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Musikfest gets horny: Wolfgang Rihm

INTERVIEW. Wanna raise those brows to high? Berlin offers nearly three weeks of orchestral bliss all over the city with Musikfest (Sep 2-22). Star composer Rihm brings the horns in the German premiere of his new concerto, Sep 6, 7, 11 and 17.

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Photo by Kai Bienert

The 10th edition of Musikfest, the Berliner Festspiele’s annual orchestra extravaganza, has a special focus on horn – a perfect opportunity for the German premiere of star composer Wolfgang Rihm’s new Concerto for Horn and Orchestra, performed by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra on Sun, Sep 14 in advance of the London Philharmonic’s performance of Schumann’s Concerto for Four Horns and Orchestra. Other works by Rihm can be heard on Sep 6, 7, 12 and 17.

Your new concert piece for horn will be performed at the Musikfest – can you describe it?

I have a relatively clear idea about the piece. But how should I describe it? And to whom? Everyone hears something different anyway. Let’s try it: it is my best horn concert piece. Hmm… Yet it is the only one. Am I just a confidence trickster? Maybe not, but I would like to protect this horn concert from the wrong expectations. In the arts, the best ‘presentation’ or ‘introduction’ is the art piece itself. Once you have shown the work, the various reactions and individual experiences set up a horizon that makes a basis for each one’s expectation.

What was the starting point to work on the new piece for horn?

The line, the melody. I have a penchant for melody, in particular in concert works. I simply don’t like the digital jabbering that by its length and breadth is considered “virtuoso”. Concerts for me are about the horizon of spun, melodic lines. About tensions and relaxations of a vocal tone.

What is your relationship with the horn as an instrument?

It took me a long time to find my way to the horn. Its psychology is very complex. You need time to understand the horn. Where is its place? Concretely: what is its place in the orchestra? Wood? Brass? Bond? Breakout? Line? Signal? And then: the position. I love the line of its sound. It can absolutely disappear faraway – an expression of its huge presence. And it can shake our bowels – before it penetrates our heart.

In a few Musikfest concerts your works are presented together with Brahms’ compositions – do you think your music goes well together?

Yes. Very well. The better the neighbourhood – the better the man himself. This applies of course only for concert programmes. Mozart would also be right… and all the others…

How important is the choice of pieces performed next to yours?

When pieces are well performed, it cannot really go wrong. Sometimes the pieces stand in each other’s way. The order is often crucial. For the audience, the pieces that are performed at the beginning often feel lightweight, even when they are not.

What is more important for a composer: concentration or inspiration?

Imagine concentration without inspiration! That would be almost as bad as inspiration without concentration.

Can you quote a specific inspiration source for the Konzert für Horn und Orchester?

The sound of the horn itself. The free settlement of the melody – nothing literary, no picture. Just music.

How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard it yet?

My composing is a permanent attempt to describe my music to someone who doesn’t know it yet.

Listen to Wolfgang Rihm’s Lichtes Spiel.