September 2019 WORLDPREMIERE "SPIRITS OF SIBERIA"
The fact that the small and the large coexist simultaneously in this way is entirely to my taste: on September 9 in Bonn/Historischer Saal pianist Susanne Kessel gave the world premiere of my piano piece "DESPAIR & LONGING", dedicated to Beethoven and paraphrasing his song "Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt, weiß was ich leide" (Only those who know longing know what I suffer). This wonderful song of the Mignon from Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister" has accompanied me all my life... Thank you Susanne for your courageous project "250 Piano Pieces for Beethoven" for the 250th birthday of this genius! –
Four days later, on 13 September, the acclaimed world premiere of "SPIRITS OF SIBERIA" for trumpet, strings & percussion group at the Philharmonie Krasnoyarsk at the festival "Asia-Siberia-Europe" was a huge event. Reinhold Friedrich fascinated and shone on flugelhorn, trumpet and piccolo trumpet. He was accompanied by the festival orchestra under the direction of the Spanish conductor Martín Baeza-Rubio. Almost 40 minutes of crackling concentration, endless tensions and an almost frightening perfection of all participants. Especially to emphasize: the "Siberian Percussion Group", which brought to life the spirit of shamanic rituals, which are so omnipresent in Siberia, with Bullroarer, Waterphone, plastic tubes and a lot of percussion. When, after a magically performed piano concerto by Schostakovitch with Eriko Takezawa (piano) and Reinhold Friedrich (trumpet), the audience was already enraptured to standing ovations, no increase in enchantment through music seemed possible anymore... And yet the increase happened: hypnotic sounds for a listenership abducted into wonderland, who thanked with endless applause for this great hour.
Thanks to festival director Larisa Markosyan and artistic director Michael Benyumov for an unforgettable week on the banks of the Yenissei...
"SPIRITS OF SIBERIA" was also recorded these days for a WERGO-CD “KRASNOYARSK COUNTERPOINTS". This CD will be released in December 2019 and is coupled with "LEPORELLO & GIOVANNI", Double Concerto for Double Bass and Double Bass Balalaika, which premiered here at the TransSiberianArtFestival in April 2019.
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European premiere: OPER "MARCO POLO" in Milan and Genova
From September 22 to October 1, the European premiere of my opera "MARCO POLO", composed in Chinese and commissioned by the Chinese government, took place in Milano and Genova (Italy). After the three productions in China this European tour was now a successful test.
Passion and discovering new worlds...
New Works, new CD.... composing out of passion
Lots of concerts... and being Member of Jury
Not only "world premieres" are important for composers life, - but also the repeating of performances to bring the compositions into the common repertoire. And not to forget: working as Jury member in competitions is a very responsible work, leading young artists to their future!
POWER OF PAST - FINDING THE FUTURE IN THE PAST
Now I am in my 70th year of life, which will be celebrated and concluded as a birthday in 2020. As if by itself, there is a reflection of the past. The future becomes more meaningless. My mother has died in March 2019 and I was allowed to accompany her until to her last breath. That also asked many questions about time and life.... The prehistory of life and the world has always occupied and inspired me, the longevity of the trees, some of which are thousands of years old, the documents of past epochs: fascinating, how long before the biblical Creation Report and its time counting there were already cultures and civilization.
ASIA - Seeking the origins of culture
Asia, a longing for the origins of cultures that has been increasingly buried in Western civilization, has been fascinating for over 20 years. Encounter with old traditional instruments, with a concept of "Modernism" that is not as Eurocentric as our "contemporary music" stamped by Darmstadt, Donaueschingen or Adorno.
