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1 CD
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| Label Phil.Harmonie |
UPC 4250317416025 |
Catalogue number PHIL 06002 |
Release date 01 February 2011 |
SONGS WITHOUT WORDS?
The idea came from fellow viola-player Tabea Zimmermann. Many years ago, Martin Stegner had heard a recording of her playing Franz Schubert's Winterreise song cycle and had been enchanted. Because the viola repertoire is comparatively limited, viola players are constantly on the look-out for interesting literature, so the idea of trying to do something similar to Zimmermann was not long in coming.
Stegner's piano accompanist Tomoko Takahashi, who already had some experience in lieder accompaniment and a fondness for the genre, was equally enthusiastic. The viola is often compared with the human voice, and in terms of range and timbre does indeed come rather close to it; so arranging lieder for the viola must have seemed obvious at first. But after examining the material more closely, the musicians began to ask themselves more and more questions. Should the words be recited between the songs? What should be done with songs with several verses? And how far could the originals be transposed without making the piano part sound odd? Eventually they became so plagued by doubts that the project was shelved for several years and only revived when the two musicians came across Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe. Having originally rejected this song cycle on the grounds that it was too well known, they now decided they liked it so much that they would use it after all – and suddenly a whole range of new possibilities emerged. Kaja Engel
MARTIN STEGNER His first teacher was his father, who gave him his first violin lessons when Martin Stegner was eight. After studying with Roman Nodel at the Mannheim Musikhochschule, he switched to the viola and then went for training to Neithard Resa and Wilfried Strehle in the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Orchestra Academy. His first engagement was in 1993, as principal viola of Berlin’s Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester. Three years later he moved to the Berliner Philharmoniker.
Martin Stegner performs as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, America and Japan. He also works with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and the Orquesta Juvenil Centroamericana and has given courses at Yale University and the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler in Berlin.
He is actively involved in expanding the viola’s repertoire. Together with the pianist Tomoko Takahashi, he has released several highly acclaimed CDs of transcriptions of lieder by Robert Schumann. His work has been documented on 18 CDs.
TOMOKO TAKAHASHI was born in Japan and took earliest lessons on the piano as a four-year- old in her homeland. In 1982 she continued her musical education at the University of the Arts in Tokyo. Starting in 1988, as a scholarship holder of the German Academic Exchange Service, she studied with Klaus Hellwig at the Berlin University of the Arts and earned a solo piano performance degree (Konzertexamen) with highest honors in 1995. Tomoko Takahashi twice won the Artur Schnabel Competition in Berlin as well as other awards.
Her CD with instrumental versions of Robert Schumann’s song cycles (viola and piano) was widely acclaimed by press and major German broadcasters.
LIEDER OHNE WORTE?
Den Anstoß gab eine Kollegin: Vor Jahren hörte Martin Stegner eine Einspielung von Schuberts „Winterreise“ mit der Bratschistin Tabea Zimmermann und war begeistert. Da es für die Viola ein vergleichsweise schmales Repertoire gibt, sind Bratschisten eigentlich immer auf der Suche nach interessanter Literatur, sodass die Idee nicht fern lag, etwas Ähnliches zu versuchen. Bei seiner Klavierbegleiterin Tomoko Takahashi stieß Stegner damit auf offene Ohren, hatte sie doch bereits einige Erfahrungen und vor allem eine Vorliebe auf dem Gebiet der Liedbegleitung.
Die Bratsche wird häufig mit der menschlichen Stimme verglichen und kommt dieser tatsächlich in Tonumfang und Klangfarbe nahe.
Die Voraussetzungen schienen also zunächst günstig. Während der intensiven Vor-Studien häuften sich aber in der Folgezeit mehr und mehr Fragen auf: Sollte man die Texte zwischen den einzelnen Liedern rezitieren? Wie geht man mit Strophenliedern um? Wie weit kann man transponieren, ohne die Klavierstimme zu sehr zu beeinträchtigen?
Die Übermacht der Zweifel wurde schließlich so groß, dass das Projekt zunächst für einige Jahre auf Eis gelegt und erst wieder zum Leben erweckt wurde, als den Musikern Schumanns „Dichterliebe“ in die Hände fiel. Nachdem sie diese ursprünglich wegen ihrer übermäßigen Bekanntheit nicht einbezogen hatten, war nun schlicht die persönliche Vorliebe ausschlaggebend und es eröffneten sich plötzlich neue Wege. Kaja Engel
Martin Stegner begann 1989 sein Violinstudium an der Musikhochschule Mannheim und bekam mit dem Wechsel zur Bratsche ein Stipendium der Herbert-von-Karajan-Stiftung. Nach drei Jahren als Solobratschist des Deutschen Symphonie Orchesters ging der gefragte Kammermusiker und Solist zu den Berliner Philharmonikern, denen er bis heute angehört.
Tomoko Takahashi bekam in ihrem Heimatland Japan mit vier Jahren ihren ersten Klavierunterricht. 1982 setzte sie ihre musikalische Ausbildung an der Staatlichen Hochschule der Künste Tokyo fort. Nach ihrer Abschlussprüfung in Tokyo 1988 studierte Tomoko Takahashi als Stipendiatin des Deutschen Akademischen Austauschdienstes an der Hochschule der Künste, Berlin.
1995 schloss sie ihr Konzertexamen mit Auszeichnung ab. Sie ist zweimalige Preisträgerin des Arthur-Schnabel-Wettbewerbes Berlin. Heute lebt sie als freischaffende Pianistin in Berlin. Tomoko Takahashi und Martin Stegner musizieren bereits seit 13 Jahren zusammen.
His first teacher was his father, who gave him his first violin lessons when Martin Stegner was eight. After studying with Roman Nodel at the Mannheim Musikhochschule, he switched to the viola and then went for training to Neithard Resa and Wilfried Strehle in the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Orchestra Academy. His first engagement was in 1993, as principal viola of Berlin's Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester. Three years later he moved to the Berliner Philharmoniker. Martin Stegner performs as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, America and Japan. He also works with the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester and the Orquesta Juvenil Centroamericana and has given courses at Yale University and the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler in Berlin. He is actively involved in expanding the viola’s repertoire. Together with the pianist Tomoko Takahashi, he has released several highly acclaimed CDs of transcriptions of lieder by Robert Schumann. He has been a keen jazz musician since his youth, and has appeared at numerous festivals, performing with artists such as Herbie Mann, Diane Reeves, Thomas Quasthoff and Nils Landgren. A co-founder of the Berlin Philharmonic Jazz Group, he founded the ensemble Bolero Berlin in 2008 in which he and soloists of the Berliner Philharmoniker dedicate themselves to South American music. In 2015, an album was released together with the German/Persian singer Cymin Samawatie on the ECM label. Martin Stegner is involved in other projects with, among others, Simon Stockhausen and the Chinese sheng virtuoso WuWei. His work has been documented on 18 CDs.
Tomoko Takahashi received her first piano lesson at the age of four in her native Japan. In 1982 she continued her musical training at the National University of the Arts Tokyo. Two years later she won a prize in the Nippon National Music Competition. After taking her final examination in Tokyo in 1988, Takahashi began studying under Professor Klaus Hellwig at the Berlin University of the Arts
(HdK) on a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), passing her concert examination with distinction in 1995. She has twice won the Arthur Schnabel Competition in Berlin and in 1990 – the year she also completed her master’s thesis at the University of the Arts Tokyo – was awarded second prize in the German Academy Competition. From 1998 to 2000 Takahashi taught various string classes as a coachaccompanist at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). Her main interest is in chamber music and lieder accompaniment and in this capacity she has won acclaim as the piano partner of numerous well known soloists. She now lives and works in Berlin as a freelance pianist.
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