Wolfgang Rihm
Concerto Dithyrambe / Sotto voce / Sotto voce 2

Author of an impressive number of works (chamber, orchestral, choral, instrumental, musical theater... about 400 at the time of this review), Wolfgang Rihm is perhaps the most famous German composer of the post-Stockhausen generation. One of his CDs? Well, more or less like a drop of water in a sea of music (his).

The disc in question presents three pieces: two of them have the same title, "Sotto voce" and "Sotto voce 2," and a subtitle that says much about their nature: Notturno and Capriccio, respectively.

It seems that Rihm on this occasion wants to return to traditional forms of music, we might say "classical": indeed, the two "Sotto voce" (the first from 1999, the second from 2007) are written for the same ensemble, piano and small orchestra, and represent an excursion into music that avoids harshness and lacerations, moving instead into territories where the pleasantness of sound and the enjoyment of listening are taken into consideration.

Not for nothing, Wolfgang Rihm (1952) had already made a name for himself, back in the mid-70s, with music that would later be termed neo-romantic, and which had as its main asset the revival of communicability, abandoning hostile attitudes towards the audience.

But be careful: this does not mean that all of Rihm's music is "easy." Rihm himself recently defined himself as an avant-garde composer. Therefore, the two "Sotto voce" pieces on this CD are not "easy" pieces: they have their own singability and pleasantness upon listening, but the writing is nonetheless dense and articulated.

Rihm between romanticism and avant-garde: this latter aspect is evident in the "Concerto Dithyrambe" written in 2000, the first piece on the CD. A piece for string quartet and orchestra (thus a rather unusual ensemble) of a fairly extensive duration, almost 26 minutes.

Here the German composer unleashes a boisterous and passionate music, much less accessible compared to the two "Sotto voce." The writing for the quartet is nervous and fragmented, and the orchestra hisses and rumbles, penetrating into the musical fabric like a menacing tide. Lively and Dionysian music, as the reference to the dithyramb (a hymn to Dionysus, the god of intoxication) suggests.

To note the excellent technical quality of the recording of this CD, released by Kairos. Which, as mentioned before, is just a drop in the sea, but to learn to swim one must get wet.