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WORKS BY MATTHIAS PINTSCHER Among the composers born around 1970, Matthias Pintscher is considered one of the most successful and representative. His aesthetic positioning begins with the generation of his teacher Manfred Trojahn and is reflected in a critical attitude towards the »avant-garde« as well as towards every idea of avant-garde – in a suspicion of any labeling imposed from outside: »The term avant-garde has become obsolete for me , one cannot be 'in front of something' which is then recognized and apologised, through determination, as 'the new'. But there is this urge towards subjectivity: trying to be as subjective as possible (rather than representative of any trend); try that one recognizes immediately, with the first note, that it can only be your piece, even if this note has long been 'used up' and perhaps seems to come from Beethoven. This pressure has increased enormously compared to the situation a few years ago.« Pintscher does not deny traditional genres, he underlines (verbally and with his music) the indispensable availability of manual skills of the profession. He is committed to the qualities of musical expression in music and writes works that have their qualities in a poetic environment: »music that speaks through its sound«. His compositions reflect the conviction that music should be directly emotional. In this way he manages to be heard in the true sense of the word without sacrificing intellectual aspirations - even with an audience that does not only frequent festivals and concerts of new music. The composer, who has the entire vocabulary of contemporary craftsmanship at his disposal, does not, however, reach into the usual drawers in order to pull out something that is easy to receive. But how does the creative process work? »It starts with a feeling and then you try to find out where this feeling comes from, what triggers it, what it can do. And with this knowledge you can then continue to work. […] I can only compose if, like a craftsman, say a goldsmith, I know everything about the material, how to shape it and then create something out of it that looks coherent or even beautiful from the outside. I have to push internal control almost to excess to find freedom of form and expression.« In general, Matthias Pintscher's scores reveal the meticulousness of an artist who has the most precise ideas of the lyrical or dramatic result to be developed from it. In addition to dynamic fine adjustment and a sophisticated range of articulations, he pays great attention to the (pre-)disposition of sound development in space: »When composing, I think about where the individual players are sitting and how far apart the instruments are. In a poetological sense, this means that my music evokes the illusion of an acoustic spatiality through the many impulses that are set and through the composed resonance.« For him, the sound has priority in the compositional process – the formation of the structure is the development »more tonal Cells«: »My music is not architecturally constructed. But if you imagine what an architectural drawing looks like, how every point is precisely measured, then it's comparable. I try to control every sound, every situation, but also every singular event in order to then give it the freedom that is inherent in it anyway. [...] When I start a piece, a tonal vocabulary develops from the cast, and then a catalog of figures and situations emerges that are related to one another, and from this the dramaturgy develops.« A strikingly large part of Pintscher's work is text-based. But literature can also have an inspiring effect on the composition process when it is purely instrumental. Language fascinates Matthias Pintscher first through its images and sounds. It's not so much the stories or even the characters that captivate him, not even with Thomas Chatterton, his first opera protagonist (1994–98) or with Herodiad, the ancient figure who has his say in a dramatic scene (1999). »I love composing for voice, love it when a voice sounds 'beautiful' [...]. Singing is the most beautiful expression of music, always linked to the breath.« Although Matthias Pintscher himself never studied singing and has hardly dealt theoretically with its technical, physiological conditioning, he has a pronounced feeling for the voice, which is just as expressive as it is singable write. »The enthusiasm comes back – also from the singers. [...] The voice has its own register, it cannot be influenced by external devices.« The clearer the vocal line is composed, the more broken up the instrumental space can be: Pintscher does not compose any accompaniments in the true sense of the word. For with all the presence of the words, the singing voice, a sounded relationship between the vocal and the instrumental should always arise through duality. Not every poetic language is suitable for Matthias Pintscher to set to music - primarily a »coded«, »exaggerated« one like that of Stéphane Mallarmé (or the French symbolists in general) give him »the possibility of representing an acoustic space. That allows for music, while a Rilke or Trakl poem, for example, does not allow for music to go with it for me. Then the words become small, or the music becomes small«. Beyond poetry and literary figures, impulses from other arts have had a stimulating effect on various Pintscher works: the sculptural work of Alberto Giacometti (on the cycle figure, 1997/2000), the biography of the dazzling personality Gesualdo (String Quartet No. 4 »Ritratto di Gesualdo«, 1992), based on an environment by Joseph Beuys (dernier space avec introspecteur. Every new creative process marks a kind of caesura, completes something in order to be able to create something new: »[...] by writing music, you also free yourself from it.« And the unfulfilled presents itself »as a task for new pieces«: » When I've composed something, I move on. And the imperfection or what didn't work out - or what worked in such a way that I think I can continue working there - so if I see an unfulfillment, then I take that with me to work on the new one work.« With the process of letting go, a »removal« also takes place, which, as it were, enables a view from the outside, a new perspective. As an interpreter of his own scores, the composer sometimes sees himself in a new situation: »If I (because an organizer wants it) have to conduct a piece that I composed a long time ago, then I have to learn how to do it properly. I almost have to interpret myself: How did I think that? Why do I write a forte when today I would at most write a mezzo piano? So I see how things have progressed in the meantime." Allmuth Behrendt |
program:
[01] A Twilight's Song for soprano and seven instruments (1997) 09:46 [02] on a clear day for piano solo (2004) 07:18 [03] Monumento V for eight female voices, three cellos and ensemble (1998) 14:45 [04-11] Seven bagatelles with apotheosis of the glass harmonica for bass clarinet in B flat (1993, rev. 2001) 18:33 [04] Bagatelle I 03:05 [12] Janus face for viola and cello (2001) 09:03 [13] Study II for Treatise on the Veil for violin, viola and cello (2006) 13:54 Total playing time: 73:40 Ernest Molinari bass clarinet [04–11] Basel madrigalists [03] Contrechamps set Matthew Pintscher conductor |
Press moods:
03/2015
classic column Although Matthias Pintscher, born in 1971, is a composer, he has had a second career as a conductor and has been directing the Ensemble Intercontemporain for two years, which is still the best collective for modern music, founded by Pierre Boulez. On May 8, Pintscher will conduct musica viva in Munich, although – the man doesn't seem very vain – none of his pieces are on the program. If you want to hear Pintscher, you have to pick up a new CD release from the Munich company NEOS, “Solo and Ensemble Works”. Ideal for beginners: “On a clear Day” for piano solo, seven minutes short, dreamlike, visionary. You can give your heart to it. Reinhard Brembeck |
