In memoriam Aribert Reimann

As an “undisputed master” of vocal music, Aribert Reimann was awarded the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in recognition of his life’s work in 2011. The composer, who became Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau’s repetiteur and piano accompanist at the age of 22, and taught for many years as Professor of Lied Performance at the University of the Arts Berlin, had always had a special affinity for vocal music, which was also evident in his works without singing voices. In memory of Aribert Reimann, who died in March 2024 in his native city of Berlin, Ensemble Mosaik conducted by Enno Poppe will present a cross-section of Reimann’s multifarious works: the “Sieben Bagatellen” for string quartet that were written as instrumental interludes, preludes and postludes to his string quartet arrangement of  Theodor Kirchner’s Heine settings; “Parerga” for solo soprano from “Melusine”, Reimann’s first commissioned work for the Deutsche Oper Berlin; and the piano work “Spektren”, which Reimann, as an excellent pianist, dedicated to the “inexhaustible variety of expression in solo playing.” After “Solo” for viola – “I have discovered that it makes no difference at all whether one is writing a solo piece for a voice or for an instrument” (Reimann) – the programme continues with the “Cinq fragments français de Rainer Maria Rilke”: moving meditations about the sky that run through all nuances of meaning from the blue of daylight to the black of night. The concert concludes with Reimann’s  ensemble piece “Invenzioni”, written for the London Sinfonietta in 1979.

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