Wolfgang Rihm - Morphonie, Klangbeschreibung (SWR Sinfonieorchester)

This two-disc set includes "Morphonie" for orchestra with solo string quartet (1972 – 40'10) and "Klangbeschreibung I-III" (1987 – 87'10). Both were premiered by the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg at the Donaueschinger Musiktage: "Morphonie" in 1974 and "Klangbeschreibung" in 1987. These recordings were made in the studio, based on the same intensive rehearsals. "Morphonie" is led by Ernest Bour, while "Klangbeschreibung" is led by Michael Gielen.

It was with the premiere of "Morphonie" that the 22-year old Wolfgang Rihm made his public debut. "Morphonie" made a huge impact as it challenged the then-prevailing post-serialist idiom with its bold energy and use of Romantic gestures, including the moving tonal concluding passage from the strings, evoking Mahler and Berg. Following a crescendo punctuated by piano and percussion, a string quartet section begins shortly after the 20-minute mark and continues, periodically accompanied and interrupted by piano, for nine minutes. Clearly Rihm had absorbed the Second Vienna School as well as the main line of the Austro-German tradition, and proved capable of using putting this heritage at the service of a powerful vision and fresh language. He was to follow "Morphonie" with several more works in a similar vein through the 1970s (for instance Dis-Kontur/Lichtzwang/Sub-Kontur).

Rihm elaborated on his initial breakthroughs in the decade of the 1980s, with major works including the "dance poem" Tutuguri based on an Artaud text, and the opera Die Hamletmaschine, based on the Heiner Muller drama (see my reviews of both). With this preparation in writing for dramatic performances, Rihm produced the three-part "Klangbeschreibung" (Sound Description).

Part I (20'15) is for three orchestral groups. Part II (28'40) is for four women's voices, five brass instruments, and six percussion, and uses a a poem by Nietzsche. Part III (38'15) is for full orchestra. Part I is quite mysterious. It is reminiscent of Webern's "Symphony (Op. 21)," a series of tones that seems to shimmer and revolve slowly, a twilight dream with an elusive figure barely glimpsed and always moving just beyond the range of perception. The central vocal movement is quite lovely, though sparse. The full Nietzsche text of "The Wanderer and his Shadow" reads:

Not back anymore? And not forward?
And for the chamois, too, no path?
Then I will wait here and hold fast,
What my eye and hand can hold!
Five feet of earth, the red of dawn,
and below me – the world, man and death!

Rihm selects only certain words for the singers (not – not forward – no path, etc), and so the vocal part does not actually constitute a standard song lyric. Part III is roughly the same length as "Morphonie," and moves toward the work from 15 years earlier in its power and energy. It is fascinating to compare the two and note how Rihm's vocabulary has changed from his early days. He has developed the assurance to build a structure over a long arch that is not characterized by a headlong rush, but rather by more deliberate pacing and diverse sections.

This is great avant music of the late 20th century, performed by what is arguably the world's leading orchestra in contemporary repertoire. Wolfgang Rihm has mellowed noticeably in the new millennium, and continues to reach back to incorporate elements from earlier periods in his recent compositions. "Morphonie" and "Klangbeschreibung" certainly represent major accomplishments along the path that led to Rihm winning the prestigious Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 2003 at the age of 50, an award usually reserved for older composers after a lifetime of achievement.

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