Hamburg Contemporary

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Program:
Nikolai Roslavets: 3 Etudes (1914)
No. 1: Affettamente

Samuil Feinberg: Sonata No. 3, Op. 3 (1916–1917)
I. Prélude
II. Marche funèbre
III. Sonata

Ronn Yedidia: Sonata No. 3, “Outcries” (1985)

Nikolai Roslavets (1881–1944, born in what is now Ukraine) was one of the pioneers of contemporary music in Ukraine and Russia. The Composers’ Association for New Music (ASM) of that time, in which he played a leading role, was particularly committed to promoting Jewish music.
Igor Stravinsky described Roslavets as “the most interesting Russian composer of the 20th century.” However, with the onset of the Stalinist era and the cultural policy of “Socialist Realism” in the 1930s, he was ostracized, causing his significance to fade; it is only now being gradually rediscovered.
Nikolai Roslavets’ piano etude “Affettamente” (“affectionately”) navigates the tension between technical virtuosity and deep expressiveness. Up to four staves are required simultaneously to weave the polyphonic layers—each with its own rhythms—into a tapestry of sound that remains highly original even today and is rich in subtle nuances. Although Roslavets’s mystical-sounding musical language bears similarities to the late works of Alexander Scriabin, it forges its own unique path through far more complex musical structures.

Samuil Feinberg (1890–1962, born in Odessa) served as a professor of piano at the Moscow Conservatory for 40 years, which is why he left a lasting mark on the Russian piano school. As a pianist, he made a name for himself by performing Johann Sebastian Bach’s entire *Well-Tempered Clavier* in a single concert evening, Beethoven’s 32 sonatas in a single season, and his interpretations of Alexander Scriabin’s music.
Feinberg’s Third Piano Sonata, with audible influences from Bach and Chopin, is virtually unsurpassed in its grandeur. An incredible number of notes and long phrases create an almost trance-like or ecstatic effect. Regarding the third movement, which features a breathtaking fugue in the middle, Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin commented as follows:
“It just doesn’t stop! It is one of the most remarkable pianistic monsters I’ve ever encountered. It just grows and grows and grows—and then you think the piece is over, and then there are six more pages of coda… He just doesn’t want to let you go! Until he’s squeezed absolutely everything out of the material. I can tell you, it’s not much fun to play, but I do it because—despite all its imperfections—it’s a remarkable creation; I’ve never seen anything like it and probably never will.”

Ronn Yedida (born 1960 in Tel Aviv) is a highly acclaimed composer and pianist. His musical career began as a piano prodigy. His most important teacher and mentor was Israel’s “First Lady of the Piano,” Pnina Salzman, who in turn was a protégée of Alfred Cortot. In 1984, Yedida enrolled at the Juilliard School, from which he graduated with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition. He has received all the major composition awards in the United States.
His Third Piano Sonata, “Outcries,” was featured on Israeli television in 1987 as the “Discovery of the Year” in classical music.
In the composer’s preface to his Piano Sonata No. 3, “Outcries,” he describes drawing inspiration from both mystical and material sources. He was inspired by a variety of influences—primarily early 20th-century music (Scriabin, Ravel, Bartók, Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Webern, Messiaen), modern jazz, and minimalism.
“In its overall structure, ‘Outcries’ represents a form of continuous change: A-B-C with several sections. The organic quality of the work is achieved through the interweaving of linear, harmonic, rhythmic, and textural elements, as well as through a serial organization of pitches. The sonata’s powerful finale is based on a 12-tone harmonic structure that builds up through a cumulative process. Strong contrasts in sound and movement from beginning to end create constant tension and release, forming a structure of acute formal and dynamic clarity amid the chaotic nature of the piece.”

Jonas Otte (*2000) began his training in piano and composition in his hometown of Chemnitz. In 2012, he won first prize at the national “Jugend musiziert” competition; in 2013, he received the special prize at the “Lions Music Competition”; and in 2017, he was awarded an encouragement prize at “Jugend komponiert.” From 2012 to 2018, he was a scholarship recipient of the Talent Development Program of the Saxony State Association of German Music Schools; since 2021, he has been a scholarship recipient of the German National Academic Foundation. That same year, his piece “Ennui” was selected for the “Touching Sounds” project of the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music. In 2022, he received a five-week residency fellowship at the Beethoven House in Bonn.
From 2018 to 2023, he studied composition with Prof. Jörg Birkenkötter and piano with Hwa-Kyung Yim in Bremen. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in composition with Prof. Gordon Kampe in Hamburg. He has already gained international recognition through world premieres of his compositions at the “Izmir Days of New Music” festival with the E-MEX Ensemble and the “International New Music Festival Tel Aviv” with the Meitar Ensemble, as well as through performances in Italy and South Korea. His works have also been broadcast on Deutschlandfunk. For several years, he served as pianist with the Bremen-based EnsembleANM, gaining valuable experience in the performance practice of contemporary music, and has since regularly staged (world) premieres of contemporary piano works. Jonas Otte is a member of the festival and concert organizer Projektgruppe Neue Musik Bremen (pgnm).

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The Week of New Music is back! From May 13 to 16, 2024, artists dedicated to contemporary music—and the classics of modernism—will once again take the stage.

No, and then yes after all: Two anniversaries of compositional giants fall in 2024, and yet Hamburg Contemporary does not place itself solely in the spotlight of Arnold Schönberg (150th birthday) and Luigi Nono (100th birthday), even though that would have been so obvious and easy. For the spotlight is meant to shine on the truly contemporary—the young musicians who get their stage here! Yet the music of the honorees and their contemporaries isn’t entirely omitted; students and faculty from various instrumental disciplines will perform several modernist classics: Schönberg’s “Pierrot Lunaire” and his string music, as well as Nono’s “La Fabbrica Illuminata.” A piano recital featuring works by Jewish composers from the first half of the 20th century will showcase music that has, in some cases, fallen into obscurity.
There will be sounds, clatter, and booms at the class recitals of the composition classes from Rostock and Hamburg, as well as at the piano concert of the practical seminar on new piano music! The exchange between the composition classes will be rounded out in the future with a return visit to Rostock. The final day will then feature two highlights: miniatures for three violins will be performed by members of the Ensemble Resonanz. The small festival will be rounded out by an ensemble concert: students from the HfMT will perform selected works by renowned—and, get this: still living!—composers!

Eintritt frei

Registration is necessary and can be done via eventbrite.

You can also watch this concert live via our Youtube channel to follow the concert.

Events at a glance:
13.05., 18:00 - Composition class evening Rostock
13.05., 20:00 - Nono: La Fabbrica Illuminata and piano music: ...don't push the sounds... not even a little bit...?
14.05., 19:00 - Composition class evening Hamburg
15.05., 17:30 - Piano recital by Jewish composers of the early 20th century
15.05., 19:00 - Pierrot Lunaire: Milestone of classical modernism
15.05., 20:00 - Schönberg's string music
16.05., 19:00 - Miniature Wonderland - Ensemble Resonanz @ HfMT

The events are sponsored by the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius. They are part of the new series Hamburg Contemporary.