Search - Wolfgang Rihm, Sylvain Cambreling, Klangforum Wien :: Wolfgang Rihm: Gejagte Form; Verborgene Formen; Chiffre 1; Silence to be beaten

Pursued form

hirofantv | tomorrow | 11/19/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rihm is in my book one of the greatest pursuers, or hunters, of new ways to organize music, new architectures. He calls it hunting forms. In the piece Gejagte Formen on this cd, the music creates forms of spaces of absence in other forms. Rihm also says in the liner notes -- which are some of the wildest, zaniest, most brilliant liner notes I've ever read I might add -- much about his conviction that any person's art be of necessity unique, surprising. His music sounds like Webern might have liked it. Absolutely beautiful, fascinating, exciting."

Four pieces where Rihm finds rich veins of musical possibili

Christopher Culver | 06/26/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The German composer Wolfgang Rihm has won ever greater attention in recent years for his music of expressive character, rich scoring and general zaniness. This Kairos disc features four orchestral works, two sets of closely related pieces.



In both "Gejagte Form" (1995-1996, rev. 2002) and "Verborgene Formen" (1995-1997) the form of the piece is simply the inability to sustain a form, though they exhibit their sense of constant motion in different ways. The former is extrovert, with fun batteries of conga, while the latter is more mysterious with slight touches on metallic percussion. Rihm ultimately wove these two pieces together (with a third "Gedraengte Form") seamlessly into his massive one-movement orchestral piece JAGDEN UND FORMEN, and I do favour that a little bit more than the individual pieces, but they are still good listening. Rarely in contemporary music is there such a strong sense of *fun* as Rihm's works like these.



"Chiffre" (1982) and "Silence to be beaten (Chiffre II)" (1983) marked the beginning of his long CHIFFRE-ZYKLUS. Inspiration from Lachenmann is surely unmistakeable, as the foundation of the piece is an endlessly repeated couple of high notes on the piano, on top of which vague instrumental sounds are painted on. In the latter piece, there is even a fairly substantial span of total silence that must be fascinating in concert, for the conductor must still beat time though nothing comes forth.



If you are interested in Rihm's music, this disc works pretty good as an introduction to his unique style. For established fans of the composer who are looking for new works, however, I'd recommend coming to this only after getting the JAGDEN UND FORMEN and CHIFFRE-ZYKLUS releases, where you can hear the same works in all their glory."