Trojahn, M :: Konzert [Concerto]

Manfred Trojahn, the author of a sizable body of large-scale orchestral works, chamber music, and especially vocal music for various forces and several full-length operas, occupies what is in many respects a unique position in the music history of recent decades. He has defined his aesthetic stance by distancing himself from the sort of narrow and increasingly sclerotic notion of the musical avant-garde that took hold in the post-war centers of contemporary music. In contrast, Trojahn's aesthetic and compositional technique hearkens back to the musical past and to several exemplary composers, whether the modernist music of the fin de sicle or such figures as Benjamin Britten and Hans Werner Henze.

Besides these ties with the musical past, Trojahn's music is governed above all by his personal experience, and it is only natural that his specific thoughts on these experiences should be applied time and again in his works. Trojahn is a self-reflective, almost serial composer who tends to produce groups of pieces tightly related in their structure and emotional content. All the same, his concern is to break through the hermeticism that has beset standard avant-garde fare. The main focus of his interests lies on the communicative potential of music that is contemporary in a strong sense of the term.

The Flute Concerto, premiered 1983, is a complex work that tightly winds the solo and orchestral material together. Though the material, especially the solo part, is typical of Trojahn s language - radical tempo changes, ruthlessly demanding intervals, and densely-packed technical gestures - Trojahn s personal flute skills allow him to lend an uncommonly lyrical element, even in the quick Scherzos and Variations of the first movement. Though only the third variation is labeled as an homage to Stravinsky, Stravinsky s influence is felt throughout the entire movement, and especially in the finale.

The second movement adheres more closely to Trojahn s distinct Expressionist tendencies, pulling material from Satie and transmuting it into something magical as the movement title suggests with Incantation de la Licorne - Incantation of the Unicorn. Echoes of Jolivet thread throughout this movement. The final movement is as playful as Trojahn ever approaches, as licks and sly grace notes alternate with small moto-perpetuo staccato and a return to Jolivet in the cadenza, glissing about the low D.

Duration: 18'. For advanced players.