All shall have prizes (Vienna edition)
OrchestrasThe Austrian state prize, worth 30,000 Euros, has been awarded to the Carinthian composer Gerd Kühr.
Kühr, 71, is officially described as ‘a personality who, in his great sensitivity and openness, expresses a commitment to tradition without ever becoming traditionalist, as his gaze is always directed towards new terrain and paths less travelled.’
Words with no meaning whatsoever. The same could be said about Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Schumann, Chopin etc – only they were infinitely greater.
Congratulations Gerd. A fitting reward for a life dedicated to your craft.
What is wrong with ‘tradition’? The entire musical world consists of tradition, and is it therefore something bad?
The video merely demonstrates the tradition of average modernism, meanwhile more than half a century old and chewed to death.
I’m sure that he’s a wonderful chap but can someone please tell me what is special about this piece. It’s an excellent way of playing composer bulls#%t bingo.
Extremely loud percussion opening in a chamber piece…check.
Woodwind fluttering the keys…check.
Strange noises from strings…check.
Conductor always beating a slow 4 whatever’s happening in the piece…check.
Bingo!
Cynic? Me? Yes!
It’s customary that conductors make the movements of 4/4 or 3/4 during such piece, as to give the impression that what the audience is hearing is the result of ordered coherence. The difference of such theatre and an orchestra simply improvising, without conductor, is minimal.
I just want to say, that Gerd Kühr is a very serious man and composer. If somebody likes his work or not depends on personal taste. Beside his compositional tasks he taught for many years in Graz and is – because of the recognition and nurturing of young talent – a very respected teacher.
I’m quite sure that Herr Kühr is a man of sincerity and integrity. However my reservations remain, even if I delivered them in a flippant way. Moreover I am happy to defend his right to compose that way, just as at the other end of the spectrum I always stick up for Andre Rieu in these pages even though to me it would be a close call as to which concert would be less enjoyable.
As an old lag, now mostly retired, I have sat through more than enough rehearsals and concerts of this ilk over the years. I now ruthlessly cherry pick gigs to avoid it entirely. Some players specialise in this style and good luck to them. I’m afraid I nearly always endured it rather than enjoyed it although I assure you I always gave it every bit as much attention as anything else.Ultimately at least I could console myself that there was a cheque at the end of it.