Rihm: Fremde Szenen Irvine Arditti, Gianluca Pirisi, Roberta Pandolfi

• Wolfgang Rihm (1952 - 2024): Fremde Szene I:
• 1 Rihm: Fremde Szene I 10:19
• Fremde Szene II:
• 2 Rihm: Fremde Szene II 21:50
• Fremde Szene III:
• 3 Rihm: Fremde Szene III 11:30
• Antlitz:
• 4 Rihm: Antlitz 11:20
• Total Runtime 54:59

Info for Rihm: Fremde Szenen

In this extraordinary release, violinist Irvine Arditti pays tribute to his late friend, the great composer Wolfgang Rihm, who died in July 2024, in the company of two exceptional musicians: cellist Gianluca Pirisi and pianist Roberta Randolfi. Together, the trio performs Rihm's seminalFremde Szenen I-III, which epitomise the artistry and imagination of one of the most significant composers of our age.

Irvine Arditti is undoubtedly one of the most important performers in the new music world. He founded the phenomenal Arditti Quartet, for whom Rihm wrote a number of works and with whom Arditti has won many awards, including several Gramophone Awards for recordings of contemporary repertoire. As Arditti says in the artist statement featured in the album booklet, he knew Rihm "for many years and his charm and warmth remain very special to me". He goes on to explain that theFremde Szenen reflect Rihm's love of the music of Robert Schumann, which surfaces throughout the three pieces. Composed in the 1980s, these pieces remind the listener, in Rihm's words, that "the strange, the other is also the place of longing, the place from which the answer comes or could come". Rihm's own language is intermingled with Schumann's Romanticism, but with the textural subtlety and precision so characteristic of Rihm's scores.

This stunning release also features one of Rihm's works for violin and piano,Antlitz('Countenance'), which was composed around ten years after theSzenen, and features expressive pointillist gestures that are pared down to the extreme over the course of the piece, in which silences and echoes create the impression of a series of fleeting sketches.

This is an essential recording for admirers of Wolfgang Rihm, combining the unique insight and experience of Irvine Arditti with the freshness and commitment of the two young artists with whom he collaborates. Though recorded before the sad loss of the composer, this album represents a fitting tribute to an astounding musician.

Irvine Arditti, violin
Gianluca Pirisi, cello
Roberta Pandolfi, piano

Irvine Arditti
for several decades Irvine Arditti has been considered to be one of the most important performers in the new music world. In addition to his legendary career as first violinist of the Arditti Quartet, Irvine Arditti has also given life to many solo works. Born in London in 1953, Irvine Arditti began his studies at the Royal Academy of Music at the age of 16. He joined the London Symphony Orchestra in 1976 and after two years, at the age of 25, became its Co-Concert Master. He left the orchestra in 1980 in order to devote more time to the Arditti Quartet which he had formed while still a student.

Irvine Arditti has given the world premières of a plethora of large scale works especially written for him. These include Xenakis’ Dox Orkh and Hosokawa’s Landscape III, both for violin and orchestra, as well as Ferneyhough’s Terrain, Francesconi’s Riti Neurali and Body Electric, Dillon’s Vernal Showers and Harvey’s Scena, Paredes Señales, Pauset’s Vita Nova, Reynolds Aspiration and Sciarrino’s Le Stagioni Artificiali all for violin and ensemble.

He has appeared with many distinguished orchestras and ensembles including the Asko Ensemble, Avanti, Bayerische Rundfunk, BBC Symphony, Berlin Radio Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw, Ensemble Contrechamps, Ensemble Modern, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, London Sinfonietta, Orchestre National de Paris, Het Residentie den Hague, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Nieuw Ensemble, Nouvel Ensemble Modern, Oslo Sinfonietta, Philharmonia orchestra, Schoenberg Ensemble, Ensemble Signal. His performances of many concertos have won acclaim by their composers, in particular Ligeti and Dutilleux.

As well as having recorded over 200 CDs with the Arditti Quartet, Irvine Arditti has built an impressive catalogue of solo recordings. His CD of solo violin works by composers such as Carter, Estrada, Ferneyhough and Donatoni, as well as his recording of Nono’s La Lontananza, both on the label Montaigne Auvidis, have been awarded numerous prizes. His recording of Cage’s Freeman Etudes for solo violin, as part of his complete Cage violin music series for American label Mode, has made musical history. The complete Mode recordings of Berio’s Sequenza’s, on which Irvine recorded the violin sequenza won the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis in 2007, and was awarded best contemporary music release by the Italian music magazine Amadeus in 2008. The violin concertos by Berio, Xenakis and Mira, recorded in Moscow with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, are featured on a disc by Swedish label Bis. Recently released on the Mode label was Paredes Señales with Ensemble Signal conducted by Brad Lubman.

In November 2017 Irvine was presented in Paris with Charles Cros Grand Prix in honorem, a lifetime achievement award recognizing the sum total of his career and his exceptional role in the service of music. The prize was also for his latest solo recital CD release called Caprices with music by Boulez, Carter, Nunes and Sciarrino on the Aeon label. A double CD of the music of Roger Reynolds has just been released on the Kairos label.

Irvine Arditti’s arrangement for Quartet of Cage’s 44 Harmonies from Apartment House can be found on Mode Records and is published by Edition Peters in New York.

In July 2013, The Techniques of Violin Playing, a book by Arditti and the composer Robert Platz was released by Barenreiter Edition.

In 2023 Schott, Mainz released a biography written by Irvine. The book covers events from cot to almost 50 years of contemporary music playing and has detailed information about 25 composers he has worked with.

Gianluca Pirisi
started studying cello in 2001 and in 2007, at the age of 17, he graduates with full marks and honors under the guidance of Francesco Pepicelli (cellist of Trio Metamorphosi).

In 2010 he graduated with honors in the chamber music class of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome under the guidance of M°Rocco Filippini and in 2017 he graduated in cello in the class of M° Giovanni Sollima, with honors.

He performed as soloist with orchestra the two concerts of J. Haydn, several concerts of A.Vivaldi and Boccherini and in 2010 he performed the Double Concerto of J. Brahms with the violinist Azusa Onishi.

He is regularly invited since 2011 to the prestigious Festival of Kusatsu in Japan as the first cello of the Orchestra of the Festival of Kusatsu and the 'Orchestra da Camera di Perugia which is the first cello soloist since 2013

During his first year of studies at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, he was invited by M°Sonig Tchakerian to play at the Festival "Settimane Musicali al Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza" alongside Mario Brunello, Luca Ranieri, Enrico Carraro and the same Sonig Tchakerian.

In 2016 in Perugia he made his debut as soloist with his Maestro Giovanni Sollima for the Amici della Musica di Perugia, with the Orchestra da Camera di Perugia, in a program all for two cellos and orchestra replicating in Terni for the Filarmonica Umbra; the same concert was replicated in Prato using the collaboration of the orchestra "Camerata Strumentale di Prato".

In the same year he debuted as soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of Perugia and Nil Venditti at the baton, playing "Kaddish" by Maurice Ravel, live on Radio 3 Europe, for the transmission "We and France".

In 2017 year he also won the audition called by the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, in order to play as soloist in duo with Giovanni Sollima at the Christmas concert live on Rai 1 from the Senate of the Italian Republic, performing the famous "Violoncelles Vibrez" by Sollima, with the Symphony Orchestra of Italian Conservatories and Alessandro Cadario at the baton.

For his solo recital at the "Alfredo Piatti" Festival in Bergamo, the critics expressed themselves as follows: (...) If Giovanni Sollima shone last week, Pirisi was able to sustain in an admirable way, especially thanks to the refinement of his phrasing, the honor and the burden of closing one of the few cellular festivals in Italy (...).

(...) During the performance they mixed "amazement, admiration, bewilderment, even dismay" for how it is possible to concentrate in a single instrument "such quality and variety of technique and invention, of play and spirit, of rationality and poetry(...)

2018 saw him engaged in a series of 8 solo concerts with the Hannover Staatsoper and the Hannover Opera Ballet, for the show "Moving Lights" by Jeorg Mannes, replacing M° Giovanni Sollima. The show has been acclaimed by the critics and in particular on the Terni cellist has been said:

"(...)-a particular challenge for musicians and dancers in terms of time and size. But both parts are well coordinated. This is particularly evident in the cello solo "Tree Raga Song", which emphasizes the pauses. Jorge Mannes has configured this work of his as a new element. Pirisi, in particular, manages to bring out the wild nature of the cello and sometimes mixes foaming, sometimes delicate, sometimes loud, sometimes flowing sounds." (...)

He was invited by M° Mario Ancillotti to take part in a tour in Sicily, in a show dedicated to the music of Claude Debussy, together with Matteo Fossi, Yuval Gotlibovich, Ekaterina Valiulina, and the actress Maddalena Crippa at the reciting voice.

He is cellist and founder of the "Nuovo Quartetto di Perugia", which made its debut in concert at the Quirinale for the Concerts of the Cappella Paolina, performing "Ad L.P 1928" by Ennio Morricone, in the presence of the composer.

His activity ranges intensely across the genres, particularly in jazz, (collaborating as First Cello of the "Umbria Jazz Orchestra" and the Chamber Orchestra of Perugia with artists of international caliber as Paolo Fresu, Daniele di Bonaventura, Michele Rabbia, Quincy Jones, Wayne Shorter, Danilo Perez, Brian Blade, Gil Goldstein, Patty Austin) and in the music of Astor Piazzolla, as cellist and founder of the Quintet Lunfardo, multifaceted ensemble that gives particular attention to the works of the Argentine master less known by the general public.

He recently attended the Course of Specialization in instrumental goods in cello, with scholarship at the Academy of Music in Pinerolo, with Rohan de Saram, Miklos Perenyi, Enrico Dindo and Mischa Maisky.

Roberta Pandolfi
Born in 1986, Roberta Pandolfi is an eclectic pianist with an innate curiosity. Her intense and varied concert activity in the last 15 years has been leading her all over the world to perform together with important artists like Irvine Arditti, Kirill Rodin and Theodosia Ntokou.

She constantly performs in prestigious theaters in Italy and Europe: the legendary Liszt Grand Hall at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, as a soloist with Szolnok Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Azerbaijan State Academic Philarmonic Hall in Baku where she performed Prokofiev Piano concerto n.5 op.55 with the Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra conducted by M° Yalchin Adigezalov. The concert has been broadcasted by Azerbaijan National Television.

In Turin, at the Auditorium Toscanini, she took part in a project about a concert lesson-about Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, which she held together with Massimo Bernardini and RAI National Symphony Orchestra.

In the last years Roberta had numerous performances in Italy and Europe such as at Bologna Festival, Bologna Modern, Bari Piano Festival, Festival Pianistico Bartolomeo Cristofori, Festival dei Due Mondi, Amici della Musica di Udine, Ferrara Piano Festival, Piano City Milano, Orleans Theater, Wolfsburg Castle, Haydn Hall iat MDW in Vienna, Pro Musica Aguilas in Spain, Szolnok Aba Novak Cultural Center, Liszt Hall in Budapest

The national and international concert activity led her to perform with important orchestras such as RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Azerbaijan State Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Filarmonica Marchigiana, Orquesta Sinfonica de la Region de Murcia, Szolnok Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Rossini, Wunderkammer Orchestra, Eurosinfonietta Wien, Orchestra Olimpia, Orchestra Corelli, Orchestra da Camera Santa Maria del Suffragio and conductors like Yalchin Adigezalov, Carlo Tenan, Desar Sulejmani, Octavio J. Peidrò, Vincente Ariño, Daniele Rossi, Francesca Perrotta, Lorenzo Sbaffi, Noris Borgogelli.

2023 is expected to be a year full of musical appointments with Roberta Pandolfi. She will debut in Prague with North Czech Philarmonic conducted by Christian Schulz, with Kirill Rodin and Sam Kim (Euroasia Trio) in Seoul at the Lotte Concert Hall (main stage) and Seoul Center for Arts for the Seoul Chamber Music Festival, Festival Entre Quintas (Portugal), Udine, Palermo, Mantova and Lugo; with accordionist Raffaele Damen at Wörthersee Classics in Klagenfürt. She will be back on the stage with the great Irvine Arditti with the complete Fremde Szenen by Wolfgang Rihm that will be released as a discographic production.

Interviews and performances by Roberta Pandolfi have been broadcast by Rai Radio 3, Rai 1, Sky Arte and France Musique. She recorded compositions by Danilo Comitini with music labels Stradivarius and Da Vinci.

In 2019, together with conductor Francesca Perrotta, Roberta Pandolfi founded Orchestra Olimpia, a female only symphonic orchestra and an association in favour of human rights and music projects. Roberta is currently artistic director and secretary of Orchestra Olimpia.

In the same year Roberta also gave birth to the international concert season “Fossombrone Classica” with the support of accordionist Raffaele Damen.

Roberta Pandolfi successfully completed a Master of Arts in Piano Performance and graduated with Honors in the class of Maestro Giovanni Valentini at Conservatoire “G.Rossini” in Pesaro and further specialized in classical and romantic music with Maestri Leonid Margarius and Enrico Pace at International Piano Academy “Incontri col Maestro” in Imola and Piano Academy in Pinerolo.

On June 17th 2021 Roberta Pandolfi was the first one in Italy to obtain a 2nd-level Master’s Degree in Contemporary Music Piano Solo at Accademia di Musica in Pinerolo.

She successfully graduated with the highest grades and Honorable Mention under the guidance of Maestri Emanuele Arciuli, Nicholas Hodges, Tamara Stefanovich and Massimiliano Damerini.

Roberta perfectioned her talent with Maestri Pavel Gililov, Andrea Bonatta (Talent Music Master Courses in Brescia), Andrzeji Jasinki, Leslie Howard, Benedetto Lupo, Boris Petrushansky, Franco Scala, Maria Grazia Bellocchio in several courses and masterclasses in the last 10 years, where she also enjoyed widespread appreciation.

As a soloist and in chamber music ensembles, she got on the podium of several international competitions such as Verona, Osimo, Viareggio and Riccione.

She is regularly invited as jury member in national competitions.

Booklet for Rihm: Fremde Szenen