The music of H.K. Gruber, a native of Vienna, the birthplace of musical modernism, defies easy categorization. His music just doesn't sound...Germanic enough, or sufficiently grounded in the tenets of modernism. Its rambunctiousness and brightness place it closer to John Adams than to the stereotype of an earnest European modernist. Rough Music, a concerto for percussion and orchestra, contrary to what its title would lead you to believe, is bright, quirky, and brimming with high spirits. This is not facile music, though; ...
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The music of H.K. Gruber, a native of Vienna, the birthplace of musical modernism, defies easy categorization. His music just doesn't sound...Germanic enough, or sufficiently grounded in the tenets of modernism. Its rambunctiousness and brightness place it closer to John Adams than to the stereotype of an earnest European modernist. Rough Music, a concerto for percussion and orchestra, contrary to what its title would lead you to believe, is bright, quirky, and brimming with high spirits. This is not facile music, though; under its easy-to-like surface are rhythmic and structural elements of considerable sophistication. Gruber is also a skilled vocal performer whose delivery is a kind of Sprechstimme, but leaning more heavily toward song than speech; he describes himself as a chansonnier. Zeitstimmung is a setting of 13 intriguing texts by H.C. Artmann, a frequent collaborator. Gruber's setting, which flirts with the cabaret sound of Weill, provides him a vehicle for a virtuoso performance of...
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