|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CD
|
|
NEOS 11911CD
|
Choral & Orchestral Works Vol. 2, with works by Nikolaus Brass, offers extraordinary recordings of two central works. The CD is the eighth release of the composer's work on NEOS. The choral piece fallacies of hope, which bears the subtitle "German requiem", contains 32 individually composed vocal parts that are masterfully embodied by the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart. Written 13 years earlier, the 30-minute orchestral piece similar is presented as a live recording of the work's world première with the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
NEOS 11704CD
|
From a conversation between Nikolaus Brass and Das Klarinettenduo, Beate Zelinsky and David Smeyers, in Donaueschingen in 2006, there arouse the double concerto Zeit im Grund, released on two different Neos CDs: Zeit im Grund/Von Wachsender Gegenwart (NEOS 11112CD, 2013) and Double Concertos by Atli Ingolfsson, Adriana Holszky and Nikolaus Brass (NEOS 11708CD, 2017). This has been the beginning of more future collaborations. In 2009 Brass composed his work "Dialoghi d'amore VI" for the duo, which he expanded into a three-movement work in 2011. Later the quintet "SPUR" for string trio and two clarinets was realized through a collaboration between the Munich based TrioCoriolis and Das Klarinettenduo. For the "5. Streichquartett", Beate Zelinsky and David Smeyers started working together with the Minguet Quartett. This inspired Brass for his trio "Strophen", written especially for Beate Zelinsky, David Smeyers and the violist of the quartet, Aroa Sorin. This CD is completed by "Salut" and "Adieu", both works for clarinet solo.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
NEOS 11601CD
|
Nikolaus Brass, born in Lindau in 1949, initially studied medicine and took private composition lessons with Peter Kiesewetter at the Munich Academy of Music. He concluded his medical studies at the Free University of Berlin. He studied composition with Frank Michael Beyer and later privately with Helmut Lachenmann. Between 1978 and 1986, he regularly attended the Darmstadt Summer Courses, where he also met with Morton Feldman. After being invited to the Gaudeamus Muziekweek in the Netherlands, he began publishing his compositions in 1981. Since then, he has had numerous premieres at the most important new music festivals, such as the Donaueschingen Festival, musica viva Munich, Ultraschall Berlin, ECLAT Stuttgart, Klangspuren Schwaz, or Witten Days for New Chamber Music. Personnel: Jan Philip Schulze - piano.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD/SACD
|
|
NEOS 11512CD
|
"Listening to the production I had a strong feeling that these three pieces form a kind of unity after all, that they do develop something like a single thought -- over a period of over 30 years. One can never know that when one writes the individual work. Now I see something of my identity in the trios." Nikolaus Brass (born 1949, Lindau, Germany) initially studied medicine and took private composition lessons with Peter Kiesewetter, before later studying with Frank Michael Beyer and Helmut Lachenmann. Between 1978 and 1986 he regularly attended the Darmstadt Summer Courses, where he also met with Morton Feldman. His music has become standard at every important new music festival, such as the Donaueschingen Festival, musica viva in Munich, Ultraschall Berlin, ECLAT Stuttgart, Klangspuren Schwaz, and Witten Days for New Chamber Music. Brass has turned more toward staged projects in the 2010s (the chamber music theater work Sommertag, based on Norwegian author and dramatist Jon Fosse's work of the same name of, was premiered in 2014 at the Munich Biennale). Brass has received numerous awards, including the Music Prize of the State Capital Munich in 2009. Since 2014 he has been a member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts. This disc presents TrioCoriolis's performance of three of his works.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD/SACD
|
|
NEOS 11503CD
|
Nikolaus Brass, born in Lindau, Germany, in 1949, initially studied medicine and took private composition lessons with Peter Kiesewetter at the Munich Academy of Music. He concluded his medical studies at the Free University of Berlin. He studied composition with Frank Michael Beyer and later privately with Helmut Lachenmann. Brass: "Life balances on the tip of death." That's how he composes. His String Quartet No. IV is performed here by EnsembleCoriolis.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
NEOS 11112CD
|
"There is music which one cannot hear enough. Nikolaus Brass writes music of this kind." The music journalist Reinhard Schulz, who died in 2009 and was one of the most sensitive observers of contemporary music, encountered few composers with the enthusiasm and empathy that he showed for Nikolaus Brass. "It is certainly not possible to establish, by decree, which composers are indispensible for a certain period. At the same time, one believes to directly sense, of certain composers, that they are essential. Nikolaus Brass, born in Lindau on Lake Constance in 1949, is such a composer." The Munich Chamber Orchestra (Münchener Kammerorchester/MKO). has presented over 60 world premieres, since former Artistic Director Christoph Poppen established its unmistakably dynamic profile in the '90s. Since the 2006/2007 season, Alexander Liebreich has been the principal conductor and artistic director of the MKO. Since 2011 he has been the artistic director of the Tongyeong International Music Festival (TIMF) in South Korea. Since the beginning of the 2012/2013 season, Liebreich has been artistic director and principle conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of the Polish Broadcasting Company (NOSPR) with headquarters in Katowice, and is thus the first German principal conductor in Poland since 1945.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
NEOS 10702CD
|
Featured works: "The Structures of Echo -- Lindauer Beweinung", (Music for 32 Voices and Orchestra, 2002). "Void II" (music for Piano, Saxophone, Percussion and Orchestra, 2001). "It is rare to find composers who can use sounds to tell stories of absolute void and who manage, conversely, in passages of virtual silence to give some sense of the richness of overriding entities. Nikolaus Brass, born in Lindau on Lake Constance in 1949, is one such artist -- a quiet, reflective, and, in the profound sense of the word, friendly man. Because he has never been at the center of the scenes that set the tone, he has, unforgiveably, been scarcely noticed by the very people to whom he has essential things to offer. His music does not seek to shine artistically but is rather the result of a search for the essential core of things that is as truthful as it is intensely probing."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
NEOS 11021CD
|
Performed by Helge Slaatto, violin; Klaus-Peter Werani, viola; Erik Borgir, violoncello; Frank Reinecke, double bass. Various moods are encountered here, each strophe of a demonstrably vocal part reaching ever upwards into the jubilant light and descending into the shadows. Helge Slaatto (violin) takes over the line from Klaus- Peter Werani (viola), passes the word back to him and indulges in a little duet with Frank Reinecke (double bass). And then again, right up to the close, the song is sung on its own, by Erik Borgir (violoncello) and finally by the bassist. In a series of short but personal booklet texts, the four interpreters tell us how they feel about the music they play: as a fanfare, as a heady current, as an ocean voyage, into unknown vistas. As an encounter with never-ending pain. And as a glimpse of hope of something that lies beyond, a life after death.
|
|
|
|