Konzert for Klavier & Orchester

I really shouldn't like this music. I have complained--on more than a few occasions--about composers who rely on instrumental effects. These effects include playing inside the piano or slapping keys on wind instruments while making breath sounds or some such. This sort of novelty is often a distraction from the fact that a composer really has nothing to say. Beat Furrer's music is full of sounds like this, and I shouldn't like it. But I do.

Furrer has a keen ear, and has obviously experimented with all sorts of ways that instruments can make sound. What distinguishes him from countless other composers is that he uses these sounds in the service of greater goals. He has something to say. This is not music for the timid--those who seek solace and comfort in music. It is elemental, often brutal. But it is also exciting and innovative. The three vocal pieces on this CD feature voice against a single instrument. The vocal writing is fragmented and percussive in a way that matches the instrumental writing. In places it is hard to tell which timbre is which. In Fama VI, the accompanying instrument is a contrabass flute. This rare, gigantic instrument is seldom heard; it is a delight.

Spur, for piano and string quartet, is a quickly-paced and dynamic piece. The strings are often ponticello, playing against a motoric piano. A central idea of the piece involves widely-space ascending harmony. It is a peculiar and very striking effect.

The Piano Concerto is really something of its own. It is active--often frenetic in a way vaguely reminiscent of Boulez--and violent. Furrer describes the orchestra as an extension of the piano's harmonics. That's discernibly true, but in a novel way. In one of the more thrilling moments, high harmony swirls around the piano like mercury in a gigantic bowl. I've never heard anything quite like it.

I've heard lot of music in my life. I'll have to hear more of Beat Furrer to know if he's as distinctive a voice as he appears to be. But he's made a very good first impression.

Beat Furrer is a Swiss-born Austrian composer of my generation (b. 1954). In 1985 Furrer founded the Klangforum Wien, a leading new music ensemble. The live performances and this recording of the fantastic "Konzert fur Klavier und Orchester" (18'35 -- 2007) should bring his music to the attention of many new listeners. His major works until now have featured vocals, including FAMA and Begehren (Desire), an updated version of Orpheus and Eurydice, both recently recorded by Kairos (the Austrian label). This disc includes three duets for soprano (two with flute, one with bass, one spoken rather than sung), and so it serves to introduce a new listener to Furrer's vocal writing.

This Kairos disc is brilliantly programmed. If you do not have time to listen to the entire 77 minutes in a state of concentration or late evening mood, you might choose to listen only to the Piano Concerto, which is energetic and rhythmic, reminding me with its dark motorik sextuplets of Pollini's recording of Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 7. But if you choose to listen to the entire disc, it combines six works that were not composed together into what amounts to a coherent chamber cycle, reflecting the strong continuity across Furrer's projects. Piano and soprano pieces alternate, and the piano pieces gradually diminish in size from the concerto's full orchestra to a piano quintet with string quartet, to a piano trio with violin and cello. After the dark but extroverted concerto -- "klavier noir" -- the rest of the program moves into a somber, inward sort of fugue state, with minimal forces but maximum intensity, empty space yet strong forward momentum.

Nicolas Hodges is the pianist, and for the concerto he is joined by the WDR Sinfonieorchester Koln, led by Peter Rundel. Furrer is a trained pianist himself, and his writing for the instrument is compelling. The concerto is "a composed spatialization of the piano's sound." The orchestra amplifies the sound qualities, with special attention to the lower strings. "[T]he piano's entire spectrum is explored from the bottom to the top." Accelerating cascades of sextuplets draw in the entire ensemble, with the instruction "martellato" -- hammered. This is the central dynamic, one which is not likely to be mistaken for Debussy. "The piece develops toward an increasingly metallic, very high gong-like timbre." While it begins sounding like an ominous noir film soundtrack, in its formal structure the concerto takes the form of "a great wave, interrupted by a slow section in the middle, concluding with fortissimo cascades." I have no doubt that this great new concerto has been met with boisterous applause following its live performances!

"spur" (12'53 -- 1998) for piano and string quartet, and "retour an dich" (16'38 -- 1984) for piano trio are compelling, dynamic chamber works full of tension like coiled springs, performed by members of KNM Berlin. They are situated among three works for soprano: "invocation VI" (8'39 -- 2003) for soprano and bass flute, "FAMA VI" (10'12 -- 2005) for voice and contrabass flute, and "lotofagos I" (12'53 -- 2006) for soprano and double bass. Petra Hoffman, who has often recorded Furrer's works, sings "invocation" and Tora Augestag sings "lotofagos," while Isabelle Menke is the voice for FAMA. Eva Furrer plays the flutes, and Uli Fussenegger plays double bass. I have only recently come to appreciate classical vocals, and now I can appreciate Beat Furrer's music, along with Birtwistle, Kurtag and other modern masters of vocal writing. All three vocal works are sections of longer works, but work incredibly well in this program. The notes provide a story synopsis and context, but no English libretto. While the translation would have been welcomed, I find that in combination with the piano works this music is all powerfully effective and evocative.

This quote from Furrer from Oxford Music Online deepen's my appreciation of his music and ethic:

"I am always interested in finding out what keeps mankind in such random movement, cutting himself off from nature as if in a blind rage. I want to try to understand the great change that is about to take place without our even noticing it."

He speaks of course of the great wave of extinction now taking place, the radical altering of the climate, and the changes in the very definition of humanity which occur even as our technological, economic and social institutions roll inexorably into the Radiant Future.

This disc should bring Furrer's music to a new audience if there is any justice in the world!

(verified purchase from Amoeba Records, Berkeley)