Harald Genzmer, Bertold Hummel, Roland Leistner-Mayer and Moritz Eggert:
Internet Symphony for large orchestra (2000)
I.
Andante con moto 
beginning
II. Adagio
III. Finale
First
performance: January 1, 2000, Hof, Freiheitshalle
Hofer Symphoniker / Howard Golden
Instrumentation: 3 flutes (3.+picc.), 2 oboes, clarinet., bass-clarinet., 2 bassoons, Kontra-bassoon. - 4 horns, 2 trumpets., 3 trombones. - 1 timp., 3 perc.. - strings (10.8.6.5.4)
Duration: 20 Minutes
Publisher: Vogt & Fritz, Schweinfurt
The
Bavarian Music Advisory Council wanted to respond to the State Government's motto
for the Millenium celebrations with a contribution reflecting musical life in
Bavaria. The General Secretary, Jörg Riedlbauer, together with the four composers
Harald Genzmer, Bertold Hummel, Roland Leistner-Mayer und
Moritz Eggert,
representing all generations of Bavarian composers
in the 20th century, wanted to organise a joint project. The internet was selected,
as the central medium of the 21st century, to transmit art world-wide in a form
never known before. Harald Genzmer developed three themes for a
three-movement symphony. Bertold Hummel began work on the first
movement, Moritz Eggert on the second and Roland Leistner-Mayer
on the third. The three colleagues exchanged scores and each continued the ideas
of his predecessor.
The
first movement was started by Bertold Hummel. In a gently flowing
motion (Andante con moto), the theme given by Harald Genzmer is developed
initially with deliberate restraint over a bed of sound in the bass clarinet and
lower strings. Gradually, middle and upper registers are brought in; the percussion
sets striking accents until finally Genzmer's 12-tone row provides the
framework for the brilliance of the full orchestra. With great craftsmanship,
Hummel begins to play with the rich variety of ideas latent in the Genzmer
theme, creating for the orchestra both tutti passages with a sure sense of the
total effect and a number of concertante phases. Motifs go their own way, straying
through the different orchestral groups with the lightness of a weasel, undergo
a constant intensification process and finally slip into more tranquil waters
- the point at which the transition to Moritz Eggert's middle section
occurs. This central part has a deliberately scherzo-like feel, gaining a particular
charm from the frequent rhythmical and metrical changes. Eggert also splinters
off micro-cells of motif material; occasional references to Hummel's patterns
of development contribute to inner unity. The capricious interchanges between
the individual string groups intensify and, after a burlesque tutti, develop into
a charming scene with horns, lower strings and bassoon group set against each
other, until Roland Leistner-Mayer's contribution returns finally
to Hummel's initial tempo and closes quietly with diverse refined rhythmical variations.
The middle movement, as the opening ideas show, was conceived by Moritz
Eggert as a broad Adagio, subtly developing out of a closely-woven texture
in the woodwind and then immediately coloured by horn and wood-block accents.
But soon the multiply divided string section dominates developments, wind and
percussion accents fan the flames energetically. Bertold Hummel
carries this over into his middle section, intensifying the movement with a plethora
of time-signature changes, leading the Adagio then into a more spirited middle
section. This more lively part emerges into a peaceful sound landscape, growing
again more lively through subtle rhythmic touches as Roland Leistner-Mayer
takes us into the closing section, moving through a più mosso intensification
before closing peacefully in an exchange between lower string registers, horn
and trombone groups as well as the solo clarinet.
Leistner-Mayer
opens the Finale, also choosing restrained dynamics, but with an unusually intensive
and heavily-charged rhythmic element. It begins presto and transmits a feeling
of great tension. Out of this rhythmic momentum, a continuous pulsation emerges,
which Bertold Hummel continues into the middle section, creating
an "oasis of tranquillity"; the momentum is carried over into the closing
section by Moritz Eggert. The motion remains lively until the end,
making use of a technique resembling "zapping" with TV remote control,
picking out all kinds of elements from earlier in the work, removing them from
their context, fragmenting them and rearranging them in new ways.
(From the programme notes for the première with the Hof Symphony Orchestra)