Torsten Rasch

Torsten Rasch
‘Surely one of the major creative forces in Germany’s musical life’
Robert Cowan (BBC Radio 3)
list of works
Mein Herz Brennt (2002)
orchestra
Duration 55 minutes
Instrumentation: bass-baritone voice (amplified) - reciter (amplified) picc.3(II=picc, III=picc+aflt).3(II-heckelphone, III=ca).3(III=Ebcl).
bcl(=cbcl).3.cbsn - 6.3.4(IV=btrbn).2 - perc(5) - timp(2) - 2 harp cel - pno - duduk solo (or ssax) - solo soprano (sung my member of
female choir) - 4-part female choir ad lib (can be pre-recorded) strings (min 16.14.12.10.8)
REDUCED ORCHESTRATION: 3(II+III=picc).3(II=heckelphone,
III=ca).3(II=ssax,III=Ebcl).bcl(=cbcl).3(III=cbsn) - 4331 - perc(5) timp - 2 harps - cel - pno - synth (replacing female chorus) - strings
[NB soprano solo & duduk solo are both replaced by soprano
saxophone (played by 2nd clarinet)]
FP: October 2002, Dresden Kulturpalast, Dresden, Germany:
René Pape (baritone)/Katharina Thalbach (reciter)/
Dresdner Sinfoniker/John Carewe
Score and parts for hire
Piano Trio (2005)
Duration 33 minutes
Commissioned by the BBC for the 2006 Cheltenham
International Music Festival
FP: 7.7.06, Cheltenham International Festival, Cheltenham:
Emperor Piano Trio
Score and parts on sale 0571-53082-6
Wouivres (2006)
four pieces for orchestra
Duration 25 minutes
Instrumentation: picc.3(II=picc 2, III=afl).3(III=ca).3(II=bcl 2,
III=Ebcl).bcl(=cbcl).3.cbsn - 4.3.3.btuba - timp(2) - 8 drums, 2nd
player also plays percussion - perc(3)- harp - grand pno(=cel) strings (16.14.12.10.8 players)
Commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Score and parts in preparation
Rotter (2007)
opera in two acts
Duration 160 minutes
Libretto by Thomas Brasch, adapted by Katharina Thalbach
and Christoph Schwandt (Ger)
Instrumentation: 3(II=alto fl,III=picc).3(III=ca).3(III=Ebcl.
bcl(=cbcl).3(III=cbsn) - 4331 - timp - perc(2) - accordion harmonium - cel - harp - strings
Singers: Rotter: bass-baritone, Fleischer/Kunde/Maschke/
Polizist/Lackner: tenor, Stridde/Tetzner/2nd Arbeiter: baritone,
Ehm/Kutz/3rd Arbeiter/Rotmaler/Der Vorsitzende: bass, Elisabeth:
mezzo-soprano, Frau Rotter: contralto, Fräulein Berthold: colloratura
soprano, Grabow/Kloppenburg/1st Arbeiter: tenor, Das Radio:
soprano, Die alten kinder/Arbeiter/Die Mitglieder der ökonomischen
kommission: SATB chorus
Commissioned by Oper Köln
FP: 23.2.08, Cologne Opera House, Cologne, Germany:
Cologne Opera/Hermann Baeumer
Full score, vocal score and parts in preparation
biography
Torsten Rasch was born in Dresden in 1965 and began
piano lessons at the age of six. From 1974-82 he was
a member of the renowned Dresdner Kreuzchor and
subsequently went on to study composition and
piano at the Carl Maria von Weber university in
Dresden. In 1990 he emigrated to Japan and
established himself as a successful composer of film
and TV scores, completing over 40 to date. Following
an orchestral commission in 1999 from the Dresdner
Sinfoniker (Völuspa-Der Seherin Gesicht for narrator
and orchestra), Rasch was approached once again by
the orchestra in 2002 for a commissioned song-cycle
based on music and lyrics by the German industrial
metal band Rammstein.
DG recorded and released the disc of the resultant 65minute cycle Mein Herz Brennt with bass René Pape,
voice Katharina Thalbach and conductor John
Carewe. This followed premiere performances of the
work in Dresden and Berlin in late 2003. In 2004 the
disc was released in Japan and the USA, and was
awarded Best World Premiere Recording at the Echo
Classical Awards in Munich. In March 2006 the work
was performed at the Helsinki Musica Nova to great
acclaim. Later that same year, Rasch was
commissioned by the ICA in London to collaborate
with the Pet Shop Boys on a soundtrack for the silent
film Battleship Potemkin and a live, screened
performance took place in London's Trafalgar Square.
Meanwhile, interest in his music grew in Great Britain
when he was taken up by the publisher Faber Music,
London. A Piano Trio commissioned by the BBC for
the 2006 Cheltenham Festival received highly
appreciative reviews; an orchestral commission for the
London Philharmonic Orchestra and Kurt Masur is
underway; the UK premiere of Mein Herz Brennt is
scheduled for the Royal Festival Hall in May 2009
with the original soloists (René Pape and Katharina
Thalbach) conducted by Vladimir Jurowski . In
Germany his first opera has been commissioned by
Koeln Opera and receives its world premiere in
February 2008 in a production directed by Katherina
Thalbach.
©Faber Music Ltd 2007
for further information please contact:
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