Matesic are represented as conductors.
Programme
Peter Ruzicka (*1948)
[01] DEPART Concerto for viola and orchestra (2022)
Nils Mönkemeyer, viola
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester
Matthias Pintscher, conductor
[02] EINGEDUNKELT for violin, chamber choir and orchestra (2022) *
Carolin Widmann, violin
SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
SWR Symphonieorchester
Bas Wiegers, conductor
[03] AULODIE Music for oboe and chamber orchestra (2011)
Albrecht Mayer, oboe
Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra
Peter Ruzicka, conductor
[04] STILL for trombone and orchestra (2016) *
Kris Garfitt, trombone
The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen
Massimiliano Matesic, conductor
Total playing time: 61:57
* First recordings
Biographies
Peter Ruzicka was born in Düsseldorf in 1948. After studying piano, oboe, and composition theory at the Hamburg Conservatory, he went on to study composition with Hans Werner Henze and Hans Otte. He studied law and musicology in Munich, Hamburg, and Berlin, earning his doctorate in 1977 with an interdisciplinary dissertation on the “eternal moral rights of authors.” He has received numerous prizes and awards for his compositions (including the UNESCO Prize “International Rostrum of Composers,” Paris, and the Louis Spohr Music Prize). Peter Ruzicka's works have been performed by leading orchestras and ensembles, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, Munich Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Paris, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna RSO, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and all German radio orchestras. Conductors such as Gerd Albrecht, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Gielen, Eliahu Inbal, Mariss Jansons, Kurt Masur, Antonio Pappano, Giuseppe Sinopoli, and Christian Thielemann have championed his music. The recording of his string quartets with the Minguet Quartet received the ECHO Klassik 2010 award.
Peter Ruzicka has been a professor at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre since 1990. He is a member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts and the Free Academy of Arts in Hamburg. From 1979 to 1987, he was artistic director of the RSO Berlin, and from 1988 to 1997, artistic director of the Hamburg State Opera and the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1996, he succeeded Hans Werner Henze as artistic director of the Munich Biennale, a position he still holds today. In 1997, he became artistic advisor to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam. In 1999, he was appointed president of the Bavarian Theater Academy. From 2001 to 2006, he was artistic director of the Salzburg Festival. In 2015, he will take over as managing director of the Salzburg Easter Festival.
As a conductor, Peter Ruzicka has led numerous major orchestras: DSO Berlin, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, NDR Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, RSO Stuttgart, SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, hr Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt, MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Danish National Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, RSO Vienna, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Gulbenkian Orchestra Lisbon, China Philharmonic Orchestra, and Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra Tokyo.
More information
Catalogue number: NEOS 12417
EAN: 4260063124174
