Personal history part 2
In
1983, the Hamburg "Körber
Foundation" honoured
me with the
First "Rolf
Liebermann
Price" ever.
They made it
a decent and
relaxed day.
The photo shows
Olivier Messiaen
and me, looking
in the same
direction (which
has happened
rarely in our
lives!).
The next photo shows a pleasant dinner with (from left to right) the late August Everding, Loki Schmidt, the great and pleasant Rolf Liebermann, the sub-Mayor of Hamburg, former Chancellor of the German Federal Republic, Helmuth Schmidt, Miss Körber, and in front: Konrad Boehmer, discussing world politics and a North-German recipe for a pudding with Loki...
We
jump to 1984.
An exciting
week in Albuquerque,
where they
did some of
my pieces. Christopher
Shultis was
the motor behind
all that.
On
the photo you
see the Great
Ernst Krenek
(left), Percussionist,
composer and
music theorist
Chris Shultis
and me.
Conducting
the rehearsals
of "Apocalipsis
cum Figuris" in
Donaueschingen,
1984.On
the left side
you see the wonderful
Dutch pop singers
Ernst Jansz and
Henny Vrienten,
completely dedicated
to this musical
adventure.
1987: talk with Morton Feldman in Middelburg. We disagreed on nearly all points, but, as I knew he was going to die (which happened 2 months later) I behaved in an extremely decent way.
In
1989 I did
a lecture in
Darmstadt.
During a funny
concert, an
Australian
composer distributed
condoms. Brian
Ferneyhough
did not know
what that was
and tried desperately
to unpack the
little gift.
Most composers
die because
they never
used condoms.
I hope that Brian
has succeeded
to unpack the
gift in the
meantime...
When
I visited Iceland
in the autumn
of 1989 (on
invitation
from the 'serious'
and 'popular'
composers unions
to make peace
between both)
my good friend
Valgeir Gudjonsson
and I went
to that famous
Reykjavik 'White
House' (where
Reagan and
Gorbachev had
put an end
to Cold War).
We shook hands
before that
same building,
hoping to bring
to an end the
stupid war
between 'pop'
and 'art' music.
Last
decennium of
the 20th century:
religious tsunamis
were bursting
Europe again.
I tried the impossible.
Konrad, the sworn-in
atheist walking
above the waters.
It works...
In
the summer
1999 the wonderful
Phorminx Ensemble
produced my
'Qadar' for
a cd in the
Bloomline Studios
of Leo de Klerk.
During a
break, we made
this nice photo.
(Leo is the
tallest in
the middle).
