Kosmos
for one or two pianos
Description
Original version 1961
New version 1999
First performance: 5 May 1961, Budapest
Eötvös
Video: Hungarian Television 1992,
Eötvös
On 12 April 1961, Gagarin was the first astronaut to leave the Earth and fly around it in a space capsule. The impact of this event on the then seventeen-year-old Peter Eötvös culminated in the composition of Cosmos, “as with Gagarin’s space flight the world suddenly opened up, appearing infinite” to him.
The piece begins with a musical “Big Bang” followed by the succession of the stages and episodes of the development of the cosmos. The long trill sounded in treble forte is the “oscillating axis of the universe”, continually expanding, then shrinking during the piece. “Comets” breakthrough musical space, accompanied by chords evoking constellations and descending “asteroid-scales”. A “space-ship floating between solar systems” passes before us, then the music becomes entangled in a “cloud of meteorites”. Eötvös breaks off the space journey twice, interspersing his music with short passages from Bartok’s The night’s music. Finally, the certitude of transience conquers even cosmic perpetuity – the piece ends a quarter of a second before the next “Big Bang”.
“Humour is present in all my compositions. It is a certain kind of world view, a special outlook upon life. In tragic, dramatic moments humor can mean survival. It is an attitude, a mode of behavour that can be found in the works of Shakespeare and Beckett for example. I feel that it is present in every moment of my life as well.”
/Peter Eötvös/
Performances
Eötvös: Kosmos, Cadenza, Octet
chamber concerto
Adrian Heger, piano and conductor
Apollosaal
Staatsoper unter des Linden
Eötvös: Dodici per sei, Psy, Joyce for clarinet and string quartet, Lectures differentes, Candenza, Kosmos, Dances of the brush-footed butterfly, Lisztomania
Academy of Music, Solti Hall, Budapest
Eötvös: Kosmos, Joyce for clarinet and string quartet
Peter Kiss piano
Peter Szücs clarinet
Classicus quartet
Venue: Bartók Memorial House
Eötvös: Now, Miss! für violine und Violoncello, Hommage a Domenico Scarlatti, Psy, Dances of the Brush-Footed Butterfly, a Call, Para Paloma, Thunder, Cadenza, Levitation, Kosmos
Festspielhaus Hellerau
Soloist of Sachsischen Staatskapelle Dresden
Eötvös: Kosmos
Residence of the Argentine Embassy Budapest
Ezequiel Castro, piano
Eötvös: Kosmos
Stephane Ginsburgh
Flagey, Brussels
Eötvös: Kosmos
Bagatelle Festival
Claire Désert et Florent Boffard
Eötvös: Kosmos
GrauSchumacher Piano Duo
Eötvös: Kosmos
Hajdi Elzeser, Nenad Lecic, piano
Eötvös: Kosmos
Grau-Schumacher piano duo
Ultraschall Festival, Berlin
Eötvös: Kosmos
for two pianos
Yukiko Sekino, piano
Keiko Sekino, piano
East Carolina University
Eötvös: Kosmos
Strasbourg Musica Festival
Sebastien Dureau, piano
Vincent Plan?s
Eötvös: Octet plus, Kosmos, Natasha, Sonata per sei
Plural Ensemble, Madrid
Cond: Jean-Philippe Wurtz
Eötvös: Octet plus, Kosmos, Natasha, Sonata per sei
Plural Ensemble, Madrid
Cond: Jean-Philippe Wurtz
Eötvös: Kosmos, Windsequenzen
Lyon Biennale
CNSMD atelier
Conductor: Fabrice Pierre
Eötvös: Kosmos
Ojai Festival
Helena Bugallo
Amy Williams
Eötvös: Magány/Solitude, Kosmos, Mese/Tale, Psalm 151, Two Poems to Polly, Dervish dance
Academy of Science in Hungary (MTA)
Inaugural Lecture
Eötvös: Kosmos
Moritz Ernst
Eötvös: Kosmos, Korrespondenz, Shadows
Eötvös: Kosmos (Grau/Schumacher, piano duo)
Eötvös: Shadows (NDR Symph. Orch.)
Eötvös: Korrespondenz (Pellegrini Quartet)
Cond: Peter Eötvös
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester
Eötvös: Kosmos, Psy, Two poems to Polly, Dervish Dance, Music for New York, Paris-Dakar
Budapest Jazz Orchestra
Conductor: László Kovács
Eötvös: Kosmos, Psalm 151, Psy
International Bartók Festival, July 10-21
Peter Nagy, piano
Zoltán Rácz, percussion, marimba
Gergely Ittzés, flute
András Déri, violoncello
UMZE Chamber Orchestra
Eötvös: Kosmos
Hochschule für Musik
Cond: Peter Eötvös
Eötvös: Psy, Psalm 151, Kosmos, Two poems to Polly, Dervish dance, Zwei Promenaden
Studio für Neue Musik
Komponistenforum
Hochschule für Musik Zürich
May 3-7
Eötvös: Kosmos
Andreas Grau, piano
Götz Schumacher, piano
Eötvös' portrait
Eötvös' portrait
Kosmos (Jukka Tiensuu)
Kosmos (Emil Holmström, Joonas Ahonen)
Derwishtanz (Päivi Kiljala, Heikki Nikula, Kaisa Koivula)
Psy (Mikael Helasvuo, roi Ruottinen, Joonas Ahonen)
Drei Madrigalkomödien (Finnish Radio Chamber Choir)
Harakiri (Mikael Helasvuo, Lauri Toivio, Piia Komsi, Kari Kaarna, Reijo Kela)
Windsequenzen (Uusinta - Zagros Ensemble, cond. Susanna Mälkii)
Two poems to Polly (Roi Ruottinen)
July 4-6, Time of Music Festival
Eötvös: Solitude/Magány, Kosmos, Mese/Tale, Psalm 151, Two poems to Polly, Dervishdance
Hungarian Academy of Science
Inaugural concert
Eötvös' chamber music pieces
Eötvös: Mese (Tale)
Eötvös: Solitude
Eötvös: Kosmos
Eötvös: Two promenades
Eötvös: Derwischtanz
Eötvös: Two poems to Polly
Eötvös: Intervalles-Interieurs
Cond: Peter Eötvös
UMZE Ensemble
Budapest Autumn Festival, October 19-26
Eötvös: Korrespondenz, Kosmos, Mese, Snatches of a conversation, Windsequenzen
Korrespondenz (Pellegrini Quartet)
Kosmos (Andreas Grau, Götz Schumacher)
Mese
Snatches of a conversation (Musikfabrik, cond. Eötvös)
Windsequenzen (Musikfabrik, cond. Frank Ollu), latest version - first performance
with accordeon
WDR Cologne
Eötvös: Korrespondenz, Kosmos, Mese, Snatches of a conversation, Windsequenzen
Korrespondenz (Pellegrini Quartet)
Kosmos (Andreas Grau, Götz Schumacher)
Mese
Snatches of a conversation (Musikfabrik, cond. Eötvös)
Windsequenzen (Musikfabrik, cond. Frank Ollu), latest version - first performance
with accordeon
WDR Cologne
Eötvös: Psy, Two poems to Polly, Kosmos, Windsequenzen, Shadows, Korrespondenz
Psy
Two poems to Polly
Kosmos (two piano version)
Windsequenzen (UMZE Ensemble Budapest)
Shadows (UMZE Ensemble Budapest)
Korrespondenz (Arditti quartet)
10-25 July
UMZE Chamber Ensembe Budapest
Eötvös: Kosmos
Linz Festival
Gabor Eckhardt, Ana Granik
Eötvös: Kosmos
Gábor Eckhard
Eötvös: Kosmos
Gábor Eckhard
Eötvös: Psy, Two poems to Polly, Intervalles-Interieurs, Kosmos
Eötvös: Psy, Two poems to Polly, Intervalles-Interieurs, Kosmos
(Psy: cymbalon version)
Cond: Peter Eötvös
Ensemble InterContemporain
Musée D'Orsay
Eötvös: Kosmos
Eötvös: Kosmos (Eötvös),
Hungarian Radio - recording
Details
Publisher information
Edition Durand Salabert Eschig Paris
https://www.durand-salabert-eschig.com/en-GB/Composers/E/Eotvos-Peter.aspx?
Orchestration
solo or two pianos
Audio
Andreas Grau, pianoforte
Götz Schumacher, pianoforte
Video
Mini Kurtag Festival, Bern – 2013
Pablo García-Berlanga, piano – 2017
Sound
Kozmosz – Eotvos75 – LFZE 2019 – Excerpt
Recordings
