InnStrumenti, Gerhard Sammer

Hommage

Hommage is the central thematic reference point of this recording, which is the result of a transnational collaboration between the Tyrolean chamber orchestra InnStrumenti. Works by composers from Germany and Austria from four generations will be presented. The quality and musical range of the six world premieres and the two internationally renowned soloists Gerold Huber (piano) and Florian Bramböck (saxophone) that can be heard on this release are outstanding.

The CD opens with a tribute by Bertold Hummel, who composed his intense Adagio for strings in memoriam immediately after Benjamin Britten's death. This will be followed by the world premiere of the piano concerto Hommage à trois by Christoph Wünsch, composer and professor at the Würzburg University of Music. Each of the three movements makes phonetic references to G.G. (George Gershwin), B.B. (Béla Bartók) and C.C. (Chick Corea). The depressing orchestral work by the renowned South Tyrolean composer Manuela Kerer is a "homage to all those who have to flee or had to hide and achieve incredible things in the process". Joachim F.W. Schneider takes a different approach in Gambit, a homage à une idée, which refers to the meaning of the unpredictable. The 2016 Tyrolean State Prize for Art, Florian Bramböck, has been commissioned to write a concertante work for himself as a soloist: The Flow - Healing Music for Saxophone and Chamber Orchestra is a tribute to a striking Tyrolean mountain peak in the Tyrolean lowlands, the Hundalmjoch (1637m). Katrin Klose, once again, was invited to present her specific musical language: the Würzburg student at the time, who is currently doing her doctorate in vocal composition in Scotland, created the colourful composition Accord - Hommage à Grisey. The CD concludes with Symphytum Sinfonium by the young composer René Schützenhofer.