Black Untitled
From my very first encounter with performances by Ensemble Klang, I was taken. I had never heard anything quite like the colors produced by these six remarkable musicians. From that first exposure I was certain that I wanted to at least make an attempt at writing music specifically for this group to play. It has been a tremendous privilege to have had the opportunity to write two works now for the ensemble.
Off and on for over two decades I had considered composing a concerto-like work for the trombone, as I’ve always had a particular attraction to the instrument. In the hands of the right performer, it has an astonishing expressive (as well as pitch) range. Up to until the writing of this work however I had not, because writing music for the instrument in a traditional context never seemed for me the obvious vehicle. From the moment I undertook the task of writing for Ensemble Klang though, the idea of a work where the trombone played a central role seemed very natural. After some thought, I decided that two alto saxophones, percussion, piano, and guitar could provide an ideal constellation of colors to support the trombone. Black Untitled is in a single unbroken movement of approximately 25 minutes duration.
The title of piece comes from a painting of the same name by Dutch-American artist Willem de Kooning. I do not know what kinds of things de Kooning was thinking or feeling when he painted this work, but for me the painting conjures a world of uncertainty, longing, and menace.
Michael Hersch
- 25 Oct 2014
Featured in
Performances
- 25 Oct 2014, Orgelpark, Amsterdam
- 7 Dec 2016, Red Sofa Series, Doelen Concert Hall, Rotterdam
- 29 April 2017, Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall, Baltimore (US)
Michael Hersch
Widely considered among the most gifted composers of his generation, Michael Hersch’s work has been performed in the U.S. and abroad under conductors including Mariss Jansons, Alan Gilbert, Marin Alsop, Robert Spano, Carlos Kalmar, Yuri Temirkanov, Giancarlo Guerrero, and James DePreist; with the major orchestras of Cleveland, Saint Louis, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Seattle, and Oregon, among others; and ensembles including the String Soloists of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Ensemble Klang, NUNC, the Kreutzer Quartet, and the Network for New Music Ensemble. He has written for such soloists as Thomas Hampson, Midori, Garrick Ohlsson, Béla Fleck, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, andShai Wosner.
Mr. Hersch came to international attention at age twentyfive, when he was awarded First Prize in the Concordia American Composers Awards. Later that year he became one of the youngest ever recipients of a Guggenheim Fellowship in Composition. Mr. Hersch has also been the recipient of the Rome Prize, Berlin Prize, and the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. He currently serves on the faculty of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.