30. August 2023
Here, There and Everywhere – Für Uli
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Rebecca Saunders – whispers (2023) world premiere
for violin solo
Enno Poppe – Zwei Blätter (2023) world premiere
for violin solo
Joseph Andrew Lake – The Visit (2023) world premiere
for violin and radio
Georges Aperghis – Blumen für Uli (2023) world premiere
for violin solo
Lisa Streich – WUNDER (2023) world premiere
for violin at a piano
Helge Sten – Thought Forms (2021) world premiere
for e-violin with Roland Echo and Zuspiel
Bethan Morgan-Williams – Ffarwel i Uli (2023) world premiere
for violin and moogerfooger
Hannah Weirich, violin, e-violin
Lea Letzel, room and light
Paul Jeukendrup, sound direction
What happens to a duo when one dies?
From the beginning, Uli and I often played as a duo, but it took the space and time of the first lockdown in spring 2020 to finally develop a concrete joint project.
This is how “Back to the Future – New Works for Violin and Analogue Keyboards”, our absolute heart project with six composition commissions for our duo, came into being in 2020.
In 2021 we played the first two concerts with the world premieres of tanzen! by Gordon Kampe for electric violin, Hohner Clavinet, Philicorda GM 754 and Hohner String Melody II at the festival “Raumklänge” in Stommeln and Microstories about Tenderness by Dariya Maminova for electric violin and Minimoog at the Funkhauskonzerte at WDR Cologne, in February 2022 the world premiere of Fail again by Milica Djordjevic for electric violin and Yamaha YC-45d Combo Organ at ECLAT in Stuttgart.
At the end of April 2022, Uli was diagnosed with cancer, but he faced this illness with great optimism and all his strength. The next concert with the world premiere of DJ Silver-Top by Atac Sezer for for violin, Fender Rhodes piano, synthesizer and vocoder should have taken place in August at the Sommerliche Musiktage in Hitzacker, but at some point we had to admit to ourselves that it was no longer possible.
Back to the future cannot go on for me without Uli.
I am very grateful to the Kunststiftung NRW, the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation and the Musikfonds for agreeing to my proposal to turn our duo project into a concert to mark the first anniversary of Uli’s death.
Helge Sten originally composed Thought forms for “Back to the Future”. Now he has produced a tape from the keyboard part so that I can premiere the duo alone. Although I would have liked it differently, I am now playing it not with but for Uli.
“Here, there and everywhere” is an evening with new works by composers who are closely connected to Uli and me. I am infinitely grateful to Rebecca Saunders, Enno Poppe, Joseph Andrew Lake, Georges Aperghis, Lisa Streich, Bethan Morgan-Williams and Helge Sten for their wonderful pieces.
Even though Uli can no longer play, he is still “Here, there and everywhere”.
Hannah Weirich, August 2023
Texts
Rebecca Saunders – whispers
violin solo
For Hannah
In fondest memory of Uli
whispers, n.:
susurrus, voicelessness, murmuring utterances
Air, whit, spark, breath, glimmer, touch and trace.
RS
Enno Poppe – Zwei Blätter
für Violine solo
für Hannah, in Erinnerung an Uli
Joseph Andrew Lake – The Visit
for violin and radio
Dedicated to Hannah Weirich and the memory of Ulrich Löffler
The Visit reflects on the ways the dead visit us — in dreams,
memories, people and spaces that remind us of their absence, and recordings.
The piece an interpretation of the opening and closing passages of Uli’s part from the Concerto for prepared piano and large
ensemble I wrote for him in 2017. Uli accompanies Hannah on the piano via rehearsal recordings of this piece from February 2021. You will hear him speaking on one of these recordings.
Joseph Andrew Lake
Georges Aperghis – Blumen für Uli
pour Hannah
Lisa Streich – WUNDER
for violin solo at the piano
dedicated to Hannah & Uli
Helge Sten – Thought Forms
“Three general principles underlie the production of all thought-forms :
1. Quality of thought determines colour.
2. Nature of thought determines form.
3. Definiteness of thought determines clearness of outline.”
Aus: Annie Besant and Charles W. Leadbeater, Thought Forms
Bethan Morgan-Williams – Ffarwel i Uli
for violin and moogerfooger
to Hannah, with love
The title “Ffarwel i Uli” embodies a bittersweet farewell to our dear Uli. The piece carries an enigmatic quality through its
cyclic structure that remais elusive, much like a jigsaw puzzle with pieces that never fully reveal their whole picture.
The composition opens with poignant news bulletins, representing the announcement of Uli’s passing, and the echoes of sighs from mourners, resonating with the grief of thos left behind. Buth this piece is not a solemn elegy. Rather, it serves as a heartfelt, musical embrace, reminding us to cherish the memory of Uli, his spark, and the joy he brought to our lives.
Bethan Morgan-Williams