René Wohlhauser

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René Wohlhauser (2017)

René Wohlhauser (born March 24, 1954 in Zurich ) is a Swiss composer , pianist , singer , improviser , conductor and music teacher .

Life

From 1975 to 1979, Wohlhauser studied counterpoint, harmony, analysis, score playing, instrumentation and composition at the Basel Music Academy with Thomas Kessler , Robert Suter , Jacques Wildberger and Jürg Wyttenbach and obtained a teaching diploma as a music theory teacher. This is followed by composition courses with Kazimierz Serocki , Mauricio Kagel , Herbert Brün and Heinz Holliger, as well as several years of composition studies with Klaus Huber and Brian Ferneyhough . The encounter with the latter is particularly formative for Wohlhauser. Wohlhauser teaches composition, improvisation and music theory at the Basel Music Academy. As an interpreter of new music he has appeared all over Europe, more recently with his «Ensemble Polysono» and in a duo with the soprano Christine Simolka. Wohlhauser also published numerous music-related texts.

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Wohlhauser's extensive work is characterized by a wide variety of genres and line-ups. It includes solo, chamber and orchestral music, organ and stage works. In his early compositions, Wohlhauser also showed interest in electroacoustic processes. Often in his compositions, an extra-musical impulse becomes the starting point for the compositional work. In this way, particularly philosophical, linguistic or scientific references can be identified. In his works, Wohlhauser shows himself to be a tireless and unprejudiced searching composer, who questions the existing order and avoids the well-trodden paths. The consistent implementation of his compositional approaches is often expressed in a dense and complex tonal language that is equally challenging for performers and listeners.

Catalog raisonné

  • Lemuria for 2 flutes and tape (1977)
  • Nesut for piano solo (1977)
  • cemaltorz for soprano (also mezzo-soprano) and piano (1977)
  • Souvenirs de l'Occitanie for clarinet solo (1978)
  • Modulaltica for treble recorder and synthesizer (1978). Additional version: Modulaltica-Variations for alto recorder solo (1978)
  • Fragments for orchestra (1979)
  • flautando for 2 flutes (1980/81, rev. 1987)
  • Musica Assoluta e Determinata for voice and chamber ensemble (1981)
  • Largo elettrificato for voice and chamber ensemble with electronic sound alienation (1981)
  • Piano quartet for string trio (violin, viola, violoncello) and piano (1979 / 83–84, rev. 1987)
  • Drum trio (1984/85). Further versions of Sarktirko (2008) for solo percussion
  • CI-IC for flute and viola (1985)
  • Duometry for flute and bass clarinet (1985/86)
  • Organ piece (1986)
  • Three pieces for piano (1986/87)
  • Clarinet Trio "Metamusik" for 3 Bb clarinets (1986/87)
  • Adagio assai for string quartet (1982/83/85/87/88)
  • Breathing line for horn solo (and tam-tam , same player) (1988)
  • Lumière (s) for organ (1989)
  • in statu mutandi for orchestra (1991–93)
  • vocis imago for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin and violoncello (1993–95). Other versions: 62 variant versions from solo to quintet.
  • Flight of Thoughts for cello and piano (1995)
  • Quantum Flow for flute, viola and harp (harp trio) (1996)
  • Quantum Flow - version for flute, cello and piano (1996/97)
  • Entropía per violoncello solo (1997/98)
  • carpe diem in accelerated time for string quartet (1998/99)
  • The dissolution of time into space for saxophone, percussion and piano (2000/01). Additional version: Saró (2008) for saxophone solo
  • Meditation on time for the left hand on the piano (2001)
  • Sounds in Time for piano (2000)
  • Manía for piano (2001/02)
  • Music for flute solo (2002)
  • Gantenbein, music theater for 4 soloists and orchestra (2002–2004), text after Max Frisch
  • Revenge aria from the opera Gantenbein , arranged for soprano and piano (2004)
  • Sulawedische Lieder , Gesänge and vocal pieces, cycle based on own onomatopoeic texts for soprano (also mezzo-soprano), baritone, 1–2 musical speaking voices and extended piano (2–5 players) (2005/06/08)
  • Three other pieces for piano (2005/06) Ergon 32
  • mira schinak , trio for soprano, flute and piano based on your own onomatopoeic text (2006)
  • mikka resna for tenor and guitar based on its own onomatopoeic text (2006)
  • Study on states and time processes for flute and piano (2007)
  • '' Srang for soprano, flute, clarinet and violoncello on an own onomatopoeic text (2007)
  • String Trio (2007)
  • Sarktirko (2008) for solo percussion
  • Saró (2008) for saxophone solo
  • Ly-Gue-Tin, a tongue-in-cheek, semi-staged work monograph for voice (s) and piano sounds based on own onomatopoeic texts (1988)
  • Sokrak for soprano, flute, clarinet, violoncello and piano on an own onomatopoeic text (2008)
  • Iguur - Blay - Luup , triptych for soprano solo, soprano-baritone duo and soprano with a small ensemble on own onomatopoeic texts (2009), various subsidiary versions
  • Masona for 16-part mixed choir based on own onomatopoeic texts (2009/10)

Awards

  • 1978 Valentino Bucchi Composition Prize, Rome
  • 1981 Composition Prize from the Association of German Music Schools, Bonn
  • 1983 Composition Prize from the Association of Youth Music Schools in the Canton of Zurich
  • 1984 Composition Prize from the City and Canton of Friborg
  • 1987 Composition Prize of the Salzburg Cathedral Chapter
  • 1988 Kranichsteiner Scholarship Prize of the International Summer Courses for New Music Darmstadt
  • 1990 Composition Prize from the Eastern Switzerland Foundation for Music and Theater, St. Gallen
  • 1991 Culture Prize of the Canton of Lucerne
  • 1992 Recognition Prize from the Swiss Society for Music Education Research, Zurich
  • 1996 "Selection" award from Swiss Radio International
  • 1998 Culture Prize of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft

Discography

  • René Wohlhauser "in statu mutandi" (Creative Works Records CW 1026, © 1996)
  • René Wohlhauser, composer portrait (Grammont Portrait CTS-M 117, © 2009)
  • The Ensemble Polysono plays compositions by René Wohlhauser and Ursula Seiler Kombaratov, Vol. 1 (Polysono Records 2008-1, © 2008)
  • The Ensemble Polysono plays compositions by René Wohlhauser and Ursula Seiler Kombaratov, Vol. 2 (Polysono Records 2009-1, © 2009)

literature

  • Hanns-Werner Heister , Walter Wolfgang Sparrer (Hrsg.): Composers of the present. Munich, text + kritik (24) 2002 (above).
  • Ulrich Mosch : Article by René Wohlhauser. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1994, supplement volume, personal section, Sp. 1146 f.
  • Helga de la Motte-Haber (Ed.): History of Music in the 20th Century: 1975-2000. Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 2000, p. 337 (Handbook of Music in the 20th Century, 4).
  • Jean-Noël von der Weid: The music of the 20th century. Insel, Frankfurt am Main 2001, p. 167.
  • René Wohlhauser: About compositional, aesthetic and philosophical aspects of my own works. In: Composition and Aesthetics. Schott, Mainz 1994, pp. 98-107 ( Darmstadt Contributions to New Music. 20).
  • René Wohlhauser: in statu mutandi - a work analysis. In: Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf, Frank Cox, Wolfram Schurig (Eds.): Polyphony & Complexity. Wolke Verlag, Hofheim 2002, pp. 314-324 ( New Music and Aesthetics in the 21st Century. 1).
  • René Wohlhauser: A psychodrama of reflections of the soul. About the opera «Gantenbein». In: dissonance. No. 87 (9/2004), Zurich 2004.
  • René Wohlhauser: The necessary anachronism of art. Essay for the booklet of the Grammont portrait CD 2009.
  • Swiss composers of our time. Amadeus, Winterthur 1993, p. 447 f.
  • Anne-Lise Delacrétaz: Contemporary writers. Sauerländer, Aarau 2002, p. 433.
  • Au carrefour des mondes: Composing in Switzerland - a compendium of essays, analyzes, portraits and conversations. Pfau, Saarbrücken 2008, pp. 562-569.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wohlhauser, René
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss composer, pianist, singer, improviser, conductor and music teacher
DATE OF BIRTH March 24, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich