Skylla and Charybdis (Waterhouse)

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Skylla and Charybdis
Piano quartet by Graham Waterhouse
GW60, Skylla und Charibdis.jpg
The performers of the premiere tuning for the piece in a concert at the Allerheiligen-Hofkirche in Munich on 5 November 2022
Year2014 (2014)
Period contemporary
Based on Scylla and Charybdis
Movements4 (without break)
Scoring piano, violin, viola, cello

Skylla and Charybdis is a 2014 composition for piano quartet by Graham Waterhouse, played in four movements without a break. The title refers to Scylla and Charybdis, two sea monsters from Greek mythology. In performances in German-speaking countries, it has also appeared in English surroundings as Between Scylla and Charybdis. [1]

Contents

Skylla und Charybdis is the title of an album of music for piano and strings by Waterhouse including this piece, released by Farao Classics in 2020.

History

The work, composed in 2011, was premiered at the Gasteig in Munich on 2 November 2014, by pianist Katharina Sellheim, violinist David Frühwirth, violist Konstantin Sellheim and the composer as the cellist. It was used for the title of a concert at the same location on 11 March 2018, played by the same performers, [2] and for a concert in Gilching in preparation of an album of the same name. [3] It was played in England in 2020, again providing the concert title, in 2020, combined with quartets by Beethoven and Dvořák, at the composer's former school, Highgate School. [1] The quartet was notably played, by the same performers as in the premiere, as part of GW60, a concert on 5 November 2022 at the Allerheiligen-Hofkirche in Munich to celebrate the composer's 60th birthday. [4] : 4–5  [5]

Music

The music is structured in four movements which are played without a break: [4] : 4 

  1. Adagio lugubre
  2. Allegro demonico
  3. Adagio doloroso
  4. Vivace energico

According to the composer, the opening movement relates to the currents in the narrow strait of the sea. The second section pictures "threatening and aggressive characters". The third movement is based on overlapping melodies, mirroring each other as in tribal chant. The fourth section depicts a battle, musically, between the piano and the strings. [6] [7]

A reviewer noted in Das Orchester that the four movements, alternating slow and fast, had contrasting elements such as tender explorations of harmonic context ("sanfte Erkundungen harmonischer Kontexte") and moments full of rhythmic energy ("Momente voller rhythmischer Energie"), and imaginative sonorities ("mit großer Klangfantasie"). [8]

Album

Skylla und Charybdis is the title of an album of some of the composer's works for piano and strings, including this piece. It was released in 2020 by Farao Classics. A reviewer quotes the composer explaining:

"Choosing between Scylla and Charybdis is a metaphor which means »opting for the lesser of two evils«. The composer of today steers a similarly precarious path, facing questions such as: embracing or renouncing tradition; use of tonal centres or atonality; adhering to pre-conceived musical forms or use of narrative forms; allowing one instrument to dominate, or integrating them. In my mind the vision of the perilous and deadly Scylla and Charybdis mirrors these and other dilemmas facing composers, where possible danger may lie in store for those siding too closely with one extreme or the other." [9]

Track listing

The album contains six compositions: [10]

  1. Rhapsodie Macabre , piano and string quartet
  2. Bei Nacht , Op. 50, piano trio
  3. Trilogy, piano quintet
  4. Bells of Beyond , piano trio
  5. Kolomyjka, from Polish Suite, Op. 3, piano quartet
  6. Skylla und Charybdis, piano quartet

The music, recorded in 2019 in Planegg, was performed by Katharina Sellheim (piano), David Frühwirth and Namiko Fuse (violin), Konstantin Sellheim (viola) and the composer as the cellist, which included all performers of the world premiere of Skylla und Charydis. [10] The CD was introduced by a livestream concert at the Munich Gasteig on 6 March 2021, played by the same musicians. [2] The program, which had been designed for the Beethoven year 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had Kolomyjka, Skylla und Charybdis, Bells of Beyond and Rhapsodie Macabre from the album, and additionally the German premiere of Variations for Cello Solo , and the world premiere of 11 Neue Bagatellen nach Op. 119, arrangements of the Eleven Bagatelles by Beethoven, originally for piano, for string quartet. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graham Waterhouse</span> English composer (born 1962)

Graham Waterhouse is an English composer and cellist who specializes in chamber music. He has composed a cello concerto, Three Pieces for Solo Cello and Variations for Cello Solo for his own instrument, and string quartets and compositions that juxtapose a quartet with a solo instrument, including Piccolo Quintet, Bassoon Quintet and the piano quintet Rhapsodie Macabre. He has set poetry for speaking voice and cello, such as Der Handschuh, and has written song cycles. His compositions reflect the individual capacity and character of players and instruments, from the piccolo to the contrabassoon.

<i>Piccolo Quintet</i> Quintet op. 26 of Graham Waterhouse

Piccolo Quintet is short for the Quintet op. 26 of Graham Waterhouse, composed in 1989 for piccolo and string quartet and published by Zimmermann in 2002 as Quintet for piccolo, 2 violins, viola and violoncello.

Jens Josef is a German composer of classical music, a flutist and academic teacher.

<i>Bassoon Quintet</i> (Waterhouse)

The Bassoon Quintet is a quintet by Graham Waterhouse, composed in 2003 for bassoon and string quartet.

<i>Bei Nacht</i> Piano trio by Graham Waterhouse

Bei Nacht, op. 50, is a piano trio, composed in 1999 by Graham Waterhouse, published by Hofmeister, Leipzig.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valentina Babor</span> German classical pianist (born 1989)

Valentina Babor is a German classical pianist. She began performing before audiences and winning youth competitions as a child. At 12, she was accepted by Karl-Heinz Kämmerling at the Mozarteum, where she became part of the university's "Initiative Hochbegabten-Förderung", a program for highly gifted students. In 2009, barely an adult, she played Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto in C minor in concert. She continues to perform internationally.

<i>Chinese Whispers</i> (Waterhouse)

Chinese Whispers is a composition for string quartet in three movements by Graham Waterhouse. Premiered in 2010, it combines elements from the music of China with composition techniques of Western classical music. Similar to the children's game, phrases change as they pass from part to part. The work was awarded the "BCMS Composition Prize" of the Birmingham Chamber Music Society in 2011.

<i>Rhapsodie Macabre</i> Piano quintet by Graham Waterhouse

Rhapsodie Macabre is a composition for piano and string quartet in one movement by Graham Waterhouse, written in 2011 as a homage to Franz Liszt. It was first performed at a Liszt festival of the Gasteig, Munich, with the composer playing the cello part.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">String Sextet (Waterhouse)</span>

The String Sextet, Op. 1, is a string sextet in four movements by Graham Waterhouse. While the composer began the work as one movement in 1979, he completed it in four movements in 2013. The completed version was first performed at the Gasteig in Munich on 9 February 2014.

<i>Bells of Beyond</i>

Bells of Beyond is a piano trio, composed in 2013 by Graham Waterhouse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Song cycles (Waterhouse)</span> Song cycles by Waterhouse

Graham Waterhouse, cellist and composer especially of chamber music, has written a number of song cycles. As a cellist, he has used string instruments or a Pierrot ensemble instead of the typical piano to accompany a singer. In 2003 he composed a first cycle of songs based on late poems by Friedrich Hölderlin. In 2016, he set nursery rhymes, excerpts from James Joyce, and texts by Shakespeare. In 2017, he wrote settings of poems by Irish female writers, and in 2022 a cycle of Buddhist texts for mezzo-soprano, cello and piano.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katharina Sellheim</span> German classical pianist

Katharina Sellheim is a German classical pianist, with a focus on chamber music and lied accompaniment. She has appeared in recitals internationally, collaborating with members of the Münchner Philharmoniker, and has been a lecturer at the Musikhochschule Hannover.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Konstantin Sellheim</span> German violist

Konstantin Sellheim is a German classical violist, who has appeared internationally with a focus on chamber music. He is a violist of the Münchner Philharmoniker, and lecturer of viola at the Universität der Künste Berlin.

Scylla and Charybdis is a metaphor relating to two monsters of Greek mythology:

<i>Praeludium</i> (Waterhouse)

Praeludium (Prelude), Op. 32, is a piece for piano by Graham Waterhouse, composed in 1992 and published by Lienau in 2002. The virtuoso composition has been played in concert internationally, and was recorded.

<i>Variations for Cello Solo</i> Musical composition

Variations for Cello Solo is a composition written by Graham Waterhouse in 2019. The variations depict characters of personalities. The cellist and composer performed the world premiere in Vienna in 2020. The composition was published by Schott the same year.

<i>Concentricities</i> Piano trio by Graham Waterhouse

Concentricities is a piano trio by Graham Waterhouse composed in 2019 for clarinet, cello and piano. It was premiered, with the composer as the cellist, at the Gasteig in Munich the same year. It was published by Schott Music.

<i>Alchymic Quartet</i> 2022 string quartet by Graham Waterhouse

Alchymic Quartet is a string quartet by Graham Waterhouse composed in 2022, inspired by chemical experiments of his teacher Andrew Szydlo at Highgate School. It was premiered in Gilching and Munich, in celebration of the composer's 60th birthday, with Szydlo attending and performing.

References

  1. 1 2 "Between Skylla and Charybdis – The Munich Piano Quartet". ticketsource.co.uk. 27 February 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 Hufner, Martin (4 March 2021). "Unübersehbar #42 – nmz-Streaming-Empfehlungen vom 5.3. bis zum 11.3.2021 / 6. März". Neue Musikzeitung (in German). Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  3. ↑ Palmer, Reinhard (29 September 2019). "Konzert in Gilching:Kein seichtes Fabulieren". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  4. 1 2 "GW60 – Festkonzert" (PDF). Graham Waterhouse (in German). 2022. pp. 4, 11. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  5. ↑ "Pinnwand – Veranstaltungen / Projekte /GW60" (in German). Munich Tonkünstlerverband  [ de ]. November 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  6. ↑ "St Cecilia's Day / Henry Purcell, Benjamin Britten und Graham Waterhouse" (PDF). Kammermusik im Bibliothekssaal (in German). 22 November 2015. p. 4. Retrieved 2 Nov 2020.
  7. ↑ "Scylla and Charybdis". Graham Waterhouse. 2020. Retrieved 30 Apr 2020.
  8. ↑ Drees, Stefan (May 2021). "Graham Waterhouse / Skylla und Charybdis – Kammermusik". Das Orchester (in German): 91. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  9. ↑ Duperron, Jean-Yves (February 2021). "Graham Waterhouse – Skylla und Charybdis – Chamber Music – 4025438081083 – Released: March 2021 – Farao Classics B108108". classicalmusicsentinel.com. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  10. 1 2 "Skylla und Charybdis". Farao Classics. 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
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