Odradek (Piano Quintet, String Quartet)

'Odradek' is the first New Series recording by Israeli composer Gideon Lewensohn, increasingly recognised as one of the freshest voices in new music today. His work is at once playful and serious, is loaded with musical-historical cross references (not a few of them ironic), yet it does not shy away from emotional expression or 'political' commentary, and stands quite apart from the "anything-goes" school of post-modernism. Lewensohn is an original.

His Piano Quintet incorporates tributes to György Kurtág, the Hilliard Ensemble, George Rochberg and Shostakovich. The prologue of the Odradek Quartet is entitled "Kancheli and Lutoslowski, a casual meeting" and later in the work - which recently won First Prize in the International Competition of the Italian Academy of Arts and Letters - there are allusions to Mahler, Bartók, Josef Tal and Scott Joplin. Lewensohn feels that his contact with György Kurtág in particular has had a profound impact on his music.

Born in 1954 and a fifth-generation Jerusalemite, Lewensohn combines composing with conducting, playing the bass and teaching composition at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv. His work includes chamber music, orchestral music, theatre pieces and electro-acoustic music. He has conducted ensembles and orchestras both in Israel and the USA, and been a bass player in the Israel Philharmonic and Klezmer bands.

In recent years, Lewensohn's music has developed a distinctive contemporary character yet it remains deeply rooted in the traditional world of melody, harmony and gesture. Deeply interested in the role of the composer as an interpreter of culture, his further interest in the exchange between composer and performer is reflected in his chamber music, often notated in a manner which demands from the performers a heightened level of listening and interaction.

Recorded 2001

Personnel:
Alexander Lonquich - (piano), Ora Rotem Nelken - (piano), Auryn Quartet, Matthias Lingenfelder - (violin), Jens Oppermann - (violin), Stewart Eaton - (viola), Andreas Arndt - (violoncello)

Number of Discs: 1

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