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Thomas Larcher: ‘Each composition is an excavation from my past’

On Saturday 22 May, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, principal conductor Karina Canellakis and pianist Kirill Gerstein will premiere the new Piano Concerto by Austrian composer Thomas Larcher in NTRZaterdagMatinee. – Unfortunately still no audience is allowed in Main Hall The Concertgebouw, but the concert will be broadcast live on NPO Radio 4. I wrote the programme notes and Larcher was kind enough to answer some questions.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION

Thomas Larcher (1963) has been featured in NTRZaterdagMatinee many times, both as a pianist and as a composer. He composed several (co-)commissioned works for the series. In 2017, his Second Symphony “Kenotaph” had its Dutch premiere in this radio series. The scheduled first performance of the Third Symphony last year was postponed because of corona. Larcher was composer in residence of The Concertgebouw then (2019-2020), and as such the predecessor of Samuel Adams, whose piece Movements (for us and them) opens the concert.

Larcher’s Piano Concerto again is a co-commission from NTRZaterdagMatinee. The composer often relates to music history, and this goes for the new piece as well: ‘Each of my pieces is an archaeological excavation from my own past’, he says. ‘Especially now perhaps, since it involves the piano, “my” instrument. The Piano Concerto is mostly inspired by pieces I wrote in the early 1990s, when I resisted composing for piano. There’s a lot of aggression and conflict in it.

This seems paradoxical, because in Larcher’s early compositions the piano plays a prominent role. However, he does sometimes ask the pianist to forcefully pound away on its keyboard, as in Naunz (1989). Moreover, he often works with a ‘prepared piano’, not always treating the instrument with excessive care. In Noodivihik for piano solo (1992), for example, he manipulates a vibrating bass string with a pair of rusty nail scissors. In Mumien for cello and piano (2001) he places an array of erasers between the strings and even covers some with duct tape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xejixZOiFik

Embalmed MUMMY

In the Piano Concerto, the instrument is mainly played in a ‘normal’ way. Apart from a few moments when the soloist hits the strings with the flat of his hand, scrapes them with his fingernails, employs an eraser or dampens them with a piece of denim. At times the dynamics change per note from fortissimo to piano.

The unorthodox orchestral line-up with accordion, two saxophones and cimbalom, is striking. However this is no coincidence, as Larcher has a name to lose in terms of using unusual sound colours. ‘The traditional orchestra is in dire need of change’, he explains.  ‘It must open up for instruments other than the usual ones, otherwise it will end up as a wonderfully embalmed mummy. The saxophones give the woodwinds more transparency, and their colour provides clear contours.’

Thomas Larcher: “The orchestra must open up for instruments other than the usual ones, otherwise it will end up as a wonderfully embalmed mummy.”

SPINE

Percussion also has a prominent role, with four musicians playing such unconventional instruments as tambourin de Provence (a narrow, portable drum) and steel drums. ‘The percussion acts as a kind of clock that sets the structure. It simultaneously serves as a timer, metronome, heart rate monitor, prompter, and blood pressure monitor.’

‘At other times the emphasis lies more on the melodic progression, for percussion may no less be a melody  instrument than the piano.’ Often the soloist teams up with percussion, accordion, cimbalom and celesta. Yet this does not mean they are acting as a kind of concertino or shadow ensemble: ‘Rather, these instruments constitute the spine and the nerve tracts enclosed within.’

CONSTRUCTION AND EXPRESSION

The Piano Concerto is dedicated to Larcher’s former composition teacher Erich Urbanner: ‘Both as a teacher and as a composer, he has meant a lot to me. A very outspoken, strong-willed and incorruptible personality, he taught with great passion. But he was also ruthless in his towering musical demands. For one, you had to master counterpoint to the hilt.’

Larcher greatly admires Urbanner’s own compositions. ‘I have known them since I was twelve. I am still deeply impressed by his Cello Concerto from 1981, which I heard in a performance by Heinrich Schiff. It opened up new worlds for me. For the first time I experienced a synthesis between construction and profound expression. That has left a big mark on my own music.’

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVQ8osHmx7s

#KarinaCanellakis #KirillGerstein #NTRZaterdagmatinee #RadioFilharmonischOrkest #ThomasLarcher

Thomas Larcher voices fatal mountain climb in Third Symphony

In 2020, the world premiere of Thomas Larcher‘s Third Symphony fell through due to corona. The subtitle A Line Above the Sky refers to British mountaineer Tom Ballard, who fatally crashed in 2019. It wasn’t until February 2021 that the Symphony actually sounded for the first time, in Brno; on 25 September the belated Dutch premiere will be presented by the  Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of chief conductor Karina Canellakis as part of the radio series NTRZaterdagMatinee.

Thomas Larcher, born in 1963 in Innsbruck, is considered one of the most important composers of his generation. He is also a welcome guest in the Netherlands. He was the resident composer of the Concertgebouw in 2019-20 and the NTRZaterdagMatinee has staged many (world) premieres. Just this past May, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, pianist Kirill Gerstein and principal conductor Karina Canellakis reaped great acclaim for the (also postponed) premiere of his Piano Concerto.

‘Pianist Kirill Gerstein and the orchestra draw you into an enchanting landscape’, wrote the Volkskrant – and gave five stars. ‘What follows is an exuberant finale on jazzy hopscotch rhythms’, the NRC noted. ‘Afterwards, you’ll want to hear Larcher’s Piano Concerto again immediately.’ I’d be surprised if his Third Symphony doesn’t lead to jubilant reviews again. The recording of its Austrian premiere in August, once more illustrates his apt sense of form and colourful way of orchestrating.

TYROL

Thomas Larcher is also valued in his homeland. In 2019 he received the Grosser Österreichischer Staatspreis and last June he received the Tiroler Landespreis für Kunst. This highest art award of the Austrian state of Tyrol is not only a tribute to the musical significance of the composer and pianist, but also a thank you for his relentless commitment to the culture of his native region. In 1994 he founded the Klangspuren festival, focused on new music, followed ten years later by the interpreter’s festival Musik im Riesen; both attract international luminaries.

The mountainous landscape of Austria is a constant source of inspiration for Larcher. An avid mountaineer and skier himself, he says he finds relief and solace in its rugged nature. No wonder he is fascinated by British alpinist Tom Ballard (1988-2019). Ballard established several imaginative climbing routes, including the Seven Pillars of Wisdom on the Eiger in Switzerland. He was also the first mountaineer to solo climb all six major alpine north faces in one winter season.

SILENT GIANTS

In 2015, Ballard gained world fame when he created the D15 route in the Dolomites, A Line Above the Sky. He designed this track using the dry-tooling method: the climber only has crampons on his shoes and an ice axe in each hand. Back then the route was the most difficult one in the world, though it is only some 45 metres long: it starts out vertically but very soon becomes almost entirely horizontal, so that the mountaineer quasi climbs ‘under a ceiling’.

In his own programme notes, Larcher expresses his admiration for Ballard: ‘He was one of the most fascinating and best alpinists of his generation, and was particularly strong in winter climbing.’ The composer is convinced that the fact Ballard named his infamous dry-tooling route A Line Above the Sky testifies of his desire to ‘live in the light’.

As an amateur climber, Larcher recognizes the strong connection Ballard felt with the mountains, ‘those silent giants that have been watching us for a long time’. He compares the Brit’s passion for mountaineering to his own devotion to music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ITyPMDVR9s

LIFE’S WORTH

Larcher, however, has less understanding for Ballard’s deliberation to put his life on the line, which eventually proved fatal  to him. During an expedition to Nanga Parbat, Pakistan in February 2019, Ballard disappeared from the radar; not long after, they found his disembodied body. Larcher: ‘That someone should persist in his attempts to climb the Nanga Parbat even in very poor weather conditions is beyond me.’

For the composer, this inevitably leads to metaphysical questions such as, ‘What is life’; ‘How much is your life worth to you’, and ‘What does your life mean to others?’ With these thoughts in mind, he composed his Third Symphony in 2019. The thirty-minute piece has two, untitled movements. The first is ‘a testimony to the intensity of life’, the second a ‘Trauermusik’ (mourning music)..

FROM COOKIE TIN TO THUNDER PLATE

As in earlier orchestral works, Larcher has expanded the regular orchestral lineup. Thus, in addition to their own instruments, the wind players play slide whistles, vibraslaps and water phones. The four percussionists not only operate an array of tuned and un-tuned percussion, but also a cookie tin, a milk pan, paper, an oil drum and other unlikely musical instruments.

Wind machine and thunderplate are generously employed and a starring role is given to cimbalom, accordion, celesta, harp and piano. – Some of the piano strings are fitted with E-bows or dampened with erasers, almost a matter of course in Larcher’s sound universe.

With this orchestral apparatus, Larcher manages to evoke both the expansive vistas and the implicit menace of the mountains. In claustrophobically dense sound fabrics, ascending and descending motifs battle for precedence. Icy highs find a counterpoint in abyssal lows; frivolous swirls are intersected with ominous thunderclaps; sudden silences make you hold your breath. The pace is slow, the orchestral sound luscious and expansive; Mahler is never far away.

SPIKE STAIRS

The soundscape constantly shifts between intoxicating stillness, arcadian lyricism, restrained tension and deafening roaring, just as in the mountains new landscapes and dangers lurk behind every corner. Striking are the many passages in which a soloist ‘climbs’ melodically up or down, while the cimbalom builds a spiky staircase with measured strokes. Toward the end, dissonant cries from the brass, solid drumbeats, violent tremoloes in the strings, a fierce accordion, and roaring tubular bells create an anxious climax.

The Symphony ends with a shrouded heartbeat in the piano, which is smothered in a charged silence, the strings softly dying away. – Suspended in mid-air hangs the almost rhetorical question: was it all worth it? 

#KarinaCanellakis #NTRZaterdagmatinee #RadioFilharmonischOrkest #ThomasLarcher #TomBallard

“De Staat” van Louis Andriessen in #PanoramadeLeeuw XVII

Draaide ik in de vorige aflevering van Panorama de Leeuw de liederencyclus Canto general van Peter Schat, op woensdag 2 maart liet ik De Staat van Louis Andriessen horen. Beide stukken ontstonden in de jaren zeventig van de vorige eeuw, toen ‘de vijf’ nog met elkaar bevriend waren. Reinbert de Leeuw was betrokken bij de wereldpremières van beide stukken, die hij ook vaker uitvoerde.

In mijn uitzending zoomde ik nader in op de ‘Kwestie-Schuyt’, een onverkwikkelijke affaire rond de betaling van Nico Schuyt als hoofd documentatie van uitgeverij Donemus. De zaak kende alleen maar verliezers en betekende een bestuurlijk dieptepunt in de carrière van Reinbert de Leeuw. Ik kreeg verschillende reacties van mensen, die verrast waren de achtergronden van deze controverse te horen. In mijn biografie Reinbert de Leeuw, mens of melodie ben ik uitvoerig op deze zaak ingegaan.

Op woensdag 10 februari deed ik een nagesprek bij een openbare repetitie van Amsterdam Sinfonietta, met de Oostenrijkse componist Thomas Larcher, de cellist Jean-Quihen Queyras en de violiste Candida Thompson, artistiek leider en concertmeester van het strijkorkest.

De zaal was gevuld met een zeer aandachtig publiek, dat graag een kijkje achter de schermen nam bij de instudering van Ouroboros, dat Larcher speciaal voor Amsterdam Sinfonietta en Queyras had gecomponeerd. Donderdag 11 februari deed ik ook de inleiding, waarbij ik uitvoerig met Larcher sprak over zijn manier van componeren en over de totstandkoming van zijn stuk. Tijdens het concert speelde Paolo Giacometti ook diens stuk Mumien voor cello en piano. Ik vroeg hem naar de hierin gebruikte ‘prepared piano’.

https://youtu.be/xejixZOiFik

Een dag later werd het boek Pierre Audi, man en mythe van Roland de Beer gepresenteerd in de Stopera. Enige maanden geleden had De Beer mij in tamelijke wanhoop gebeld omdat zijn uitgever het bij nader inzien niet wilde publiceren, zou ik een goed woordje voor hem kunnen doen bij de uitgever van mijn biografie van Reinbert de Leeuw, was zijn vraag. Uiteraard heb ik Roland meteen bij Dolf Weverink geïntroduceerd en na lezing van het manuscript besloot hij het boekwerk van De Beer inderdaad uit te geven. Roland schreef een mooi bedankje in mijn exemplaar.

Drie dagen later werd eveneens in de Stopera het nieuwe seizoen van De Nationale Opera gepresenteerd Daar trof ik ook Erik Voermans, wiens artikelenbundel Van Andriessen tot Zappa ik een week eerder had besproken. Hij was zo blij met mijn lovende woorden, dat hij vreesde dat mensen zouden denken dat hij mij betaald had, zoals hij in een tweet had laten weten.

Donderdag 18 februari maakte ik een reportage van het project Pronkstukken, waarin TivoliVredenburg samenwerkt met Utrechtse middelbare scholen. Leerlingen van het Bonifatiuscollege componeerden een eigen stuk dat geïnspireerd was op het Tweede Pianoconcert van Sjostakovitsj, dat de volgende dag werd uitgevoerd in het AVROTROSVrijdagconcert. Mijn reportage werd tijdens de live uitzending gedraaid.

Ik maakte ook een kort filmpje met de workshopleiders Niels Vermeulen en Jurgen van Harskamp.

https://youtu.be/edGvsj8hTJo

Vrijdag 19 februari deed ik de inleiding bij een concert van het blokfluitkwintet Seldom Sene, dat onder de titel Spaanse pepers een zeer gevarieerd programma bracht met Spaanse meesters uit de vijftiende en zestiende eeuw. De vijf dames speelden niet alleen geweldig, maar bleken ook enthousiasmerende gesprekspartners, zowel inleiding als concert was een groot succes.

Donderdag 25 februari presenteerde het Koninklijk Concertgebouw het nieuwe seizoen, en de presentatie stond geheel in het teken van de komst van de nieuwe chef-dirigent, Daniele Gatti. Een bijzonder charmante man, die zich helaas vooral richt op het ijzeren repertoire. Wel is hij bijzonder enthousiast over manieren om nieuw publiek te werven, zoals hij me vertelde.
https://youtu.be/EUnBG1UkQqI

Voor het nieuwere repertoire engageert het KCO andere dirigenten, zoals Joel Fried vertelt in dit filmpje. Ik schreef een verslag.

Een dag later zat ik alweer in de Stopera, voor een repetitie van Only the Sound Remains van Kaija Saariaho. Deze double-bill is gebaseerd op twee stukken uit het Nôh Theater en wordt geregisseerd door de controversiële Amerikaan Peter Sellars. De hoofdrol in beide korte opera’s wordt gezongen door de Franse countertenor Philippe Jaroussky. Ik sprak uitgebreid met Saariaho over haar nieuwe opera, waarmee op 15 maart het Opera Forward Festival geopend wordt. Je leest mijn interview hier.

Het toeval wil dat ik door Südwestrundfunk gevraagd werd een reportage te maken van het festival, dus na afloop van de repetitie stak ik ook Jaroussky en Sellars nog even mijn microfoon onder hun neus. Beiden toonden zich enthousiaste sprekers en hun uitspraken verwerkte ik in een artikel voor Cultuurpers.