This album features musical greetings commissioned for the 40th anniversary of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, replacing a traditional yearbook.
Historical Context
The Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, founded in 1981 by Gidon Kremer, became an internationally acclaimed hub for chamber music, introducing composers like Sofia Gubaidulina, Alfred Schnittke, and Arvo Pärt to Western audiences.
Performer Biography
Nicolas Altstaedt, the cellist on this album, became the artistic director of the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival in 2011, taking over from its founder Gidon Kremer.
Compositional Technique
Helena Winkelman's 'Atlas Concerto' uses knitting needles inserted between violin strings to create hushed vibrations, contributing to an enchanted forest atmosphere.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Raphaël Merlin's 'See: Sea & Seeds. Si!' concerto was inspired by ecological concerns, exploring solutions and hopes in response to the state of the world.
Recording & Production
Johannes Julius Fischer's 'Still.here' uses a unique electro-acoustic filtering process where piano sounds are sent to a snare drum's resonance chamber via a transducer.
Composition History
Helena Winkelman's 'Sonnet 74' is a contrabass solo inspired by Shakespeare's Sonnet 74, with accompanying strings forming a 'resonance chamber'.
