Günter Philipp

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Günter Philipp (born September 13, 1927 in Sohland on the Spree ) is a German pianist , musicologist , composer and painter .

Life

Philipp grew up in Riesa , Oppach and Bautzen . Attracted by music and the fine arts , he was instructed in nature studies and life drawing by Rudolf Warnecke . Forced labor damaged his left hand in the post-war period . Nevertheless, in 1947 he became a student of Hugo Steurer (piano) and Wilhelm Weismann (composition) in Leipzig . In 1948 he was able to enroll at the Leipzig University of Music and study with Heinz Eberhard Strüningrecord, tape. For financial reasons he had to break off his studies in 1949 and make his way as a freelance artist in Oppach. He resumed his studies in 1953 and graduated in 1956 with the state examination.

Musician and piano teacher

Philipp made radio and vinyl recordings , gave solo evenings, worked as a lieder accompanist , chamber musician and soloist in orchestral concerts . He advocated contemporary music and performed many works for the first time, including the piano concerto by Edisson Wassiljewitsch Denissow and works by Alfred Schnittke and Christfried Schmidt . He edited piano works by Denisov, Alexander Nikolajewitsch Skrjabin , Maurice Ravel and Anatoli Konstantinowitsch Lyadow .

Philipp had been a lecturer at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music in Dresden since 1972 (see section Real Socialist Culture) and was one of the first musicians to practice solo improvisation publicly in the GDR in the 1960s and founded the first improvisation group with the soprano Barbara Dollfus . As a passionate impromptu player , he often gave concerts with orchestral and jazz musicians , including Ute Pruggmayer-Philipp . He was in professional exchange with piano makers . In Altenburg , Wrocław and Bechyně , and after 1989 also in Sweden and Japan , he gave numerous courses.

painting

In addition to music, he always devoted himself to painting and graphics. Oskar Kokoschka , Emil Nolde , Edvard Munch and Oskar Behringer inspired him. Later he was mainly influenced by impressions of Informel and Action Painting from art books by his Dessau friend Eberhard Dutschmann , whose works were kept secret in the GDR for forty years.

Real socialist culture

Again and again Philip came up against political limits. He applied unsuccessfully for membership in the Association of Visual Artists of the GDR . He was therefore only able to exhibit his work as an exception. With one short-term exception, it was not listed in the offer catalog of the GDR artist agency .

After the wall was built , he also had to do without music. He was not allowed to accept invitations to go on concert tours abroad, often not even in Eastern Bloc countries . The piano department at the Leipzig University of Music was shaped by the long-time rector Rudolf Fischer and his students. In the face of such resistance, Philipp was unable to establish improvisation as a subject. In vain did he criticize the practice of appointments at the Ministry of Culture . Werner Wolf campaigned repeatedly for Philipp and would have liked to have won him over to the department of musicology / music education at the Karl Marx University as the successor to the composer Werner Richter, who died in 1970 . But for that Philipp would have had to join the SED , which was out of the question for him.

In 1972 he accepted a lectureship in piano and improvisation at the Dresden University of Music . It was not until 1990, after the so-called Wende , that he was appointed art professor . As the head of the piano department, he was able to realize some of his ideas during training. Two years later they were abolished after his retirement .

Federal German cultural establishment

Hardly less than the restrictions in the GDR he complains about phenomena in today's music and teaching business: Rigorous elbow mentality, clique economy, corruption, bullying, overestimation of one's own abilities, defamation of specialist colleagues, refusal to exchange experiences, biased examination evaluations, inadequate psychological and methodological skills , Rejection of scientific knowledge and superficial career addiction.

Honors

  • Honorary President of the German Tonkünstlerverband Sachsen

Works

Books

  • Piano, piano playing, improvisation . VEB German publishing house for music, 1984
  • Piano playing and improvisation. A textbook and confessional book on musical, technical and psychological basics (interpretation, exercise, pedal, teaching, creativity, hygiene, acoustics, piano making, etc.). Altenburg Leipzig 2003
  • bilderklang Klangbilder - Painting and Graphics , Catalog, Dresden 2007

photos

  • Vers la flame after Scriabin, op.72
  • Homage to Edison Denisow

Sound carrier

  • Improvisational contrasts: solo and Group improvisations . Eterna 827574
  • Piano improvisations with Ute Pruggmayer-Philipp and Günter Philipp . Berlin Classics 0032042BC
  • Edisson Denissow : Concerto for Piano and Orchestra / Peinture . Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig / Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, conductor: Wolf-Dieter Hauschild . Edel Company Hamburg, Berlin Classics 9260-2
  • Alexander Scriabin : Piano Works . Edel Company Hamburg, Berlin Classics 3070-2

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f g Thomas Schinköth (PDF; 70 kB)
  2. ^ Jürgen Wölfer : Jazz in Germany. The encyclopedia. All musicians and record companies from 1920 until today. Hannibal, Höfen 2008, ISBN 978-3-85445-274-4 , p. 261.
  3. Antonia Götsch: The Invisible Wonderful ( Der Spiegel , 2006)

Web links