Album

Wolfgang Rihm: Klavierwerke (1966-2000) features 35 years of the great German post-modernist composer's works written for what he calls the "instrument of compositional creation." In his compact disc debut, German pianist Udo Falkner performs Rihm's piano works with the kind of compulsive dedication that makes them sound as much created as re-created. With his pointed attacks, crisp releases, impeccable articulation, precise balances, and uncanny ability to sustain a musical argument over long spans, Falkner is a composer's ideal performer: one who seems to disappear into the composer's vision.

Aesthetically, Rihm is closer to a post-romantic modernist like Henze than to a no-holds-barred radical like Stockhausen. Tonality is not altogether rejected despite the all-pervading atonality. Rhetorical gestures are not entirely disdained, though the music's core conflict is between violence and silence. Occasionally, a certain coy romanticism is even hinted at in a turn of phrase or a harmonic progression. Over the course of Falkner's performances, Rihm's development as a composer becomes apparent from the overtly nostalgic Sechs Preludes of 1967 through the brutally aggressive Klavierstücke No. 4 of 1974 to the elusively allusive Nachstudie of 1994. Anyone interested in postwar German music should by all means try this three-disc set. Telos' digital sound is very close and frighteningly vivid.

© James Leonard, Rovi

CD 1 of 3
Wolfgang Rihm Composer Klavierstück No.1, Op.8a Work Udo Falkner Piano
1	Klavierstück No.1, Op.8a	15:01			$2.49
Wolfgang Rihm Composer Klavierstücke (3) Work 6:29 Udo Falkner Piano
2	1.Sehr langsam, frei, bewegt, sehr langsam	1:49			$0.99
3	2.Sehr langsam	3:15			$0.99
4	3.Sehr bewegt, in rasendem Tempo	1:25			$0.99
Wolfgang Rihm Composer Klavierstücke (4) ("Elegian") Work 10:17 Udo Falkner Piano
5	1.Adagio espressivo	3:02			$0.99
6	2.Scherzo, Vivio ed staccato	2:12			$0.99
7	3.Largo con gran espressione	3:37			$0.99
8	4.Scherzo II, Vivo ed espressionie	1:26			$0.99
Wolfgang Rihm Composer Zwiesprache, for piano Work 18:55 Udo Falkner Piano
9	1.Alfred Schlee in memoriam	4:49			$0.99
10	2.Paul Sacher in memoriam	4:09			$0.99
11	3.Heinrich Klotz in memoriam	3:46			$0.99
12	4.Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht in memoriam	4:09			$0.99
13	5.Hermann Wieseler in memoriam	2:02			$0.99
Wolfgang Rihm Composer Klavierstück No.2, Op.8b Work Udo Falkner Piano
14	Klavierstück No.2, Op.8b	15:20			$2.49
CD 2 of 3
Wolfgang Rihm Composer Klavierstücke (5) Work 4:33 Udo Falkner Piano
1	1.Massig schnell	0:37			$0.99
2	2.Schnell	0:32			$0.99
3	3.Langsam	1:13			$0.99
4	4.Ruhig gehend	1:09			$0.99
5	5.Sehr bewegt	1:02			$0.99
Wolfgang Rihm Composer Klavierstück No.4 Work Udo Falkner Piano
6	Klavierstucke No.4	14:03			$2.49
Wolfgang Rihm Composer Nachstudie, for piano Work Udo Falkner Piano
7	Nachstudie, for piano	25:50			$3.99
Wolfgang Rihm Composer Klavierstück No.5 ("Tombeau") Work Udo Falkner Piano
8	Klavierstück No.5 ("Tombeau")	11:08			$1.99
CD 3 of 3
Wolfgang Rihm Composer Préludes (6) for piano Work 13:02 Udo Falkner Piano
1	No.1: Sehr bewegt	2:45			$0.99
2	No.2: Langsam und ausdrucksvoll	3:27			$0.99
3	No.3: Presto	1:35			$0.99
4	No.4: Schwungvoll, im Walzertempo	1:49			$0.99
5	No.5: Andante con molto	2:00			$0.99
6	No.6: Sehr bewegt	1:26			$0.99
Wolfgang Rihm Composer Ländler, for piano (original version) Work Udo Falkner Piano
7	Ländler, for piano (original version)	10:27			$1.99
Wolfgang Rihm Composer Auf einem anderen Blatt, for piano Work Udo Falkner Piano
8	Auf einem anderen Blatt, for piano	2:50			$0.99
Wolfgang Rihm Composer Brahmsliebewalzer, for piano Work Udo Falkner Piano
9	Brahmsliebewalzer, for piano	5:10			$0.99
Wolfgang Rihm Composer Klavierstück No.6 Work Udo Falkner Piano
10	Klavierstück No.6	14:58			$2.49
Wolfgang Rihm Composer Klavierstück No.7 Work Udo Falkner Piano
11	Klavierstück No.7	9:31			$1.49