# Jörg Widmann (b. 1973)



## Janspe (Nov 10, 2012)

No thread for Jörg Widmann yet? A bit surprising, given that he's a fairly prominent name in today's music scene!

Anyway, this German composer fits the centuries old performer-composer tradition really neatly: he's a brilliant clarinetist and has given plenty of wonderful performances of the standard repertoire. This has very much influenced his compositions, but his works are definitely not for the faint-hearted - there's a burning fire in his music, and he's constantly searching and searching... I can't be bothered to write a further introduction here, but the Wikipedia article on him gives a good overview.

Widmann's music has been championed by a variety of famous performers, including Mitsuko Uchida and Christian Tetzlaff. The latter has recorded his brilliant Violin Concerto for Ondine, definitely worth checking out.

The reason I came the the Composer Guestbooks in search of the Widmann thread was to do some "advertising" for a new harmonia mundi release of his new Viola Concerto:









Please, _please_ don't let the god-awful cover photo scare you off. It's probably a reference to the, excuse me for saying so, silly theatrics that Widmann wanted to include into live performances of this work. I saw it live a few months ago and couldn't care less for the added stage gimmicks, but hey, whatever works for him...

...because the music I found really, _really_ interesting and I was so happy to hear it again, recorded by the violist Antoine Tamestit who has championed the piece in many countries already. Give this piece a chance - and the Violin Concerto, and other works as well; for Widmann has something to say!


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