Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf: Vocal Music

Featuring

Rupert Huber
Johanna Zimmer
Susanne Leitz-Lorey
Truike van der Poel
Martin Nagy
Guillermo Anzorena

Andreas Fischer
Jeffrey Gavett
Ensemble EXVOCO
SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart
Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, the composer, views the voice as the most difficult musical instrument due to its natural yet complex and versatile nature.

Composition History

Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf started composing for voice late in his career, in his mid-thirties, after extensive research into vocal possibilities and notation.

Compositional Technique

The vocal sextet void - un delitto italiano. Un epitaffio uses a wide range of vocal techniques, from bel canto and sung voice to choked voice, onomatopoetic sounds, and creaky voice, to create a 'small opera scene'.

Performer Biography

Jeffrey Gavett, a New York-based singer, conductor, and composer, is featured on this album as the baritone soloist for Ese apie vandenis.

Compositional Technique

In his choral work voiced void, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf emphasizes the consonantal character of the Hebrew language and script by setting key words homophonically.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf's work voiced void is not religious but is motivated by faith, interpreting the texts with the strictness of a legal document, giving the music an Old Testament character.

Compositional Technique

For his work Mon cœur mis à nu, Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf used the phonetics of Charles Baudelaire's texts as a starting point for musical material, rather than setting the text directly.