August 09, 2008
Krzysztof Meyer and transparent music
“Love men and always give them the best with your music.” This is the admonition that Dmitri Shostakovich bequeathed to his friend Krysztof Meyer.
“Love men and always give them the best with your music.” This is the admonition that Dmitri Shostakovich bequeathed to his friend Krysztof Meyer, AsiagoFestival’s guest composer, who on Sunday morning told the Asiago audience about himself du- rantly during the customary “Meeting with the Composer” that the festival offers by inviting every year one of the most significant contemporary composers, whom it also commissions a new work. And just waiting to be able to hear, on Sunday evening, his “Duet” for two violins, commissioned by AsiagoFestival premiered at the San Rocco Church by Anna Tifu and Maddalena Reszler, the day that the Fesitval asiaghese dedicated to Meyer began with the composer’s reflections and memories.
Born during World War II in Kraków, Meyer recalled that at the age of thirteen he made his debut as an organist, and then embarked on an intense and recognized artistic career, thanks in part to the teachings of Krzystof Penderecki and Witold Lu- tosławski, but also thanks to three study-trips to Paris as a student of Nadia Boulanger. But in the stages of his formations Meyer recalled above all with great recognition the International Fesitval of Contemporary Music in Warsaw, where he was able to in- contrare such composers as Luigi Nono, Luciano Berio and Franco Donatoni, representatives, allo- ra, of a far-flung “west.” but to whom the Polish government granted confrontation with their artists, making Poland a sort of “cultural buffer” between Eastern and Western Europe, probably- Meyer wished to emphasize-thanks in part to the authoritative pre- without of the church, which instilled courage in the artists and somewhat loosened the meshes of the re- gime toward the artists themselves.
But the most significant meeting of his artistic life was surely the one with Shosta- kovich, who was his friend until the moment of his death (among the recollections cited is that of a letter written to him by the Russian composer on the day he died, and which Meyer received after ex- posing at his funeral) and from whom he certainly assimilated the importance of tra- sparency, legibility and, why not, irony.
In fact, just as listening to his music also leads one to think, Meyer confided to the Asiaghese audience that he loves simplicity and levity, that he prefers-with a comparison referring to the visual arts-Beato Angelico to the second nineteenth century, that he knows that it is easier to “put,” in a composition, but that “take away” is often more appropriate…
So when the artistic director of AsiagoFestival, Julius Berger, harnessed the vio- loncello to perform two enchanting movements of the “Sonata a solo” for cello that Meyer dedicated to him last year, it was easy to recognize among the transparencies and refinements of the composition the words and ideas expressed by Meyer himself little
first. And if his music is still not as well known as it deserves to be in our country, it should be emphasized that the audiences who are getting to know it better thanks to the Asiago Festival programs are listening to works that are far from trivial yet immediately comprehensible, as transparent and luminous as those can be who have learned from such a valuable friend as Shostakovich how important it is to “always give the best with music.”
ASIAGOFESTIVAL is organized by the Cultural Association “Friends of Music of Asiago” – “Fiorella Benetti Brazzale”, in collaboration with the Parish of St. Matthew, with the contribution and collaboration of the City of Asiago, Department of Tourism and Culture and the decisive support of Banca Popolare di Vicenza, Burro delle Alpi – Alpilatte, Gran Moravia, Bassan Bernardo and Sons and Rigoni di Asiago.
KRZYSZTOF MEYER was born in Krakow on August 11, 1943. From the age of five he began studying piano, and from 1954 theory and composition with Stanislaw Wiechowicz. After promotion to the Fryderyk Chopin State Music School in Kraków he entered the Kraków College of Music where he received two honorable mention degrees: in 1965 in composition under Krzystof Penderecki (after Stanislaw Wiechowicz’s death) and in 1966 in theory. In 1964, 1966 and 1968 he went to France to study with Nadia Bou- langer. In 1965-67 he participated as a pianist in the contemporary music group “MW2 Ensemble” giving concerts in partria and abroad, in major European countries, also performing his own solo piano compositions. From 1966 to 1987 Krzystof Meyer taught composition at the Krakow Academy of Music.
In the years 1972-75 he was deputy and then director of the Music Theory Department. Since 1987 he has taught music composition at the Musikhochschule in Cologne. He has lectured on contemporary music abroad (Soviet Union, East and West Germany, Austria, Brazil). In 1985-1989 he was president of the Union of Polish Composers. He won numerous prizes, such as first prize at the Competition for Young Composers in France (1966), second prize at the Competition for Young Polish Composers with the first symphony (1966), the Aaron Coopland Scholarship (1966), Honorable Mention for the second symphony (1967), and first prize for the third symphony (1968) at the Young Composers’ Competition in Fitelberg, the Prix de Composition Mu- sicale at the Prince Pierre de Monaco Foundation for the work “Cyberiada” (1970), twice a special mention at theLa Tribune Internationale des Compositeurs UNESCO in Pari- gi for his String Quartets no. 2 and no. 3 (1970, 1976), Second Prize at the Artur Malawski Competition in Cracow for the “Chamber Concerto for Oboe, Percussion and Strings” (1972), twice the prize of the Ministry of Culture and Arts (1973, 1975), First Prize at the Karol Szymanowski Competition in Warsaw for the Fourth Symphony (1974), twice the medal awarded by the Brazilian Government for the String Quartet no. 4 and for the “Retro Concerto” (1975, 1977) the Gottfried-von-Herder Prize (Vienna, 1984), the Annual Prize of the Union of Polish Composers (1992), the Alfred Jurzykowski Prize (New York, 1994) and the Johann-Stamitz Prize (Mannheim, 1996). He is a member of the “Freie Akademie der Künste” in Mannheim. Krzysztof Meyer’s compositions have been performed all over the world. They have been performed at international contemporary music festivals such as the “Warsaw Autumn,” “Musicki Biennale Zagreb,” “Holland Festi- val,” “Musikprotokoll Graz,” “Aldeburgh Festival,” “Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival,”
“Lucerne Festival,” and many others. Many of his works have been commissioned by leading soloists (the “Flute Concerto” for Aurèle Nicolet, the “Chamber Concerto” for oboe for Lothar Faber, the “Capriccioso Piece” for Heinz Holliger, the “Trumpet Concerto” for Ti- mofei Dokshitser, the “Cello Sonata” for David Geringas, the “Canti Amadei” for Ivan Monighetti). His Symphony No. 1 was one of the three contemporary pieces obliged at the International Courses for Conductors” held by Igor Marke- vich in Munich in 1971, as was his “Hommage à Johannes Brahms” which was performed at the “Interna- tional Course for Conductors” in Dublin in 1999 conducted by Gerhard Markson.
Krzysztof Meyer is the author of the first Polish monograph on the life and work of Dmitri Shostakovich, which has been translated several times in the West . He has also written numerous articles and essays, mainly on contemporary music, published in the journals “Melos,” “Muzyka,” “Ruch Muzyczny,” “Das Orchester,” “Sovetskaya Muzyka” and other periodicals.
UPCOMING APPOINTMENTS
Tuesday, Aug. 12, 9 p.m. – ASIAGO – St. Rocco Church piano:Pietro De Maria
violin:Magdalena Reszler
cello:Julius Berger
music by: Schubert
Free admission
Info for the public: 0424.464081 – www.asiagofestival.it
Thursday, August 14 – ASIAGO – Church of S.Rocco
10:30 a.m. Council Chamber of the City Hall
Julius Berger
CD presentation ” Birth of the Cello”
Historical musicological introduction and performance of a selection of pieces from the RESEARCHES of Gianbattista Degli Antonii and Domenico Gabrielli
9 p.m.00 Church of S.Rocco
cello ensemble: “Cello Passionato”
Julius Berger, Hyun-Jung Berger, Anna Grendene, Alberto Brazzale Music by: Pachelbel, Suslin, Fitzenhagen, Kancheli, Bartok, Haydn
Friday, August 15, 9 p.m. – ASIAGO – St. Matthew’s Cathedral choir: Coenobium Vocale
director: Maria Dal Bianco
cello : Julius Berger and Hyun-Jung Berger
music by: Bonato, Perotinus, Miskinis, Lauridsen,
first performance of: “O lilium convallium” for 2 cellos and spatialized male choir
Wednesday, Aug. 20, 9 p.m. – ASIAGO – St. Matthew Cathedral organ: Anton Guggemos
soprano: Cecilia Tabellion
mezzo soprano: Gabi Steck
music by: Mouret, Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Biechteler, Liszt, Rheinberger, Boellmann, Terziani, Salome, Saint-Saens, Mozart, Senaille, Bach
Free admission, allowed only while seats last, but no later than the beginning of the concert.
www.asiagofestival.it