Rihm: Gejagte Form

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.

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.

The extremely prolific Wolfgang Rihm is a leading German contemporary composer who combines contemporary techniques with the emotional sturm und drang of Mahler and the late romantics in a relatively accessible, though undeniably modern language. His music is as such often taken to represent a reaction to the relative sterility of, say, Boulez or the uncompromising modernity of Lachenmann, although in reality his style is more a continuation of the styles of these composers (the music is for instance obviously strongly indebted to Lachenmann) than a break.

I am not sure that this disc is the best place to sample his music, however - the music on this disc is enjoyable enough, sometimes stirring, but often comes across as more gimmicky than substantial, not always inviting repeated listening. Gejagte Form dates from 1995-96 and is probably the most interesting single work here. It starts out as a frenzied race, but constantly takes unexpected turns, doubles back on itself, is interrupted by details and finds itself in different places than one would have thought it would be - whenever a clear path seems to lay ahead, the piece is nudged off in a slightly different direction. It is quite enjoyable and deftly constructed without necessarily being a modern masterpiece. Verborgene Formen takes up many of the same structural ideas, but is more introvert and mystical and, frankly, less interesting (quite simply, I suppose, because Rihm's music relies so heavily on surface excitement rather than genuinely strong thematic or structural ideas) - it is still more than worth hearing, however.

Whereas the Formen-pieces utilize the whole 24-strong ensemble of Klangforum Wien, Chiffre 1 is scored for piano and seven instruments. It is relatively short, rather abrasive and rough-hewn, based on a repeated piano figure. I failed to find the heads or tails of this one, but insofar as it is the introduction to the Chiffre cycle it might make more sense in the context of the whole cycle. It is followed on this disc by the second installment, Silence to be beaten, whose overall theme is momentum. Given Rihm's general ability to generate surface excitement, one would think this should have been a success. And it is indeed rather fun, with its quirky, syncopated rhythms which finally settles on a steady, accelerating pulse. But it also sounds a little gimmicky with the long period of silence and gradual reappearance of the music (apparently the silences to be beaten).

I have no qualms about the performances - they sound excellent to me, although I haven't heard any alternatives to compare them to. Still I am not sure how well this disc works as an introduction to the composer; maybe the disc from Deutsche Gramophon containing the whole Formen cycle might be a better option (I have not heard it) - certainly I am more inclined to seek out this than the Chiffre cycle. Still, this disc deserves a firm enough recommendation, despite it's stingy 47 minutes of total playing time - this is contemporary music with a smile, without necessarily being too compromising.