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ROLF HIND – ORCHESTRA AND CHAMBER MUSIC Rolf Hind was not only inspired by the numerous contacts with contemporary composers, whom he met at joint performances (he feels a special relationship to Carter, Ligeti, Per Nørgård and Messiaen, among others). Above all, however, he was shaped by his numerous trips to India and, especially in recent years, the practice of Ashtanga Yoga and Vipassana Meditation. At the center of his interest lies the idea of describing a musical development that, emerging from chaos, is reduced to the essence of the material, the path from confusion to transparency. This process can involve movements and changes in the areas of intervals, registers, tempos and instruments. The key to this close connection between technical apparatus and the will to express, the cooperative audibility of which is a central concern of Hind's aesthetic, lies in the use of fractal processes in which a motivic idea is simultaneously layered with variations of itself played out at different tempos becomes. Hind's experience with the preparation of pianos has also led him to deal openly with different sound sources. In three works, this CD presents numerous examples of his extraordinary ability to combine conventional and rather unconventional sounds. The City of Love (2001-2002) uses three texts by the 17th-century Hindi poet Bihari, and the sound of Hindi is also at the heart of the music. The three songs, played without a break, begin in a gentle, reserved tone. In fact, it is characteristic of Hind's layered music that it soon changes timbre and intensity of expression. Cello and piano introduce the second song, which becomes increasingly agitated, in keeping with Bihari's text: "Seeing the lover's flying kite, the lady in the courtyard runs about like a lunatic, touching its lovely shadow." Finally, in the last song, the voice follows a passage in Bihari's lyrics in which coded names of former lovers are repeated behind closed doors. Violin and piano then return D back, which formed the red thread of the work from the beginning. The orchestration of The Eye of Fire (2004) seems conventional at first glance, but the seemingly simple scoring for piano and string quartet belies its far-reaching experimental potential. The multi-part work is based on yoga postures, and Hind often introduces performances with a yoga demonstration. The fourteen positions are grouped into three groups, each played without a break. Hind emphasizes that a knowledge of yoga is not necessary to follow the unfolding music. This is particularly true since The Eye of Fire developed along a symphonic line. The three parts and fourteen subdivisions (positions) move through a mixture of developing sequences and stark contrast, with a keen sense of momentum in both large and small scoring. Nevertheless, a few examples of the various connections between the yoga positions and the music should give an insight into Hind's intellectual developments. Part I includes six positions: body (Dead Silence / Savasana), Mountain (Mountain / Tadasana), Hero (Hero's Seat / Virasana), Cobra (Cobra / Bhujangasana), Lion (Lion / Simhasana), Nataraja (Dancers / Natarajasana). The "mountain" position is an upright standing position in balance. Hind implements these and several other positions as an “inner experience” in the form of polyphonically interwoven ideas that move at different tempos. With the "Cobra" the practitioner lies on his stomach and raises his head and chest in the backbend. The musical goal is chosen more abstractly here, in that the ensemble plays the tone in unison D in the same register but intoned with different vibrati. The musical implementation of the "dancer" (Natarajasana or king of the dance), which is reminiscent of gypsy music, is different again. The five positions in Part II – Child (Child / Garbahasana), locust (Grasshopper / Salabhasana), Tree (Tree / Vrikshasana), Eagle (Eagle / Garudasana), Crow (Crow / Kakasana) – also include different approaches. The 5/8 meter in »Kind« is based on the yoga breathing rhythm of two beats one and three out, while the sound world in »Heuschere« (piano solo) unfolds onomatopoeic. The »eagle« is a crossed arms and legs position, and the music's meditative melody uses the rarely played »rootless raga«. Part III is the shortest, consisting of only three positions: Scorpion (Scorpion / Vrischikasana), The Eye of Fire (Third Eye), OM. The "Scorpion" is one of the most difficult positions. Regarded as a gateway to awakening, it involves a forearm stand in which the legs are bent backwards towards the head, similar to the sting of the scorpion. Hind finds the musical counterpart by demanding the almost impossible from the instruments. The penultimate position »Third Eye« is the core of the work and is followed by »OM«. His three held G are tinged with a short viola glissando echoing the opening of the work. Mayan Sesha (2007) was Hind's first score for orchestra. Working on it offered him the platform to explore the wealth of possibilities of the orchestra beyond the familiar soundscapes of the prepared piano. Instead of using the usual flutes, he uses recorders, a soprano saxophone, an accordion, a wide range of percussion and six voices (humming and whistling) distributed throughout the orchestra. The strings consist of four solo violins, ten violas, eight cellos and six double basses. The work has three movements: intrada, Maya (»the outer world«) and Sesha ("what's left"). Starting from the sound of the prepared piano intrada slowly increases in substance and dynamics, the accordion functions as a kind of musical guiding figure and leads the piano solo into the work. After that follows Maya, which Hind says was inspired by the chaotic traffic on Indian roads (it is captioned »molto energico, ruvido, caotico«). Even here the listener can discern Hind's musical layering – the cantus firmus of a string melody or the two clarinets – as well as the eclectic mix of other sounds and noises, such as car horns. The heavily understated piano retains its presence in the background, less than primus inter pares, until the impetus for a new tempo. Then it breaks into a furious solo, which is gradually taken up and finally taken over by the orchestral soloists. A rapid ending ends the movement. Sesha finally is a kind of meditation that slowly rises from a quiet rumble of the piano, only to blossom into the greatest orchestral sonority. The ensuing homophonic soundscape of harp, celesta, piano and the four solo violins evokes a moment of astounding clarity (denoted »magico«) before the piano leads its comrades-in-arms into a hypnotic final resolution, so to speak. Adrian thomas |
program:
Mayan Sesha for piano and orchestra (2007) 22:37 [01] I. Intrada 03:51 Rolf Hind piano The Eye of Fire for prepared piano and string quartet (2004) 27:22 [04] Part I: Corpses 01:03 Rolf Hind piano The City of Love for voice, violin and piano (2001-2002) 08:44 [18] I. 02:44 Sarah Leonard Voice total time: 59:04 |
Press:
[…] Rolf Hind's music is worked out very precisely, its spectrum of sounds is wide. The composer works with ordinary sounds, but also knows how to use unconventional sounds sensibly or to eloquently incorporate prepared instruments into his pieces. The only surprising thing is that Hind's music, although heavily influenced by Indian culture, doesn't sound like it at all. She is firmly anchored in the tonal language of the West, aware of its traditions and rules. Whether that's good or bad, everyone should decide for themselves. In any case, the composer does not fall into the trap of spoiling the sound of his music with clichéd exoticism and attempts at fusion. Raphael Smarzoch Music:
Rolf Hind and las inspirations opacas Reconozco Que Cuando Tuve Entre Mis Manos Este Impecable Compacto Dedicado En Exclusiva Al Compositor Londinensee Rolf Hind Y Leí Las Notas Al Disco (También En Castellano), Me Entrío Debido Al Celofán Budista e Hindú Que Parecía Envolver Las TRES OBRAS e se presentaban . Todos mis temores se convirtieron en gran interés y creciente alegría cuando comprobé que aquellas inspiraciones –sin dudar que sea reales– no se transparentaban en absoluto. Es más, la musica de Hind fluye con enormous personalidad sin retrotraerse a nada concrete que no sea un universal personal y decided actual. Neos y la fundación bbva hacen efectiva Su apuesta por difundir la Obra de compositores jóvenes con recorrido e interés y recogen dos grabaciones en directto, magnficas técnicamente, tomadas por la bbc y otra de swr2 música de Hind. Conocíamos a Rolf Hind as an excellent pianista, siempre volcado con la música viva, pero solo tangencialmente en el universal fonográfico con alguna entrada puntual en Da Capo hace algunos años. It un compositor que proviene por tanto de la recreación, del processo inverso. Se trata, por tanto, de un perfil cada vez menos habitual y que en el mundo de la estética contemporánea suele dar con dos posibilidades, el compositor-intérprete que es deudor del repertorio y que a duras penas elude lo que interpreta en su creatividad; y el musico que recurre a referentes externos que sirven como motor compositivo. El creador no interprete suele obtener pretextos en el estadio estético más puro, con todas las ventajas y los inconvenientes que esto supone. Rolf Hind es decididamente de los que recurren a elementos externos, pero que no llegan a condicionar su propuesta sino que la arropan sin aplastarla. Tres obras trazan este perfil, disputes en orden inverso al cronológico y con el piano como hilo conductor. Llama la atención que siendo un disco externamente muy bien trabajado, como todos los de Neos Music, existan detalles dudosos. Se credita the piano prepared in The Eye of Fire (2004), then in Maya-Sesha (2007) and then it's protagonist and motor sonoro; o the consignación de grabación en vivo in The City of Love (2001-2002) cuando también los son las anteriores. Nimiedades que en modo aguno desvirtúan un disco magnífico, que se abre con un concierto para piano y orquesta, Maya-Sesha, que es la obra más interesante del programa. El trabajo de timbres, desde el piano preparado al acordeón como invitado sorprendente, ofrece un espacio sonoro en tres tiempos de gran coherencia y que se escucha con gusto e incluso hambre. La orquesta se mueve en usos camerísticos que no explotan como bloque sino como celulas dialogantes sonoramente muy attractive. Catorce posturas del yoga dispuestas en tres partes son el pretexto de The Eye of Fire, donde encontramos fogonazos de minimalismo junto a processesos fractales en la linea más guerreriana de variants evolutivos simultáneos en different velocidades. Podemos entender este eclecticismo como una búsqueda o more bien como una clara muestra de la creatividad actual, dinámica en la persecución de sensaciones e ideas validas sin seguidismos dogmáticos. La voz hace acto de presencia en la obra más antigua y más estéril de la grabación The City of Love, donde encontramos un uso de la vocalidad contemporánea preocupada por ser inteligible y por no desprenderse en exceso del texto. Siendo el propio autor interprete de estas primeras grabaciones, sin duda debemos considerarlas como de referencia. Bien defidas y compensadas, son lecturas con unas prestaciones de fraseo y dinámica que logran un bloque coherente y un paseo muy recommendable por la production de un compositor que merece espacio y tiempo. JUAN FRANCISCO DE DIOS
All different from the others [...] |
