HILLER: BUCH DER STERNE / BOOK OF STARS

Price: £24.98 inc. VAT (£21.26 ex. VAT)

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Number of CDs: 2

Release Date: 20-06-2007

Label: Celestial Harmonies

Catalog Number: 14257-2

Barcode: 13711425727

Musical Style: Classical

Description:

72 PIECES ABOUT 88 CONSTELLATIONS

The 88 constellations for the 88 keys of the piano were conceived to be based on the range from A2 to c5 but in the end my cycle Book Of Stars wound up to have just 72 parts. Originally, I had thought of 88 different pieces, and my notes referred to this concept throughout; however, only in the final stages of actually writing the music did I decide on the details.

The Greek philosopher and astronomer Eudoxos compiled a catalogue of the 48 constellations known at his time which is still valid today. Some of these constellations, i.e. Cassopeia, Andromeda, Cepheus, Perseus and Cetus or Argo, Vela, Puppis, Carina as well as Columba, tell a coherent story which allowed me to combine them into one piece although they remain based on their respective fundamental notes. The first piece, the ouverture to my miniature operas without vocals, combines 11 constellations as observed by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille on Table Mountain: Mensa, Caelum, Circinus, Fornax, Microscopium, Norma, Octans, Pyxis, Reticulum, Telescopium and Antlia. These 11 constellations are connected through an 'ascending astral melody' from A2 to c5; in the score, their motifs are marked at their first respective appearance. I fell in love with two seemingly insignificant constellations: Columba and Lyra. And so it was that I composed these twice, from different angles. As Lepus Et Corvus and Phiuchus Et Serpens were combined, one winds up with exactly 72 pieces. Munich, April 2007 - Wilfried Hiller

Biography:

The young, much-in-demand German pianist Silke Avenhous appears as a soloist and in chamber concerts. Her concerts have taken her throughout Germany as well as to the UK, France, Holland, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Hungary and the USA. She has played in venues such as the Berliner Philharmonic, the Philharmonic and Herkulessaal in Munich, the Semperoper Dresden, St Martin-in the-Fields and Wigmore Hall in London, the Salle Gaveou in Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and and various festivals througout Europe. Silke Avenhous was born in Korlsruhe, took her first recorder lessons in Vienna at the age of five and attended her first piano lessons at the age of six. Still young she won numerous competition and was awarded a scholarship by the Edwin Fischer Fund. Her teachers included Anno Stadler, Klaus Schilde and Bionca Bodolio. She also benefitted from studying with Gyorgy Sebök at Indiana University in Bloomington, USA. She attended masterclasses with Vladimir Horbowski, Bruno Leonardo Gelber, Karl-Heinz Kömmerling, Menahem Pressler, Sandor Vegh and repeatedly with Andros Schiff. Silke Avenhous plays regularly as Duopartner of Thomas Zehetmoir, Irena Grofenauer, Quirine Viersen, Christoph Poppen, Tobea Zimmermann, Isabelle Faust, Jörg Widmann, Antje Weithaos, Clemens Hagen, Benjamin Schmid and is member of the Munch-Trio with Arvid Engegórd & Xenia Jancovic. Silke Avenhaus has made numerous radio and television recordings for most of the German broadcasting companies, BBC, Radio France and Suisse Romande. She appears regularly at the chamber music festival in Cornwall and has been invited to the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont for the first time in summer of 1996 and again 1997, where she worked and played with Richard Goode and Andras Schiff.

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