Friedrich Cerha RIP

[CallMePaul]

Just read the sad news of the death of this Austrian composer at the age of 96: https://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature...-the-age-of-96

Cerha was best-known for hius completion of act 3 of Alban Berg's opera Lulu but was also a distinguished composer in his own right. There are several recordings of his work available: https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...rs/7166/browse

[RichardB]

Cerha's best known composition is probably Spiegel I-VII, an extended cycle of orchestral pieces, some with electronic sounds as well, which was completed in 1961 but not performed as a whole until 1972. This is available on CD in two different recordings, although much preferable is the more recent one by Sylvain Cambreling and the SWR Symphony Orchestra, released by the Austrian label Kairos, which has also produced many other Cerha CDs. While Spiegel at the time of its writing involved a radical treatment of orchestral texture which went some way beyond comparable work being composed at the time by composers like Ligeti and Penderecki, Cerha later moved towards a more retrospective "expressionistic" style as you might expect from someone so involved in the music of Alban Berg. Of course his completion of Lulu is a great achievement and extremely unlikely to be superseded. He was also a founder and co-director of the ensemble Die Reihe, and an important composition teacher in Austria; I know a couple of composers who studied with him and they speak extremely highly of him.

[Mandryka]

The later music is really appealing to me - I'm very fond of the three pieces called Langeger Nachtmusik, and the trio called Nachtstuck on the Boulanger Trio recording. It may be that night music was a big deal for him - like Bartok!

Another fun thing which I like is the art chansons - there are a couple of sets. I kind of wish I could understand German - but even without, they kind of make an impact and create an ambience. Good vibes.

[Serial_Apologist]

I have Cerha conducting well-known Satie pieces with his ensemble Die Reihe, which seems rather outside his own aesthetic remit. Apart from that I have yet to hear any of his own music. I can't remember it ever having been broadcast.

[smittims]

Yes, very rarely there have been soem Cerha pieces in Radio 3. He made a fine 'Pierot Lunaire' on Vox/Turnabout and of course his work on Act Threee of 'Lulu' is a monument to him.

[RichardB]

I have Cerha conducting well-known Satie pieces with his ensemble Die Reihe, which seems rather outside his own aesthetic remit.

His "aesthetic remit" was actually extremely eclectic, and (like Satie's) embraced cabaret music as well as more esoteric areas. The Spiegel series might be the culmination of a particular direction in his work but actually my use of the word "expressionistic" for his later work is a bit glib and misleading, because he was quite difficult to pin down stylistically. But so for that matter was Alban Berg in many ways.

[Mandryka]

It’s well worth reading his essay on Spiegel and other pieces composed around that time in the booklet for Cambreling’s recording, just for the way he tells the story of how his thinking about music was developing.

https://static.qobuz.com/goodies/03/000154630.pdf

By the way, the Gielen comes up on Qobuz as “remastered” - but it doesn’t sound as good as Cambreling. The interpretations are different of course.

[Mandryka]

He certainly was difficult to pin down, like Rihm and Finnissy. Here's Requiem for Rikki, which seems to me like a romantic orchestral lied

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ9upbBFbb4&ab_channel=QaraQarayevMusicFestival

[Mandryka]

And these are gorgeous things from the period before Spiegel -- they may well become my favourite things by Cerha -- Relazioni fragili and Intersecazioni . We're in the sound world of the 1950s European avant garde, but they're none the worse for that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Wh1fTGhG4&ab_channel=ThorstenGubatz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G68ik5Ss4g&ab_channel=ThorstenGubatz

[Mandryka]

https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/klangforum-wien-e-pom-rico-werke-von-neuwirth-paxton-furrer-berio-cerha-dlf-kultur-86e79330-100.html

Cerha Jahrlang ins Ungewisse hinab, small orchestra and voice. I think Sciarrino-esque. Someone else tells me it's Rihm-esque. At the end of the day it's nice. Starts at 1:23:15.

There's an intro in German before hand -- if any German understanders can say whether it says anything interesting (like when it was composed etc.) that would be cool.