infotext:
TO AENEAS, TO DIDO... SAR: What made you think of Aeneas? GM: I heard the story of Dido and Aeneas from my father as a child before he fell asleep. The ancient myths probably also inspired his childhood world. I remember a feeling of surprise, disappointment at the »unhappy ending«, great sadness for the beautiful, deserted queen and lost love. Also an imagined image of white sails receding on the horizon. But you say "of all things". How come? SAR: A Greek hero adopted into a Roman myth is not the very next thing for a Jew from Israel – especially since many of your works are more in the Jewish literary context. GM: Many. Not all. Incidentally, I don't believe that you need a direct genetic relationship in order to empathize with the primal human. The myths of antiquity, just like the stories in the Bible, are archetypes of our being. Passion, inner struggle, fear of death, thirst for life, longing, thirst for freedom is common to all of us. Also: who knows? Maybe we are related after all? Dido came from Tyros. If you're fit, you could cycle down the coast from Tel Aviv to her... SAR: But your cycle is called An Aeneas. Not "To Dido." GM: Yes. Perhaps out of a hidden desire to rehabilitate him posthumously... He plays the leading role in the Aeneid, Virgil's epic. The affair in Carthage takes up a relatively short chapter. But over the centuries, the focus has mostly been on Dido. The abandoned lover who burns her palace and takes her own life. The most famous today is Dido's lament from Purcell's opera. Metastasio's Didone abbandonata from the early 1720s gave rise to several plays and operas. Not to mention the countless poems, songs, paintings... SAR: Like Clementi's sonata? GM: Yes. Clementi titled this, his last sonata after her. With its movement designations and playing instructions, it moves on the edge of program music. Clementi pulls out all his stops of expression, prescribing very unusual pedal markings to describe the heartbreaking fate of this poor noblewoman and to arouse our pity. In doing so, we tend to forget that every parting is a two-sided, multi-sided tragedy. What is going on in the head and in the heart of the fleeing king's son from Troy before this departure? He has to choose between love and divine decree, between his own lust and a sense of mission, between the desire for home and haven and the (inner?) command to wander the seas until he reaches his true goal. He is caught up in his own doubts and despair. SAR: In the middle of the maze. GM: Exactly. In the third piece, with this title, one hears his attempt to break the ropes, to break free. But if you read the music you can definitely see it, maybe you can hear it too: He takes a few steps forward in his mind, doesn't find an opening and immediately comes back, trying somehow a little differently. Unable to find the way, he sinks into delusions before being drawn back into the labyrinth's maelstrom. SAR: Are there solutions in the other pieces? Will the way be found? GM: Certainly not the first two. du. Nocturne is the description of an inner conflict. The attempt to »stretch« a short moment and to describe this gap through contrasting dynamics, motifs and registers. she. Delirium is even more "not moving." An inner circle, almost unconscious. SAR: Yes. I find it very difficult to concentrate while listening. It's almost embarrassing, but I fall asleep... GM: Wonderful! Then the piece has reached its goal. If you look at the score, you will see that at one point the connection to bar and rhythm is also broken - mutated into a so-called graphic notation. The player shapes the events of the time according to his own feelings. When playing I get a feeling of numbness in my fingers there... SAR: Until that crash in the middle... GM: Yes. Didone is out of his mind. She is overcome with a slash of anger that ultimately forces her to burn the palace and commit suicide. But this anger makes her all the more helpless. Completely exhausted. To put it in brackets – it is an exaggeration of what constitutes the opposites between »lamentando« and »furioso« in Clementi as well. SAR: Is it her delirium or his delirium? GM: Good question. She hovers in semi-consciousness, but the musical materials that make up this levitation come from »him«, from his inner circles in the first piece. So maybe it's all just his delusions... If you take a closer look, there are many relationships between all five pieces. But that doesn't have to interest you, the listener. SAR: Father. The touch.: His father? Your father? Our Father? GM: Everyone. When fleeing Troy, Aeneas carries his father in his arms to the ships. The father symbolizes what has been, the inheritance of previous generations, the divine duty (the divine also fits into our patriarchal thinking and feeling...). At the same time, the father is a wise support, a companion, albeit an imaginary one. I have already mentioned my father's part in my exposure to the literary material. He was an excellent violinist who was very well known in Israel. The first piece I played and recorded with him was this Sonata by Tartini in G minor, which the editors probably called Didone abbandonata... I dedicated the arrangement to his memory. Also a solo piece for piano called Kinnor (Hebrew for “violin”). SAR: The »Father« piece is incredibly tender, sometimes the felt pulsation stretches endlessly. Aren't you afraid of losing the listener in these moments? GM: The listener does not have to be kept on a leash. He should move with the music, but may also move freely away from the music. I only hope that he will be willing to listen, to dive in, to take this spiritual walk. He has to feel and judge for himself whether this music has depths. Maybe he also has to get used to lengths and depths. This is not a video clip on YouTube. The pop world often serves everything short of breath, superficially, accessible. I'm interested in the search. And, by the way, the "touch" leads to a certainty in the course of this piece. A musical idea germinates, which then leads into a kind of ceremonial initiation (I can't think of a better word for this passage than the French »hiératique«), which embodies, so to speak, the decision to part, to set out again into the waves of the sea . SAR: A deep and extremely dark sea, in the fifth track… GM: Yes. All shades of black and blue. If you listen. The quasi ostinato of the wave motif fights against itself, so to speak. The path in the water is unpaved and easy. It's not a "calm sea and happy voyage." Rather, I fear that Aeneas and his crew are on a Charon's boat who is transporting them to the afterlife. SAR: Conclusion: Don't leave women! GM: Exactly. Never! |
program:
Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) [01] I Introduction. Largo patetico e sostenuto – Allegro, ma con espressione 10:47 Gilead Mishory (* 1960) [04] you. Nocturne / you. Nocturne / tu. Nocturne 05:36 World premiere recording Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770) [09] I Affettuoso 07:10 Total playing time: 69:15 Gilead Mishorypiano |
Press:
05/2017 Three composers, three centuries, three styles, but only one theme - this exciting CD is conceptually based on the story of Dido and Aeneas. (...) Mishory not only fills his own work with an oppressive atmosphere, but also brings Tartini's baroque rhetoric and Clementi's expressive formal language to life with pianistic sovereignty. Frank Siebert
dr Hartmut Hain wrote on April 4.4.2017th, XNUMX that the production was "a fascinating concept album", he describes Mishory's piano playing as "nuanced and convincing". Read the detailed article Read!
06/03/2017 Alain Steffen writes: “Gilead Mishory's own work 'An Aeneas' feels cohesive and innovative, although it may seem a little long at 32 minutes. Nevertheless, Mishory is a composer who makes you listen and whose music stands out refreshingly from the contemporary mainstream.”
|
