

Alexander Blechinger
*5 March 1956
Works by Alexander Blechinger
Biography
"For me, music is when I want to hear it a second time."
Alexander Blechinger born in Vienna in 1956. Music simply has to sound good. Self-taught first successes on the piano at the age of 5. First compositions in 1970. 1973 Performance in the Großer Konzerthaussaal/Vienna 1975 - 1985: Studied music at the Vienna Academy of Music with Kubizek, Cerha, Suitner and many others 1982 Wind quintet as part of the ORF series on Ö1. Director of Harmonia Classica. From 1983 various film music, concerts in the Wr.Konzerthaus, Wr. Musikverein and all over the world. 1992 Theodor Körner Prize for the opera "Die böse 7". 2001: World premiere of "Die Vertriebenen" at the Großer Musikvereinssaal in Vienna. 2006: Awarded the Sudeten German Culture Prize for Music. 2008 + 2009: Opera "Max & Moritz" Opera Festival St. Margarethen. ES 192 Haydn rediscovered. 2012: "Max & Moritz Overture" Tonkünstler Orchestra Music Festival Grafenegg. 2015: Short opera "Ihr Kinderlein kommet nicht?" Deutschordenskirche, Vienna. 2021: New film adaptation of "My baby, where are you?" 2022 Concert 40 Years Harmonia Classica on CD. Two books „Joseph Haydn neu entdeckt“ (Joseph Haydn newly discovered) and „Mozart.der vielseitige Alleskönner“ (Mozart.The versatile all-rounder).
2023 „Weltraumouvertüre“ (A Space Overture) Video with stunning pictures of the Galaxy on Youtube.
Worldwide broadcast. So far there are 5 LPs and far over 50 CDs.
Many videos on Youtube, music on Spotify a.o. platforms.
2024 Completion of the Simä-Suite op.252: after "Atomblitz-Ouvertüre" and "Festmusik-Intermezzo", the third part "Trennung + Abschied" is now in progress. Premiere on June 15, 2024 in the Ehrbarsaal in Vienna. The KünstlerOrchesterWien will perform under the direction of the composer as part of the Harmonia Classica orchestral concert.
About the music
"For me, music is when I want to hear it a second time."
Alexander Blechinger on his musical style: "Before I write down the music, I listen to it - it grows out of me. My task is to listen to myself, to hear my music and then to write it down precisely so that it comes into its own. The active and the passive are intertwined: taking a step back from "constructing", allowing the idea and working it out, that is, preserving and developing the character given in the idea. Each of my pieces is an experience, a part of me, a part of my life. My pieces are also almost like children: they come to you as their own being. I always feel obliged to my ear - music simply has to sound good. The rest - novelty, etc. - comes naturally through the articulation of my personal life in my music. It is also very important to me that my music communicates to the respective audience and that it is understood."
Beautiful New Music?
Beautiful new music?
After studying at the Vienna Academy of Music for 10 years, I founded our new music ensemble Harmonia Nova with a colleague in 1982. It soon became clear that there were always two groups of composers whose works were quite different from each other.
For some, the dissonant element was the most important, for others the harmonic.
For some, the constructive element was the most important, for others, it was the idea.
Some tended more towards "Harmonia" and others towards "Nova", whichever they favoured.
The audience was also divided into two camps: people stayed until the work of their "own" composer had been performed and then left as soon as they could.
Of course, this was not a pleasant situation for us. A question on the poster for the concert on 13 November 1983 in the Schubert Hall of the Wiener Konzerthaus was intended to clarify the situation. "Beautiful new music?"
Due to a "mistake", however, the question mark was omitted, which triggered further discussions. Is it still acceptable to write "beautiful new music" today (1983)?
A few years earlier, I was taking composition lessons with Friedrich Cerha. He took me on as a student after I had completed my composition lessons with Augustin Kubizek.
After harmony and counterpoint, I now wanted to explore the secrets of new music and composed a piece that was as daring as possible, my Opus 1, and presented it to the master. To my delight, he accepted my wish and I became his pupil in autumn 1977. Over the previous summer, I had tried to write a strictly twelve-tone piece, but I was not very satisfied. So I came to my first lesson with rather mixed feelings. Cerha was very friendly and let me get on with it. Now I wanted to crack the twelve-tone nut with my Opus 2 Amsterdam, a work for the percussion chamber music course. The performance on the occasion of the course was astonishing for me and partly funny for the audience, probably because of the use of the "Waldteufel", a small "sling drum" whirled through the air by means of a nylon wire passing through the centre of the skin. But now it seemed clear to me where the journey was going: into free tonality. Cerha was puzzled as to why I had now come up with such a piece, my opus 3, the Gewürzsträußlein, four short movements, soon to be successfully premièred in Eisenstadt as part of the ÖGZM. Now I wanted to write a string quartet, but with double bass: "Streich- und Zupfquartett" Opus 4. Friedrich Cerha found it interesting, it reminded him of Bartok, he said, and since he wasn't doing a class recital, he wanted to perform it as part of the practical training programme for new music. No sooner said than done! I still have the recording of it today. Now I wanted to try my hand at the next standard instrumentation, the wind quintet: "Windmusik", Opus 5. The master made it possible for me to perform it as part of his ensemble "die reihe", with first-class musicians such as "colleague" Kurt Schwertsik, horn, and the legendary Alfred Hertel, oboe, conducted by the great Stefan Soltész. In the morning at the rehearsal I was surprised that all the ritardandi and accelerandi I had heard were not played: Kurt Schwertsik said laconically: "if it's not there, it won't be played". So I packed up all the notes and quickly entered the tempo changes! In the evening, I was rewarded: everything went like clockwork and Lothar Knessl announced me as "Alois" Blechinger, which gave the whole thing an added attraction. Now there was no stopping me, and in the last year of composition I was to write my first "Symphonie, oder der Zusammenklang" Opus 6. Cerha sent me to the publishing house Doblinger for the performance of the symphony. I would have a better chance there than with Universal Edition. And, oh wonder, I ended up with Universal Edition after all!
In class, Friedrich Cerha and I often talked about tonal music and whether it was still possible to write it. After the premiere of his "1.Keintate", Cerha asked me. "And is that beautiful new music?" I said yes, but he said no. Our mutual relationship was very friendly, the chemistry was just right. Even later, when we met at the Musikverein or at a concert in Grafenegg, we enjoyed talking to each other.
After my composition diploma and my studies with GMD Otmar Suitner, who had also accepted me into his conducting class, in the face of competition from around 200 competitors, I now had the tools to write effectively for orchestra and made full use of this ability. It also turned out to be very helpful to conduct in our ensemble, and so it was.
During my time at university (now we would say music university) I was "discovered" as a singer by Agnes Grossmann, my conducting solfeggio teacher. She sent me to her mother Maria and that's when my singing career began, which reached a temporary climax this year with an appearance on ORF's "Die Große Chance" with the Viennese song "D'Hausherrnsöhn'ln" by Wiesber/Sioly. It wasn't just Friedrich Cerha who had a connection to the Wienerlied, it was and still is a natural part of my life.
After graduating from university, I wrote film music for ORF and ZDF, but what could be more obvious than writing an opera now? Fate quickly introduced me to Elisabeth Schrattenholzer and the work could begin. "Simä, oder Ein Fest in die Zukunft" is about a girl who doesn't want to conform and be subjugated by the constraints of society.
In 2016 I created an orchestral suite from it with the movements "Atomblitz-Ouvertüre", which is now available on scodo, and the "Festmusik-Intermezzo". I'm currently working on completing the third part, "Separation + Farewell", which will be premiered on 15 June in the Ehrbarsaal as part of the Harmonia Classica orchestral concert.
And how did we solve the question of beautiful new music? We realised that you can't serve two masters, and so we decided on Harmonia, harmonious music. And how is that supposed to work? Every composer for whom beauty in his art is important can take part in Harmonia Classica.