Illies 1913

Florian Illies entfaltet virtuos ein historisches Panorama. 1913: Es ist das eine Jahr, in dem unsere Gegenwart begann. In Literatur, Kunst und Musik werden die Extreme ausgereizt, als gäbe es kein Morgen. Zwischen Paris und Moskau, zwischen London, Berlin und Venedig begegnen wir zahllosen Künstlern, deren Schaffen unsere Welt auf Dauer prägte. Man kokst, trinkt, ätzt, hasst, schreibt, malt, zieht sich gegenseitig an und stößt sich ab, liebt und verflucht sich…

The years between 1900 and 1914 are perhaps among the most exciting in European music history. It was during these years that what is now commonly referred to as musical modernism emerged. It is the time when the great European "schools" of the musical avant-garde take shape in Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg and especially in Vienna, and when music fans out into a variety of aesthetics, styles and genres that are reflected in the set of terms we use today to try to get to grips with the art of this era: Impressionism, Expressionism, Art Nouveau, Neoclassicism, Folklorism, Late Romanticism / Post-Romanticism, Symbolism, etc.

The years between 1900 and 1914 are perhaps among the most exciting in the history of European music. It was during these years that what is today commonly referred to as musical modernism was formed. It is the period in which the great European "schools" of the musical avant-garde take shape in Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, and especially in Vienna, and in which music fans out into a variety of aesthetics, styles, and genres that are reflected in the set of those terms we use today to try to get a grip on the art of this era: Impressionism, Expressionism, Art Nouveau, Neoclassicism, Folklorism, Late Romanticism / Post-Romanticism, Symbolism, etc. The program selection of this CD is grouped around two works written in Vienna in 1913, in this "summer of the century" (Florian Illies) that ends the long 19th century and heralds the dark 20th century: Alban Berg's Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano op. 5 and Egon Kornauth's Sonata for Clarinet and Piano. It is the year of scandalous premieres: Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, Berg's Altenberglieder, Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, but also the less scandalous ones of Debussy's Images pour Orchestre, Reger's Toteninsel, Sibelius Luonnotar, de Falla's La vida breve, and Strauss's Festliches Präludium.

»Ich versuche, das Jahr 1947 zu einem zersplitterten Ganzen zusammenzufügen. Es ist Wahnsinn, doch die Zeit lässt mir keine Ruhe.«