Musikfest 3: In Memoriam

When Wolfgang Rihm died in July of this year he had just been named composer-in-residence for the Berlin Philharmonic’s 24/25 season. The concert on this evening, given as part of Musikfest, was intended as the first in a series of programmes featuring vocal, orchestral and chamber works from throughout Rihm’s musical life; instead it was dedicated to his memory. Nor was this the only in memoriam concert at this year’s Musikfest: other evenings were devoted to the recently departed composers Kaija Saariaho, Peter Eötvös and Aribert Reimann. But if the passing of Rihm gave the first part of the evening a sombre cast, the performance of IN-SCHRIFT led by Kirill Petrenko served as a fitting tribute to an extraordinary career.

IN-SCHRIFT, written in 1995 and composed specifically for the acoustics of San Marco in Venice, is listed as being…