infotext:
COMPOSING AS »EXISTENTIAL WORK« »I use traditional material in my music and I don't shy away from its wear and tear. However, I try to deal with this material in my own way. It makes me feel like I'm on a cliff, but that's closer to me than moving on secure terrain.« With these words, the composer Tobias PM Schneid, born in Rehau near Hof in 1963, characterizes the basic features of his artistic self-image. He does not see his works as autonomous sound formations, but as complex reflections of life itself transformed into the abstract. This approach is strikingly reflected on the material level, on which, time and again, in unusual contexts, things that seem familiar and even tonal associations appear. Schneid understands his creative work – to stay with his image of the “cliff” – as a tightrope walk, and in return he sees the possibility of “slipping” into the conventional as a springboard to escape from the “germlessness” of structural self-referentiality. There is really nothing about "germlessness" in the Five portraits, Capriccio for solo violin (2011). That number V with Voyage underlines the aspect of the "sound journey" through human temperaments, moods and abysses. The composer also emphasizes the biographical roots of this music, which, however, is not based on detailed »programs«. »Manic, extremely agitated, sometimes aggressive, rubato« is the eloquent performance instruction for the first portrait (manic depression), which, in addition to other expressions such as “manic, rushed, always under great compulsion” or “like epileptic convulsions”, points to emotional distress that is vividly reflected in the sounds. As raw, exalted and impetuous as the expressive power is on the one hand, Schneid still banned it in a constructive framework. Even in large format, the five portraits are subject to an inner dramaturgy: harsh contrasts and emotional roller coasters condense into a multi-faceted mosaic. The second portrait, which has become melancholic, contrasts radically with the first, while the third supposedly longingly takes us into the down-to-earth and dance-folk. After this ambiguous break, the fourth portrait comes up with a further variety of the dance-like, which now leads into the demonic; followed by the last portrait, which is »very free« and »without time measure« relieved of all earthly gravity, all inner and outer borders. If this instrumental-musical »delimitation« is reminiscent of ascension and otherworldly realms, Tobias PM Schneid gave his Piano Trio No. 1 – despite the subtitle »…towards the abstract seas…” – More specific references: »The sketches were made immediately after my father’s death. The final part was composed completely intuitively on the day of death (February 26.02.2003, XNUMX) and has also remained unchanged in the new composition.” After five years he took up the piano trio again and completed it. Tonal and atonal passages irritate and enchant each other, which also shows the dichotomy between quiet sadness and emphatic rebellion. Other spheres open the Six Bagatelles for piano solo (2011), who feel their way into different musical and intellectual spaces like a kaleidoscope. The numbers I and II show a development from the playful indulgence in the piano sound to the surprisingly cheerful Walk with Beckett and Bernhard. Constellations tending towards virtuoso dominate the numbers III to V, which in the Polytonal loops with subliminal references to the exalted player piano-Studies of a Conlon Nancarrow are brought to a climax. Following this, the number VI (ice drop) with prologue and epilogue the importance of a finale in which associations with natural phenomena also refer to mental states. Existential dimensions are right at the center again in the Sonata for solo cello (2011/2012), whose movement headings »Toccata« and »Partita«, which refer to baroque models, are countered by the performance instructions »as from senses«. Very violent mood swings make one think of a flaming »sound speech«, especially since the cello is considered the instrument whose colorful timbre best represents the whole person. »Attaca« the toccata turns into the partita with its dance-like note. In this context, a “broken song” appears like a nod from a distant world, after which nothing can be the same after its lyrical immersion. Although the dance style and its escalation into the rushed return as an image of restless hustle and bustle, contemplative impulses gain the upper hand. All three solo works were written explicitly for the members of the Tecchler Trio, who in the final Piano Trio No. 2 (2007) act together again. The second piano trio ties in with the first in that Schneid also focused on the topos of farewell. While in the first piano trio a personal farewell in the closest family circle was the source of inspiration, the second also formulates this Three Farewells and Intermezzo for L a ringing farewell to the composer György Ligeti, who influenced Schneid's own work. He also draws a reference line to Beethoven by using his »Farewell motif« from Piano Sonata No. 26, Farewell, which Ligeti also took up. The L the subtitle thus stands not only for Ligeti, but also for Ludwig (van). While in movements I and III – without imitating – the motoric insistence of Ligeti's music comes to life, movements II and IV form delicately poetic opposite poles, whereby the extended one Lullaby for L (No. IV) with its final section (»very quiet, as if from distant peaks«) almost transfiguringly loses in the wondrous realm of dreams. In the second piano trio, too, the use of already known material is not an end in itself for Tobias PM Schneid, but is always justified in terms of musical content. He hardly has anything in mind with the postmodern attitude of »anything goes«: »Anyone who really sees composing as an existential task and part of a raison d’être on this planet does not perceive this complexity as ›anything goes‹ at all, i.e. as Liberation from responsibility, but as the exact opposite. Because I know about what has already been there, the responsibility of using it is much greater than if I transfer the compositional responsibility to a previously designed system and exclude traditionally occupied areas from the outset.« Egbert Hiller |
program:
Five portraits (2011) 19:37 [01] I. Manic depression 05:14 Esther Hoppe, violin [06] Piano Trio No. 1 “…towards the abstract seas…” . 17:39 Tecchler Trio (Esther Hoppe, violin / Maximilian Hornung, cello / Benjamin Engeli, piano) Six Bagatelles for piano solo (2011) 11:44 [07] No. I 01:18 Benjamin Engeli, piano Sonata for solo cello . 13:05 [15] I. Toccata 07:46 Maximilian Hornung, cello Piano Trio No. 2 “Three Farewells and Intermezzo for L” (2007) 16:21 Tecchler Trio (Esther Hoppe, violin / Maximilian Hornung, cello / Benjamin Engeli, piano) total time: 78:38 |
Press:
03.2014 […] Schneid's music communicates itself, but it doesn't impose itself. He does not conceal recourse to the past. If, as in the Piano Trio No. 1 … towards the abstract seas … (2003/2008) Motorism à la Dimitri Shostakovich comes into play, then there are no quotations, but clear allusions. […] According to Schneid, he does not shy away from the “utilization” of the traditional material. Torsten Moller
At the gate of happiness This compilation of compositions, created between 2007 and 2011, produced in cooperation with BR-Klassik and released by NEOS in 2013, is a journey of discovery into very unusual, in the fine sense of the word, peculiar chamber music worlds of sound. Tobias PM Schneid has never been impressed by the “currents” or even “dogmas” of contemporary music. His artful tonal language is highly subjective and at the same time emotionally intensively transportable. It makes you think, touches you and stirs you up in the next moment. The interpretation by the members of the Tecchler Trio makes the areas of tension intelligent and committed to listen to piece by piece. Almost eighty minutes of strong sound impression that even a car radio cannot diminish. Theo Geissler
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