Grafenegg Academy 2022

It is not especially conceivable that I could come to Grafenegg and not present some music by Steve Reich. His output has powerfully altered the trajectory of new music and the influence can be felt almost anywhere you care to listen. For my own part, I am his loyal emissary, formed an ensemble uniquely devoted to his music in 2006 and have had two works written for me by Steve so far. His transformation and elevation of chamber music for percussion is well documented and represented by a myriad of masterpieces, and in that spirit, I chose to present his «Mallet Quartet» here in Grafenegg. 

In three movements, a regular form for the composer, we hear three related yet distinct musical scenarios play out. Movement one is to me, rather symphonic, opulent even, with the two marimbas providing the harmonic backdrop to the vibraphones jamming away in canon at the front of the ensemble. The slow movement is balletic and charming, and draws the listener very close indeed to the lower dynamics and registers of the keyboards. Movement three is somewhat more wistful, yet there is room for more bounce, more light. The conclusion leaves you wrapt and elated, a final punctuation mark on a magnificent piece of musical melodic-machinery.

The «Kimmo» by Anders Eliasson occupies a very dear and tender place in Håkan’s repertoire. For many years, this has been on our wish list to put together and now we finally have our chance, here at Grafenegg. Bopping, busy, brazen, the work kicks off in high gear, the ensemble glued together by an up-tempo and off-beat hi-hat. Jazzy licks rattle forth from the trumpet, and the percussion orchestra behind offer immense variety of colour and also association - Gamelan comes to mind and its beguiling array of gongs and metallophones, all featured here. 

The central movement features some of the greatest solo trumpet writing in the whole literature. A movement of genuine mourning, grief and remembrance, before the third movement gets us back into high gear and set for an invigorating conclusion. Truly a masterpiece of this combination - trumpet and percussion, exactly how Håkan and I like it!

The evening's concert will continue with impressive works. At 8.00 pm on July 24, the Grafenegg Academy Orchestra will perform on stage for the second time - this time at the Wolkenturm. With them: pieces of music from different stylistic periods - some of them very humorous.

Håkan and I agreed early on that the inclusion of a Haydn symphony would be essential in our programme for Grafenegg. The subtlety, wit, grace and beauty of this music transcends and perhaps dislocates from the era of its creation, and the music’s astonishingly timeless quality is central to its modern day appeal. Music of vigour, dignity and joy to open our symphonic concert.  

At Grafenegg, presenting Austrian music is necessarily essential to our ethos, and there is no one more celebrated in this realm between myself and Håkan than the marvellous, miraculous «Nali» Gruber. In 1999, Håkan premiered the trumpet concerto «Aerial» which would become an astounding work at the core of his repertoire, and connections were already being made, on some level, as I was in the audience for this performance at the back of the Royal Albert Hall, drinking in the newly formed magic. Building my own relationship with Gruber over the years by working on the concerto «Rough Music» with him, I would go on to premiere his second percussion concerto «into the open…» at the BBC Proms myself, in 2015. So it is the most natural thing imaginable to be in Austria and performing Gruber with the orchestra of the Grafenegg Academy.

The Johann Strauss gives the perfect quick-step set-up to HK’s «Charivari» - but make no mistake, as for Gruber, any hint of frivolity is quickly dispelled in music of biting sarcasm, urgency and something that indeed offers a bleak yet vivacious musical statement. The rhythmic devices are typical Gruber too - often with multiple tempos superimposed on each other, and instrumental pairings shooting across the orchestra. A wild ride, and an urgent one. 

More warnings are issued by Stravinsky in his «Symphony in Three Movements», which is inextricably linked to the Second World War. Definitely a candidate for the most fantastically syncopated piece of music ever written, this work contains material for what could have become a piano concerto, and as such features highly prominent roles for piano, and also the harp. The explosive power of the work is certainly something we are keen to unleash - the sheer excitement and eventually the rather fabulous conclusion, the splendour of which would immediately be taken up by every film composer since.

To consolidate our focus on Helen Grime, we also present the Austrian Premiere of her eerie and nerve-wracking «Near Midnight». A superbly detailed score, in which every section of the orchestra gets to shine (from the growling basses to the whirling woodwind) and yet the denouement is indeed ambiguous. Inspired by the uncertainty and latent danger of the time «Near Midnight» the work portrays both fear and hope, cloak and dagger all the way. What appeals to me in her music is the utterly gripping, lamenting melodic sense, and yet, there is much dissonance around, and frequent discord at the cadences. This is shocking and wondrous music, a symphonic work of grandeur and fragility, tenderness and tension.