New compositions for chamber orchestra
The CD Stürmische Zeit (Stormy time) showcases five world premieres as well as an Austrian first recording. The theme offers space for contextualization which is used by the composers to connect to current cultural, but also socio-political challenges.
The CD opens with the first recording of a work from the private archive of the renowned Tyrolean composer, Werner Pirchner. The orchestral version of the incidental music (arranged by Peter Wesenauer) that Pirchner had composed for a production of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest at the Burgtheater in Vienna was heard for the first time in Austria (production by Claus Peymann). Manuel Zwerger's intriguing idea of transferring the baroque form of the suite into the present day and enlivening it with dance forms from electronic music is implemented to great effect. The Viennese musician and cellist Margarethe Herbert creates a new work for the celebrated Austrian cello quartet eXtracello with chamber orchestra that establishes a link to the MeToo movement in a very sensitive manner. The work of the jazz trumpeter and New Yorker by choice, Franz Hackl, for jazz trumpet and chamber orchestra entitled Snowball Earth refers to political and climatic challenges and expresses the hope that the current period of political frostiness will yield to dramatic flourishing. Josef Schiechtl presents himself with his piece Brainstorm. Here the basic idea focusses on the individual, on the intellectual storms, on ideas and thoughts in one’s own head when realizing a project. Finally, Romed Hopfgartner set to music the ”Stormy time” of the boy Peter Pan who did not want to grow up in a very film music kind of language based on the fairy tale of the same name by Matthew Barrie.