Event

Among the Beethoven conductors of his generation, René Leibowitz (1913 – 1972) has held a unique position since his complete recording of the symphonies in 1961; as a writer and educator, he was also one of the most influential interpreters of the Schoenberg tradition. The rediscovery of his compositional oeuvre – a synthesis well worth hearing, blending twelve-tone music, French sensibility, social commitment, and surrealism – is owed to the tireless work of Walter Nußbaum, following a fateful encounter with Leibowitz’s widow, June van Ingen, and daughter, Cora Leibowitz, in Heidelberg-Neuenheim in the late 1980s. The highlight of Leibowitz’s 100th birthday in 2013 was a major success: the internationally acclaimed CD box set "Leibowitz - Compositeur".

But not all treasures have been unearthed yet: Ekkehard Windrich, one of the creative minds at KlangForum Heidelberg as concertmaster, composer, and conductor, was able to realize another Leibowitz premiere recording last summer at the ZKM with the demanding Fantaisie pour violon seul, Op. 56, which will be released for the first time this Friday in the NEW ENCORES DIGITAL series: unlike Leibowitz’s Beethoven recordings from the same year, the 1961 Violin Fantasy has remained forgotten to this day, even though it manages to assert itself in an original way within a genre shaped by J.S. Bach’s solo violin works, using the means of the 20th century.