Gielen Michael Andreas
- Compositions
- General Information
- Education
- Activities
- Performances (Selection)
- Commissions (Selection)
- Awards
- Description of Style
- Press Reviews
- Teacher of (Person)
- Performer of (Composition)
- Recording Performer of (Composition)
- Contact, Links
Compositions
General Information
Born in Dresden in 1927, Michael Gielen comes from an artistic family, his father a director, his mother an actress, respectively. In 1938, at the time the National Socialists came into power, Gielen and his family emigrated to Buenos Aires, where he received piano lessons from 1940 onwards with Rita Kurzmann-Leuchter, and from 1942 onwards lessons in musicology under Dr. Erwin Leuchter. After finishing school in 1944, he studied philosophy for three more terms before ultimately turning to music producing his first compositions. In 1949, a piano recital during which he performed the complete piano works by Schönberg, gained him some reputation. In 1950 he returned to Europe and became an accompanist at the Vienna State Opera. This was followed by his first assignment as a conductor at the Vienna Konzerthaus in 1952 and another one at the Vienna State Opera, two years later. Gradually, Gielen established himself as a star in the sky of conductors in Europe and the USA, though he kept working further on his compositions. From the 1970s onwards, he worked for institutions, such as the Dutch National Opera, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Opera in Frankfurt, as Chief Guest Conductor for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin State Orchestra, the State Opera Unter den Linden etc. As the director of the South-West German Radio Symphony Orchestra, he played an essential part in the success and continuance of the Donaueschingen Days of Music. Several prize-winning album recordings of Classical and contemporary music complete his oeuvre.
Education
| Period | Education | Instrument | Teacher | Education Organisation | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1940 - 1942
| |||||
|
1944 - 1945
|
University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires: philosophy | ||||
|
music theory (Dr. Erwin Leuchter) |
Activities
| Period | Activity | Organisation | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1947 - 1950
|
Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires: accompanist, collaboration with Kleiber, Furtwängler, Böhm etc. | ||
|
1951
|
accompanist | ||
|
1960 - 1965
|
Royal Opera, Stockholm: first conductor, co-operation with Ingmar Bergman | ||
|
1968 - 1972
|
Belgian National Orchestra, Brussels: principal conductor | ||
|
1973 - 1975
|
Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam: principal conductor | ||
|
1977 - 1987
|
Opera Frankfurt, Frankfurt: directorship and chief musical director | ||
|
1978 - 1981
|
BBC Symphony Orchestra, London: chief guest conductor | ||
|
1980 - 1986
|
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati: Music Director, annual guest performances in New York | ||
|
1986 - 1998
|
principal conductor | ||
|
1987 - 1995
|
professorship for conducting | ||
|
State Opera Unter den Linden, Berlin: Principal Guest Conductor | |||
|
conductor in Austria and abroad | |||
|
permanent guest conductor |
Performances (Selection)
| Period | Performance | Composition | Organisation | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1947
|
Buenos Aires | |||
|
1954
| ||||
|
1954
|
world music festival | |||
|
1959
|
world music festival | |||
|
1961
|
world music festival | |||
|
1966
|
world music festival | |||
|
1972
|
world music festival | |||
|
1993
| ||||
|
2007
|
portrait concert and reading on the occasion of his 80th birthday at the Kristallwelten Wattens | |||
|
2007
|
Schola Heidelberg, ensemble aisthesis, Spiegelsaal Prinz Carl Heidelberg: performance of several pieces on the occasion of Gielen's 80th birthday |
Commissions (Selection)
| Period | Commission | Composition | Commissioner (Organisation) | Commissioner (Person) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
La Salle Quartett | ||||
|
Ensemble modern |
Awards
| Period | Award | Composition | Awarding Organisation |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1985
|
Federal State of Hessen: State Prize for Culture | ||
|
1986
|
City of Frankfurt/Main: Theodor Adorno Award | ||
|
1991
|
recognition award for music | ||
|
1992
|
Federal Republic of Germany: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany | ||
|
1996
|
recognition award for music | ||
|
2002
|
Cannes Classical Lifetime Achievement Award | ||
|
BBC Symphony Orchestra: honorary conductor | |||
|
Opernwelt: voted conductor of the year by the magazine |
Description of Style
"Post-serial". Heavily influenced by the Second Viennese School. The last movement of the sonata from 1946 is already in twelve-tone music. Particularly the "Variationen für Streichquartett" (variations for string quartets) from 1949 are heavily influenced by Berg (Wozzeck quote, regressiveness). Gradually a looser handling of the technique. The quartet 1983 ('Un vieux souvenir', 1983-1985) handles results as sound objects, in "Pflicht und Neigung" the quartet is used as "stone quarry". Michael Gielen 1994
Press Reviews
1997
Michael Gielen, without Andreas famous as conductor throughout world and highly respected as a composer, will turn 70 on 20 July 1997. Reason enough to celebrate, not only the person, but the affect this person has had on German, European and global musical life over many decades. Michael Gielen is an institution as a musician and conscience of music. Music history is inseparable for him. He praises Johann Sebastian Bach as the greatest of all; thanks to his authority, he has helped many of his contemporary composers and some young Avant-garde musicians to fame as he detected the ingenious ideas in their scores with the intensity and perseverance typical for him.
The full article can be viewed on:
http://www.nmz.de/nmz/nmz1997/nmz9707/berichte/seite03a.htm (as of September 2006)
Neue Musikzeitung (Gerhard Rohde)
1988
Michael Gielen's method of combining and contrasting Bach's motet "Jesu, meine Freude" (BWV 227 for choir for five voices, 1723) with Igor Stravinsky's "Canticum sacrum", can be viewed as a prolonged interpretation of the principle of creative license.
Almanach "Wien modern" (Dieter Rexroth)
12. November 2005
He stretched the excitement and sound to the limits and always wanted one thing: "Unbedingt Musik" (Absolute Music). This is the name of his recently published autobiography, presenting - in moderate vanity - a musician considered prudish, complex and aloof. However, the "absolute" Gielen enjoys worldwide respect. And rightly so: the way he spurred the NDR (North German Broadcasting Corporation) Orchestra to a stirring performance in the last week of October, once again endorsed his reputation as an inconspicuous master of spotlessness, who makes do without stilted waving and rummaging gestures at the podium and still radiates energy.
Der Spiegel (Werner Theurich)
20. July 2007
Averse to the false front of the music business, Gielen was and still is nothing more and nothing less than a master of music.
Salzburger Nachrichten (Karl Harb)
