Portrait Bernd Franke 

MDR
Meret Forster
Sendetermin:  18.5.2006

MDR-Portrait Bernd Franke (by Meret Forster)

BERND FRANKE
BlueGreen 
for saxophone quartet und orchestra (2004)

Duration: ca. 18`

Commission for the Philharmonisches Orchester der Landeshauptstadt Kiel

Première: 26./27.9.2004, Kiel, Philharmonisches Orchester der Landeshauptstadt Kiel,

Conductor: Georg Fritzsch

Publisher: C. F. Peters Frankfurt
www.edition-peters.de

http://www.berndfranke.de/

BlueGreen for saxophone quartet und orchestra (2004)

BERND FRANKE
For Elliott Carter
five pieces for timpani solo (2004)

II  (3:07)
I   (2:50)
III (3:28)
V  (4:09)

wp: 2.5.2004, Ulm, Stadthaus, Jürgen Grözinger

Publisher:  C. F. Peters Frankfurt
www.edition-peters.de

http://www.berndfranke.de/

For Elliott Carter - five pieces for timpani solo (2004)

BERND FRANKE
PRAYA DUBIA  (for Esbjörn Svensson) for orchestra (2009-2011)

If you like, you can have a look into the score right here: http://issuu.com/editionpeters/docs/ep_12597r_bernd_franke__praya_dubia

Commission for the Bayerischer Rundfunk / musica viva
Duration ca. 17`
Première: 27. Mai 2011, Munich, Herkulessaal, Musica Viva, Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Leitung: Lucas Vis
www.edition-peters.de

http://www.berndfranke.de/
 
Instrumentation: 3 Fl. 3 Ob. 3 Clar. in B ( 3. including Bass Clarinet) 3 Bassoon. (3. including Contrabassoon) 4 Hr. in F. 3 Trp. in C. 3 Trombone. 1 Tb. Harp.  Piano. 
Timpani (1 Player) Percussion (3 Players):  Crotali, Glockenspiel, Vibraphone (always senza motore), Gongs (A, E, F, D sharp) 3 hanging cymbals, Tamtam (medium), Whip, 2 snare drums, military drum, bass drum.  Strings:  14, 12, 10, 8, 6 ( Double Bass. Minimum 6)


The Work:
 
PRAYA DUBIA is one of the longest creatures in the world, superficially resembling a giant jellyfish which can grow up to 50 metres long and lives a depth of several hundred metres.  The "living drift net" is made up of thousands of polyps which shatter into many pieces when caught causing its death.
 
PRAYA DUBIA are Variations on a chord.

Sounds are, for me, deeply organic, natural and living; a tone generates not only oscillations in space but also in the human body,  they bring about interactions and interrelationships -- inner and outer- sounds transform to lines, strands, branches, byways, clouds of chords, implosions or explosions, the linear become vertical, colours are created, atmospheres, densities. And the reverse. 
I "play" with my experiences coming from my acquaintance with the  music of other cultures, especially the cultures of Asia and the Far East.

The Swedish pianist and jazz musician Esbjörn Svensson, founder and leader of the Esbjörn Svensson Trio / EST is a very strong influence in my conception of the Work. His openness and holistic outlook I found and find extremely fascinating; he excluded nothing, did not play off one system against another, was open to everything, assimilating intensively and inspiringly, with tolerance, transforming and communicating.
  
Esbjörn Svensson:  the initials of his name became sound, the organic sound became a theme and the theme shaped the form: Prologue - Theme - 9 Variations - Epilogue.
The nine phases of the Variations have a duration of some one to one and a half minutes each. In the Prologue and the Epilogue it is no accident that the main instruments are piano, percussion and double bass. The basic sound is altered by differing techniques, there is never a standstill, all is in motion. Only once are two central Variations separated from one another by a general rest: Nr. 8 and Nr. 9, all the other Variations flow attacca into each other.
From the Prologue to the end of the eighth Variation everything is in flux -- like a great current.
 
Bernd Franke, April 2011

PRAYA DUBIA (for Esbjörn Svensson) for orchestra (2009-2011)

BERND FRANKE
open doors
for bandoneon and orchestra (2002)

UA: 21.1.2003, Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, MDR-Sinfonieorchester, 
Per Arne Glorvigen/Bandoneon, Leitung: Rolf Gupta
Besetzung: 1 (auch Picc.).1.1. (auch Es-Klar.).1 -- 1.1.Flghr.1.1. -- Hf. -- Kl. -- P.S (3) --
4.4.3.3.1 (oder größer) -- Zuspielband (CD)
Dauer: 17`
Verlag: C. F. Peters Frankfurt
www.edition-peters.de

http://www.berndfranke.de/


April 2002:  two weeks in New York, staying in the bedlam of downtown Manhattan.  Rehearsals and Première of Petrel Seascapes for Soprano and Orchestra with the New Juilliard Ensemble, lectures in the Manhattan School and the Juilliard School, visits to musicians and artists as well as to my former Tanglewood Professor, Lukas Foss, who is now 80 years old and still flying once a week to Boston to teach (Performance of Contemporary Music), met the 94 year old Elliott Carter during an impressive concert of works by Carter and Cage --in the middle of working on my piece for Bandoneon and Orchestra- have two especially far-reaching and striking experiences:
a fantastic performance at the Met of Alban Berg's Lulu in the Three Act version under Levine (use a quotation in open doors)  and the atmosphere of the New York subway: 
when the door opens in each station you hear new and outstanding buskers from all round the world, a huge web of sound, a landscape of sound "in motion"!
"To be in motion", to be open for the New, the Different, for not yet heard sound landscapes.
In May 2002 a colleague from Peters in New York recorded the sounds of the New York subway on minidisc for me, a part of which I use in my new piece for Bandoneon and Orchestra.
In June 2002 I learn from friends in Pittsburgh that a concert of "Subway Musicians from around the World" had been organised in the Lincoln Centre in New York City!
open doors, organically-growing and with aleatoric structures overlaying hierarchically directed orchestral structures, chambermusically "softens" the orchestral effect.
Bare short "phases" of 1-2 minutes are interrupted again and again by "cuts", there is no detailed development in the first part, there are just webs of sound in space....


Bernd Franke  2003

open doors - for bandoneon and orchestra (2002)

BERND FRANKE                                              
On the Dignity of Man (2004/05)
For Mixed Choir and Saxophone Quartet
After a Text by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
Commission for the Sächsisches Vocalensemble

Première: 22.5.2005, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, Glashütte,
        Sächsisches Vocalensemble, Raschèr Saxophonquartett 

Duration: ca. 17`

Material: C. F. Peters Frankfurt
www.edition-peters.de

http://www.berndfranke.de/


Introduction:

On the Dignity of Man is one of the key philosophical documents of the Renaissance, a  speech by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, never given and only retained in written form.

Looking for a suitable text for my project for the Sächsisches Vocalensemble and the Raschèr Saxophonquartett I was pointed in the direction of this work because of its central theme by my friend, the writer David Bengree-Jones.
 
This corresponding short passage  portrays the address which Pico has God give to the first man.  It is to be found at the beginning of the Oratio.

I have not used the original Latin text but have rather set an English translation which I have divided into five short extracts.

The Choir and Saxophone Quartet hardly appear together; the five choral extracts are dovetailed and interlinked with the five short Movements for the Saxophone Quartet.

Both groups inhabit their own musical world.  The choir is often used aleatorically and in a declamatory fashion; by way of minimal rhythmic shifts an, in-part, up to 20 voice polyphonic-modal picture is brought about giving an intended distance and timelessness.

The Saxophone Quartet is "more earthy", more energetic, more bound within its rhythmic and melodic structure, more concentrated in its handling of tone, - dirtier!  Dovetailing and overlapping are produced by the use of a few central intervals such as the Fourth and the Fifth, sometimes "pushed aside" by Tritoni or "towers of fifths". Only in the closing part does the choir break out of its behavioural pattern and begins to shout, then to speak , finally reducing to a whisper.  Up to this part really everything has already  been said; and here begins the Reprise of certain extracts from the Text.

Bernd Franke 4.3.2005


Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494)

Ausschnitt aus: De hominis dignitate (Über die Würde des Menschen) (1486/87)

On the Dignity of Man

"We have given to thee, Adam, no fixed seat, no form of thy very own, no gift peculiarly thine, that thou mayest feel as thine own, have as thine own, possess as thine own the seat, the  form, the gifts which thou thyself shalt desire. A limited nature in other creatures is confined within the laws written down by us. In conformity with thy free judgment, in whose hands I have placed thee, thou art confined by no bounds; and thou wilt fix limits of nature for thyself.  I have placed thee at the center of the world, that from there thou mayest more conveniently look around and see whatsoever is in the world.  Neither heavenly nor earthly, neither mortal nor immortal have we made thee.  Thou, like a judge appointed for being honorable, art the molder and maker of thyself; thou mayest sculpt thyself into whatever shape thou dost prefer.  Thou canst grow downward into the lower natures which are brutes.  Thou canst again grow upward from thy soul's reason into the higher natures which are divine."

on the dignity of man - for mixed choir sax. quartet (2004/2005)

BERND FRANKE
Memoriam - Tempo e tempi
für Chor und Orchester auf Texte von Hans-Ulrich Treichel und William Shakespeare
(2008/09)

If you like, you can have a look into the score right here: http://issuu.com/editionpeters/docs/ep_12603r_bernd_franke_memoriam-tem

Auftragswerk der Universität Leipzig zum 600jährigen Bestehen der Leipziger Universität und zur Einweihung des Neuen Paulinums - Aula/Universitätskirche St. Pauli

Das Gedicht „Immerdar" schrieb Hans-Ulrich Treichel exklusiv für diesen Anlaß.

UA: 2.12.2009, Universität Leipzig, Neues Paulinum, Festakt zum 600jährigen Bestehen der Leipziger Universität, Universitätschor Leipzig, Mendelssohn-Orchester, David Timm

Dauer: ca. 17`

Verlag: C. F. Peters Frankfurt
www.edition-peters.de

http://www.berndfranke.de/

Sätze/Form:  Prolog -- I (Treichel) -- Interludium -- II (Shakespeare) -- Epilog (Treichel)

Besetzung: gemischter großer Chor (S, A, T, B), Orchester:  2.3 (3. als Fernoboe hinter dem Publikum).2.2.- 4.4 (3. und 4. Trp. als Ferninstrumente hinter dem Publikum).3.1.- Pk.-Schlzg. (3 Spieler) -- Hrf. -- Klav. -- Streicher (ideal: 14.12.10.8.6 oder 12.10.8.8.6) (und 2 Ferninstrumente oberhalb oder seitlich des Orchesters/in Distanz: Solo-Vl. und Solo-Vla.)


Hans-Ulrich Treichel  
Immerdar

Alles hat seine Zeit, 
der Wind, das Laub, 
der Schnee und die Krähen, 
ein Jegliches hat seine Zeit, 
auch das, was geschrieben steht, 
auch die Worte, Gebete, 
der Schrei, das Gelächter,
auch die Zeit hat ihre Zeit, 
der Himmel, die Wolken, 
wie alles und alle, jeder und jede, 
der Herzschlag, der Atem, 
das Schnurren der Katze,
was wächst, was gedeiht, 
was stirbt, was verdirbt, 
die vor uns waren, 
die nach uns kommen, 
das Haus, das wir bauen, 
der Sturm, der es einreißt, 
der Tag, den wir loben, 
das Jetzt und das Niemals 
hat seine Zeit und auch 
das Immerdar.

William Shakespeare (aus Hamlet, Akt 2, Szene 2, Hamlet)

What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty,  in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god -- the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals!


Welch ein Meisterwerk ist der Mensch! Wie edel durch Vernunft! Wie unbegrenzt an Fähigkeiten! In Gestalt und Bewegung wie bedeutend und wunderwürdig! Im Handeln wie ähnlich einem Engel! Im Begreifen wie ähnlich einem Gott! Die Zierde der Welt! Das Vorbild der Lebendigen!

Weitere Infos unter: www.BerndFranke.de

"Memoriam - Tempo e tempi" - für Chor und Orchester (2008/2009)

BERND FRANKE
lines (I) 
for soprano and ensemble  (2004)
after fragments by Novalis

(Commission for the Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung)

Orchestration:  Soprano (also Whip, Wood on Wood -- eg.  Klanghölzer) 
                   2  Timpani (1 Player - 26 and 29, also Gong -- kleines c, Crotales (A, Eflat, D))
                   2 Violins, 2 Violas, 2 Cellos, 1 Ebass

Première: 10.7.04, Nörten-Hardenberg, Hardenberg Atrium, European Music Project,
        Ulrike Stöve -- Soprano


Duration: ca. 12`
Publisher: C. F. Peters
www.edition-peters.de

http://www.berndfranke.de/


With lines (I)  I am beginning a new cycle, continuing the style and structure of my other cycles „half-way house -- SOLO XFACH (für Joseph Beuys)" und CUT.

The „Beuys-Zyklus" began in 1988 with Solo 3fach für Horn, Violine and is a work in progress. 

CUT I-III was premiered in 2001 by Ensemble Modern in the Dresdner Kreuzkirche.

lines (I) after Fragments by Novalis (from the Fragments and Studies) came into being in Spring 2004 as a Commission from the Niedersächsischen Sparkassenstiftung and on the instigation of  Julia Cloot for the Novalis-Projekt on 10. Juli 2004 in Nörten-Hardenberg.
In all I am planning for my new cycle nine differing Ensemble pieces with completely different heterogenous orchestration, each combined with a vocal part.

This vocal art, a soprano in lines I, is combined with an additional main or foundation part, and is also only performable with this. In this way it is possible to layer simultaneously a choice of seven further instrumental parts. 

In lines I the parts are for  2 Violins, 2 Violas, 2 Cellos and 1 Ebass.

This leads to a polyphonic texture, similar to a highly complex canon. Individual parts are multiplied, overlapped, layered  - similar to the Uncertainty  Principle in Physics or the cutting techniques in Computer, Film or Video.

lines I is also a reversion to old polyphonic modal structures from the European Middle Ages and is likewise linked to the modal and linear compositional structures in Indian and Arabic music.  In the old Indian musical tradition there was no orchestra! Each singer and instrumentalist is a soloist! The line is important for me, the (romantic) sound (of the 19th century) provides a background. In a roaring, noisy world without rest and outside time Chamber Music is becoming more and more important for my existence for my survival as a composer.   Novalis' texts were a decisive key for me to this work.

Through the NEARNESS to Novalis (Versuch zur Nähe!), in thought and also biographically, a circles closes itself for me -- THE circle.

In my native town Weißenfels almost every day I passed Novalis' house where he also died (my home was only some 200 mteres away).  During my time as a music student I lived for several years in a Hardenbergstrasse...(coincidence?). These aspects also played an important roll in my thinking during the composition of this piece.  And naturally the brilliant timelessness yet contemporaneity of Novalis' texts.

The Soprano does not just sing: she speaks as well, whispers, declaims, plays Percussion alone AND conducts! But not metrically in the sense of a conductor.  She indicates entrances for the Ensemble, coordinates and thereby determines the Chamber Music Event.

Because the is no formal conductor the piece is (except for the Soprano and the Timpani) organised aleatorically - without a directly stated timecode and without a stopwatch.  The timecode was only important to me when I composed the piece.

A new cycle - a new way!

2.6.04 Bernd Franke

lines (I) - for soprano and ensemble after fragments by Novalis (2004)

BERND FRANKE
Konform -- Kontraform - Szene für 8 Instrumente (1988)

Auftragswerk der Gruppe Neue Musik Hanss Eisler

UA: April 1999, Tage der Neuen Musik Witten, Gruppe Neue Musik Hanns Eisler

Die Komposition Konform - Kontraform entstand 1988 im Auftrag der Gruppe Neue Musik "Hanns Eisler" und wurde zum 20jährigen Bestehen dieses Ensembles im Frühjahr 1990 in Witten innerhalb der Tage der Neuen Kammermusik uraufgeführt.
Im Herbst 1990 wurde Konform - Kontraform von der Gruppe Neue Musik "Hanns Eisler" beim WDR produziert.
Der Titel und der Untertitel (Szene für 8 Instrumente) evozieren ein Rollenspiel, das Einbeziehen theatralisch-dramaturgischer Aspekte in Komposition, in die einzelnen Strukturen hinein.
Konform - Kontraform ist quasi ein Konzert für Oboe und zwei Gruppen.
Das aus acht Instrumenten bestehende Ensemble wird gesplittet, wird geteilt in zwei unterschiedlich agierende, verschiedene Strukturen verwende Gruppen.
Die erste Gruppe besteht aus Posaune, Schlagzeug und Kontrabass, die zweite Gruppe aus Englischhorn, Viola, Violoncello und Klavier.
Die Oboe steht "zwischen den Stühlen".
Die sich zum größten Teil "festfahrenden" Strukturen der beiden Gruppen stehen einer großen Individualität und Freiheit der Oboe konträr gegenüber, Konflikte entstehen, Reibungen, Spannungen - diese werden nicht gelöst, die Oboe entfernt sich musikalisch und auch szenisch immer mehr von den beiden Gruppen.

"Konform - Kontraform" - Szene für 8 Instrumente (1988)

BERND FRANKE
NÄHE - nach den Psalmen von SAID
für gemischten Chor und Solo-Viola (2012)

UA: 21. Oktober
Heinrich-Schütz-Musikfest 2012
Auftragswerk für das Heinrich-Schütz-Musikfest 2012 und der Mitteldeutschen Barockmusik 
Weißenfels / Schloßkirche St. Trinitatis
Vocalconsort Leipzig
Leitung: Gregor Meyer
Solo-Viola - Gareth Lubbe 

Publisher:  C. F. Peters Frankfurt
www.edition-peters.de

http://www.berndfranke.de/

Zu den Psalmen von SAID:

Seit langem schreibt SAID, der eine unkonventionelle und nicht-konfessionelle Spiritualität sucht und um sie ringt, Psalmen. Die biblischen Psalmen, die die gesamte geistliche Dichtung bis heute prägen, haben Vorbilder in der altorientalischen Literatur, und wer könnte sich mehr berufen fühlen als SAID, dessen lyrische Sprache immer auch von der persischen Tradition zehrt, diese uralte Form des religiösen Gesangs und Gebets auf eine zeitgemäße Art aufzugreifen und mit neuem Sinn zu füllen? 

Nichts in seinen Psalmen ist selbstverständlich, auch nicht das Verhältnis zum angerufenen Gott, alles ist radikal offen und neu. SAIDs Psalmen lassen niemanden kalt, und sie lassen nichts aus, nicht die Katastrophen und Konflikte der Geschichte, nicht die Sprache der Gegenwart, nicht die Nöte des Alltags, nicht die Lust, die Sehnsucht, die Angst vor dem Tod. 

Nach dem Ende der großen Utopien, einem weltweiten Sieg des Marktes und den Weltmächten und Weltkonzernen ausgesetzt, sehnen sich nicht wenige Menschen nach einem Sinn jenseits des Konsums und des Körpers, und viele greifen zurück auf konventionelle Traditionen und Rituale, auch der Religion, obwohl sie hoch anfechtbar sind. SAID bewegt sich mit seinen Psalmen in einem Raum des Religiösen, der offen bleibt für alle Fragen, die wir hier haben, und er läßt keine dieser Fragen aus. 

Infos zu SAID unter:
HYPERLINK "http://www.said.at/"http://www.said.at/
HYPERLINK "http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Said_(Sc...)"http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Said_(Sc...)


For Elliott Carter - five pieces for timpani solo (2004)

Bernd Franke

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