Contemporary Music

Matthias Pintscher, Composer and Conductor

Pierre Boulez, Oliver Knussen, Péter Eötvös, George Benjamin and Thomas Adès rank among the most prominent dual talents in classical music of the past fifty years. They are all composers and conductors, working at the highest level in both fields. Another name belongs on that list: Matthias Pintscher (pictured). He served as chief conductor of the Ensemble InterContemporain for ten years. In between conducting engagements, he produced an impressive series of compositions that are regularly performed by leading musicians and orchestras around the world.

Despite being German-born, Pintscher’s music is a long way from the world of Neue Musik. There is nothing dogmatic or grey about it. His musical language is more French in character: suggestive and mysterious, with a strong focus on timbre and texture, yet always transparent. He also has a particular fondness for the fringes of audibility – whispers, breathing, spectral noise, harmonics, sul ponticello and other extended techniques – contrasted with sudden, almost physical eruptions.

Playlist

Matthias Pintscher – Verzeichnete Spur (Ensemble InterContemporain, conducted by Pintscher)
Matthias Pintscher – Lieder und Schneebilder (Yeree Suh, soprano; Dimitri Vassilakis, piano)
Kaija Saariaho – Graal Théâtre (Jennifer Koh, violin; Curtis 20-21 Ensemble, conducted by Conner Gray Covington)