Just completed the engraver’s copy and critical commentary of my first scholarly sheet music edition, due for publication during next year at Bärenreiter Verlag. It is one of Frédéric Chopin‘s most beautiful piano pieces, the F-sharp major Barcarolle, Op. 60, of 1846. The source material is complex and partly confusing: there are two autographs, three parallel first editions, and two annotated copies of Chopin’s pupils which I had to check for discrepancies and possible contradictions, as well as a number of newer editions. Looking forward to proofreading the new engraving, to which Hardy Rittner will contribute fingerings and remarks on performance.
Research
Sonata Theories of the East
Just finished a paper on historical theories of sonata form in Russia and the early Soviet Union. It is fascinating to examine how, after relying on translations and adaptations of Western European textbooks by Hugo Riemann, Ludwig Bussler, and Ebenezer Prout, the contributions of Russian scholars such as Anton Arensky, Sergei Taneyev, Georgi Catoire, and Boris Asafiev gradually paved the way for a more individual approach towards the traditional model, regarding sonata form as a paradigm of both composition and analysis. The article will, hopefully, soon be published in ZGMTH, the journal of the German Music Theory Association.
Back to the Roots
Held my first lecture on techno music today. It’s been a pleasure discussing a popular music topic with an audience of music theorists, and I very much enjoyed talking about the stuff I was totally crazy about as a teen, back in the 1990s—the intriguing productions of former rave music duo RMB. Their tracks used to provide inspiration for my own humble attempts to create electronic dance music, and continue to fascinate me to this day. Thank you also, Rolf Maier-Bode, for answering my questions on the role of movie soundclips in your music.
St Petersburg Conference
Preparing a paper for the conference »The Cultural Space of Russia: Genesis and Transformations«, a section of which is dedicated to the music of Nikolai Medtner, taking place the following weekend at the St Petersburg State Institute of Culture and the Arts. My contribution will be concerned with hybrid work titles and permeability of musical genre in Medtner. Organisation and public notice of the event is unsatisfactory, to say the least—but nonetheless I look forward to the trip and to seeing St Petersburg again.
Exploring Symbolist Creativity
I will be presenting a paper titled »Colour – Word – Sound. On the Intermediality of Genre and Sensory Perception in East European Art of the Fin de siècle« at the 12th Weimar Conference of Music Theory, taking place the following weekend at Hochschule für Musik Weimar. If you feel inclined to discuss the work of Scriabin, Medtner, Balmont, Bely, Kandinsky, Čiurlionis and other Symbolist artists, and are not discouraged by the unearthly hour of my presentation, I’d be delighted to have your company! Then and there: Sunday, 4 March 2018, 9 am, Klostergebäude am Palais.