Friedrich Cerha
OBERÖSTEREICHISCHE NACHRICHTEN, 3/9/2007 - on the „Musiktage Mondsee" --- Finally, the clarinet quintet (2004) by Friedrich Cerha, composer in residence: full of effervescent ideas (...). A substantial, sonorous chamber music work performed so passionately that the enthusiastic audience requested a Da Capo.
DIE PRESSE, 8/11/2006 - Of: " Spiegel" at the Konzerthaus Vienna --- Friedrich Cerha's seven-part cycle "Spiegel" [Mirrors], 1960/61 conceived as "Bühnenwerk für Bewegungsgruppen, Licht und Objekte" [Dramatic Work for Movement Group, Light and Objects], however not performed yet as such, was premiered at Wien Modern in its rare complete version. (...) and a work of such plastic, thrilling intensity as "Spiegel" can captivate even a present-day audience for almost one hour an a half. That works only, because Cerha has used architechtonic dodges (groups around a pivot pitch; reflections) in order to structure and restrain the huge colour waves and progressions on his screen. Moreover, Sylvain Cambreling and his Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra followed Cerha's request with meticulousness, sensuality and enormous vehemence, from daunting concentraition to subtly chased capillary sounds. Cheers and appreciation, not least for Cerha himself.
ÖSTERREICHISCHE MUSIKZEITSCHRIFT, May 1998 (on: Six Pieces for Solo Violin, Premiere) --- However, the highpoint of the evening (and one of the highpoints of the festival) was Friedrich Cerha's Six Pieces, some of the best work to come from Cerha in recent years. Concise in their tonal language and reminiscent of Cerha's early style in their transparency, but without even the least lapse in excitement, the first three pieces were particularly convincing.
DIE PRESSE, 27 April 2006 (on: Quintet for clarinet and string quartet, premiere) --- Once more, Cerha has succeeded, despite his weakness for finely crafted constructions, in writing a work that is accessible from the first hearing and highly expressive.
DIE PRESSE, 20 December 2005 (on: Violin concerto, premiere) --- If the 27 year old composer had, back in the 50's, managed to push through a performance of this eruptive, genius work, it would certainly have caused sensation as well as scandal. But even today, the independence and boldness of the composition still impress to the utmost.
WIENER ZEITUNG, March 1994 (on: For K, Festival Hörgänge) --- This (...) daring work left no wish unfulfilled. With clear formal concepts, Cerha manages to create an atmosphere that reaches from humorous passages to lethargic phrases. Bravo.
DIE PRESSE, 17 March 1999 (on: Alles Licht, Premiere) --- This was the most joyous part of the evening, that music was presented that exists apart from the heavy intellectual quest for the new, that moves freshly forward, testing out new possibilities of expressing itself in sound.
DIE PRESSE, 8/11/2006 - Of: " Spiegel" at the Konzerthaus Vienna --- Friedrich Cerha's seven-part cycle "Spiegel" [Mirrors], 1960/61 conceived as "Bühnenwerk für Bewegungsgruppen, Licht und Objekte" [Dramatic Work for Movement Group, Light and Objects], however not performed yet as such, was premiered at Wien Modern in its rare complete version. (...) and a work of such plastic, thrilling intensity as "Spiegel" can captivate even a present-day audience for almost one hour an a half. That works only, because Cerha has used architechtonic dodges (groups around a pivot pitch; reflections) in order to structure and restrain the huge colour waves and progressions on his screen. Moreover, Sylvain Cambreling and his Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra followed Cerha's request with meticulousness, sensuality and enormous vehemence, from daunting concentraition to subtly chased capillary sounds. Cheers and appreciation, not least for Cerha himself.
ÖSTERREICHISCHE MUSIKZEITSCHRIFT, May 1998 (on: Six Pieces for Solo Violin, Premiere) --- However, the highpoint of the evening (and one of the highpoints of the festival) was Friedrich Cerha's Six Pieces, some of the best work to come from Cerha in recent years. Concise in their tonal language and reminiscent of Cerha's early style in their transparency, but without even the least lapse in excitement, the first three pieces were particularly convincing.
DIE PRESSE, 27 April 2006 (on: Quintet for clarinet and string quartet, premiere) --- Once more, Cerha has succeeded, despite his weakness for finely crafted constructions, in writing a work that is accessible from the first hearing and highly expressive.
DIE PRESSE, 20 December 2005 (on: Violin concerto, premiere) --- If the 27 year old composer had, back in the 50's, managed to push through a performance of this eruptive, genius work, it would certainly have caused sensation as well as scandal. But even today, the independence and boldness of the composition still impress to the utmost.
WIENER ZEITUNG, March 1994 (on: For K, Festival Hörgänge) --- This (...) daring work left no wish unfulfilled. With clear formal concepts, Cerha manages to create an atmosphere that reaches from humorous passages to lethargic phrases. Bravo.
DIE PRESSE, 17 March 1999 (on: Alles Licht, Premiere) --- This was the most joyous part of the evening, that music was presented that exists apart from the heavy intellectual quest for the new, that moves freshly forward, testing out new possibilities of expressing itself in sound.