Reading Malevich
for orchestra
Commissioned by ROCHE COMMISSIONS for Lucerne Festival
Description
First performance: 1st September 2018, Lucerne, Switzerland
Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra
Conductor: Matthias Pintscher
The task I set myself for Reading Malevich was to transform an image, an optical event, into music. I selected the painting Suprematismus No. 56 by Kazimir Malevich as my starting point. Malevich uses the term suprematism to describe his purely abstract series of paintings, which began with his radical work Black Square (1915).
My work is in two parts: Horizontal and Vertical. This is a reference to the observer´s line of sight and reading direction. Within these two principal parts, individual sections refer to recognisable forms in Malevich´s painting: The Brown Rectangle, The Pale Yellow Shadow Before The Red Rectangle, etc. In certain passages, these forms represented by the orchestral tutti are inscribed with corresponding details from the painting.
/Peter Eötvös – 2018/
Performances
Eötvös: Reading Malevich, Harp concerto
Xavier de Maistre, harp
Conductor: TBC
NHK Orchestra
Eötvös: Harp concerto, Reading Malevich
Xavier de Maistre, harp
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Eötvös: Atlantis, Dialog mit Mozart, Reading Malevich
Zsolt Haja, baritone
Miklós Lukács, cimbalom
Boy sopran, Radio Childrenchoir
Cond: Peter Eötvös
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Müpa
Eötvös: Reading Malevich
Máté Bella: Lethe
B.A. Zimmermann: Dialoghi
Kurtág: Stele
Eötvös: Reading Malevich (German premiere)
Conductor: Peter Eötvös
Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra
Elbphilharmonie
Reading Malevich
WP
Conductor: Matthias Pintscher
Orchestra: Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra
Venue: KKL Konzertsaal, Luzern
Details
Publisher information
Schott Music Mainz
https://en.schott-music.com/shop/reading-malevich-no344120.html
Orchestration
3 Oboes (3rd doubling cor anglais)
3 Clarinets in A (3rd doubling bass clarinet)
3 Bassoons (3rd doubling double bassoon)
4 Horns in F
3 Trumpets in C (straight, cup, wawa, hannon)
3 Trombones with F attachment (straight, cup, harmon)
2 Saxophones (tenor and baritone)
Tuba (sord.)
Percussion:
(4 players) Glockenspiel (with pedal)
Crotales (2 octaves), 4 Gongs
Tam-tam (Wuhan, 80 cm)
Tambourine (only jingles)
Wind chimes (metal)
Guiro (low, long bamboo)
II
Vibraphone
Chinese cymbal
3 Gongs
Snare drum
III
Marimba
2 Gongs
Chinese cymbal
2 Maracas (very high/high)
IV
Xylophone
Triangle (high)
Tam-tam (Wuhan, 100 cm)
Bassdrum
Harp, amplified
Celesta, amplified
Cimbalom, amplified
Hammond organ (Digital with Leslie-Cabinet) (e.g. Typ: nordC2D)
Electric guitar (also with E-Bow), amplified
Bass guitar (also with E-Bow), amplified
14 Violins I
14 Violins II
10Violas
8 Violoncellos
6 Double basses
Further information
Die Aufgabe, die ich mir für Reading Malevich stellte, bestand darin, ein Bild, ein optisches Ereignis in Klänge umzusetzen. Als Ausgangspunkt habe ich das Bild Suprematismus No. 56 von Kasimir Malewitsch gewählt. Mit Suprematismus bezeichnet der Maler seine gegenstandslose Bildreihe, die auf das radikale Werk Schwarzes Quadrat (1915) zurückgeht.
Mein Stück hat zwei Teile: Horizontal und Vertikal. Gemeint sind damit die Blick- bzw. Leserichtungen des Betrachters. Innerhalb der zwei Hauptteile beziehen sich die Abschnitte auf die im Bild erkennbaren Formen: The Brown Rectangle, The Pale Yellow Shadow Before The Red Rectangle, etc. An einigen Stellen sind diesen durch das Orchestertutti repräsentierten Formen noch korrespondierende Bilddetails eingeschrieben.
/Peter Eötvös – 2018/
Sound
Academy Orchestra Luzern – 2018
cond.: Matthias Pintscher