Austrian composer, conductor, double bass player and singer
Heinz Karl "Nali"Gruber (born 3 January 1943), who styles himselfHK Gruber professionally, is an Austrian composer, conductor, double bass player and singer. He is a leading figure of the so-calledThird Viennese School.
Gruber is said to be a descendant (though the descent remains obscure) ofFranz Xaver Gruber, composer of the carolStille Nacht (Silent Night). He was born inVienna. From 1953 to 1957 Gruber was a member of theVienna Boys' Choir, acquiring his nickname 'Nali' (from his snoring, he believes).[1] He studied at theVienna Hochschule für Musik, his composition teachers beingAlfred Uhl,Erwin Ratz andHanns Jelinek, and laterGottfried von Einem, with whom he also studied privately. In 1961 Gruber joined the ensembledie reihe as a double bass player, and became principal bass of the Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra in 1963. In 1968, with his composer friendsKurt Schwertsik andOtto M. Zykan and the violinistErnst Kovacic, he co-founded the 'MOB-art & tone-ART' ensemble, partly to perform their own repertoire (which included a short piece by Gruber,Bossa Nova, which rapidly became a hit tune) and partly that ofMauricio Kagel. The ensemble may be regarded as the cradle of what has been called the 'Third Viennese School', of which Gruber is now the best-known representative.
Like Schwertsik, Gruber had been taught in the post-Schoenbergian style of theSecond Viennese School, but – also like Schwertsik – rapidly came to his own personal accommodation totonality and older Viennese traditions. The criticPaul Driver has written of Gruber: ‘Neo-romantic, neo-tonal, neo-expressionistic, neo-Viennese: he isn’t any of those things, so much as a sentient (and downright accomplished) composer who keeps responding to whatever musical stimulus, be it highbrow or lowbrow, 12-tone or 7-tone, bitter or sweet, that comes his way’.
Gruber had been composing – and also playingjazz – from his student days, but achieved international fame in 1978 withFrankenstein!!, a 'pan-demonium' for chansonnier and orchestra (or large ensemble) on poems fromallerleirausch, a collection of children's verse by his friend, the absurdist and Viennese-dialect poetH. C. Artmann, which he performed as singer around the world in the following few years. He and Schwertsik shared a 'Composers' Portrait' feature at the 1979 Berlin Festival, and Gruber has subsequently been ranked among Austria's leading composers. As a performer (conductor, singer, bass player) he has been involved in music byPeter Maxwell Davies,Hanns Eisler, andKurt Weill, and made notable CD recordings of the latter two composers.
In September 2009 Gruber was appointed composer/conductor of theBBC Philharmonic Orchestra in succession toJames MacMillan.[1]
- Die Vertreibung aus dem Paradies, melodrama for speakers and instrumentalists (1966)
- Gomorra, opera to a libretto byRichard Bletschacher (1970–96)
- Gloria von Jaxtberg (Gloria, a Pigtale), 2-act music-theatre for 5 singers and 9 session musicians, plus harp (1992–4)
- Der Herr Nordwind, opera in 2 parts (2003–5)
- Concerto for Orchestra, op.3 (1960)
- Manhattan Broadcasts for light orchestra (1962–4)
- fürbass, Concerto for double bass and orchestra (1965)
- Revue for chamber orchestra, op.22 (1968; first movement recomposed asVergrößerung for orchestra, 1971)
- Phantom-Bilder auf dem Spur eines verdächtigen Themas (Photo-fit Pictures on the trail of a suspected theme) for small orchestra (1977)
- Violin Concerto No.1‘... aus schatten duft gewebt ...’ (1978)
- Rough Music – Concerto for percussion and orchestra (1983)
- Charivari – An Austrian Journal for orchestra (1983)
- Violin Concerto No.2Nebelsteinmusik for violin and strings (1988), premièred by Ernst Kovacic who was both soloist and director at the première with theVienna Chamber Orchestra on 10 July 1988 at the St Florian Festival,Sankt Florian, Austria.
- Cello Concerto (1989), written forYo-Yo Ma, who gave the world première with theBoston Musica Viva underRichard Pittman on 3 August 1989 atTanglewood.
- Aerial, concerto for trumpet and orchestra (1998–9), written forHåkan Hardenberger who premièred the piece with theBBC Symphony underNeeme Järvi at theRoyal Albert Hall, London on 29 July 1999 as part of theBBC Proms.
- Zeitfluren, Concerto for Chamber Orchestra (2001), premièred by theLondon Sinfonietta conducted by the composer at the Paul Sacher Halle,Basel on 9 November 2001.
- Dancing in the Dark, orchestra (2002), premièred by theWiener Philharmoniker under SirSimon Rattle in theMusikverein,Vienna on 11 January 2003.
- Hidden Agenda for orchestra (2006), premièred by theBBC Symphony directed by the composer at KKL Konzertsaal,Lucerne on 20 August 2006 as part of the 2006Lucerne Festival.
- Busking for trumpet solo, string orchestra and accordion & banjo duo (2007), written for SwedishvirtuosoHåkan Hardenberger, who premièred the piece with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta conducted by the composer at theMuziekgebouw aan 't IJ,Amsterdam on 17 May 2008.
- Northwind Pictures (2003-2005/2010-11), orchestral suite drawn the operader herr nordwind, premièred by theTonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich under Gruber at theGrafenegg Music Festival, nearVienna, on 4 September 2011. The U.K. première of the work is given by theBBC Philharmonic under the composer atBridgewater Hall,Manchester on 3 February 2012.
- into The Open ... for percussion and orchestra (2010), premièred by theBBC Philharmonic underJohn Storgårds at theRoyal Albert Hall, London, as part of the 2015BBC Proms.[2]
- Piano Concerto (2014–2016), premièred byEmanuel Ax and theNew York Philharmonic underAlan Gilbert atDavid Geffen Hall, New York City on 5 January 2017.
- Demilitarized Zones, March-Paraphrase for brass band (1979)
- Mass for chorus and ensemble (1960)
- 3 Songs byRabindranath Tagore for baritone, ensemble & text (1961)
- Frankenstein!!, a pan-demonium for chansonnier and orchestra (or chamber orchestra) on verses of HC Artmann (1976–77; developed from voice-ensembleFrankenstein Suite, 1971)
- Zeitstimmung for chansonnier and orchestra (1996)
- Suite for 2 pianos, wind instruments and percussion (1960)
- Trio gioco a tre for piano trio op.12 (1963)
- Bossa Nova op.21 (1968)
- An einen Haushalt
- Die wirkliche Wut über den verlorenen Groschen for 5 players (1972)
- Anagramm for 6 celli (1987)
- 3 Mob Stücke for 7 interchangeable instruments and percussion (1968; version for trumpet and orchestra arr. 1999)
- 4 Pieces for solo violin, op.11
- 6 Episoden (aus einer unterbrochenen Chronik) for piano, op.20 (1966–67)
- Bossa Nova for violin and piano, op.21e
- Luftschlösser (Castles in the Air) for piano (1981)
- Exposed Throat (solo trumpet)
|
|---|
| International | |
|---|
| National | |
|---|
| Artists | |
|---|
| People | |
|---|
| Other | |
|---|
