HK Gruber
Composer Festival HK Gruber – Soup Concert
This year’s Composer Festival is dedicated to the Austrian composer HK Gruber. Here, we will encounter him as a singer, or “chansonniere”.
Like none other, HK Gruber has the capacity to twist music in such a way that imbues it with a humorous dimension while always retaining a spirit of the deepest earnestness.
Here, we will hear the composer as a vocalist together with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra’s pianist Stefan Lindgren, in a programme with the music of Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler. With their lightly jazzy cabaret style, these composers have served as something of a starting point for Gruber’s own compositions. He has commented on this himself, saying that “we’ve been perceived as subversive elements because we composed tonal music.”
Hanns Eisler was an outspoken Marxist and known for his belief in the social and political power of music. He grew up in Vienna but moved to Berlin, where he studied under Arnold Schönberg and began a collaboration with Bertold Brecht. Because he was a Communist and of Jewish descent, he was forced to flee from the Nazis.
Better known for his partnership with Brecht is Kurt Weill. In the 1920s, they created together a series of groundbreaking performances such as the Threepenny Opera, the Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, and Happy End.
Menu: Creamy fish soup, served with horseradish and sourdough croutons.
-
The music
Approximate times -
Kurt Weill Berlin im Licht3 min
-
Hanns Eisler Ballade von der Krüppelgarde4 min
-
Hanns Eisler Bei der Kanone dort1 min
-
Hanns Eisler Die weinenden Hohenzollern2 min
-
Hanns Eisler Ballade von der Wohltätigkeit3 min
-
Hanns Eisler Ballade von den Säckeschmeissern3 min
-
Kurt Weill Morgenchoral des Peachum from The Threepenny Opera1 min
-
Hanns Eisler Ballade vom Nigger Jim3 min
-
Kurt Weill Lied von der Unzulänglichkeit menschlichen Strebens from The Threepenny Opera2 min
-
Kurt Weill Bilbao Song from Happy End4 min
-
Kurt Weill Der Matrosen Song from Happy End7 min
-
Kurt Weill Der Song von Mandelay from Happy End2 min
-
Kurt Weill Song of the Rhineland from Where do we go from here?3 min
-
Kurt Weill Die Ballade von der Höllen-Lili from Happy End2 min
-
Encore:
-
Kurt Weill Tchaikowsky (And Other Russians) from Lady in the Dark2 min
-
Participants
- HK Gruber vocals
- Stefan Lindgren piano