Physical Release: 24 June 2024
Digital Release: 28 June 2024
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I composed the Sechs Hölderlin Lieder [Six Hölderlin Songs] (2019/20) for the 250th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843). For those not acquainted with this German (Swabian) poet’s work, it may take a little effort to feel one’s way into the language. He is considered one of the greatest German lyricists of the 18th and 19th centuries, but plays a kind of outsider’s role in the company of his contemporaries Goethe, Schiller or Heine. Hölderlin, more compact, condense and sometimes more abstract than Goethe; political enough, but usually less openly so than Schiller or Heine, and all his own in the use of language – which is at times strikingly modern. His life was overshadowed by an illness which was seen as insanity at the time, but there remain many open questions as to what his mental state really was. In any case, he lived a great part of his life (some thirty years) in a small tower in the Swabian city of Tübingen as a patient incapable of leading his life on his own.
I highly recommend this writer, whose ingenious rhythms and general musicality are ever-present in his poetry. I find it curious that he may actually have played the piano for a longer period than he was able to create great poetry. This, because, he was apparently often occupied with improvising on the piano during those last thirty years in the tower. The fact that he loved music as much as literature and that he was a pianistic improviser make me feel even closer to him than I already do through his writings.
Listeners should, of course, have the texts at hand. It is helpful to understand the original German, but I have prepared some translations into English here as well.
Die Eichbäume [Oak Trees] is a wonderful description of the majesty of creation and the appealing somberness of the oak tree. Their forests offer an example for human society: each tree lives separately and free, but together form a functioning and peaceful collective as well.
Hälfte des Lebens [Half of Life] is Hölderlin’s most famous poem. This is understandable when one is able to discern its meaning, visualize its metaphors and admire the extreme density of this futuristic masterpiece of literary lyricism.
Das Erinnern [Remembering] is a poem of penance, almost a prayer. Hölderlin was raised by religious parents, studied theology, and remained profoundly connected to Christianity all his life. Here, he laments the deeds of his past and prays for forgiveness.
Hymne an die Freiheit [Hymn to Freedom] was written in 1791 and clearly positions Hölderlin as a disciple of the movements for freedom against feudalism and tyranny, most notably put into practice at the then recent (1789) revolution in France. Hölderlin’s use of language here is so impressive because he seems to be writing in a spontaneous and almost reckless manner but uses analogies and metaphors which are extremely nuanced and subtle at the same time. In fact, I see the combination of these two elements – the uninhibited and the carefully thought out – as one of the clear trademarks of the poet. “When the rotted thrones of tyrants and tyrants’ slaves have turned to dust,” – Hölderlin’s dream of a future without tyranny and opression, still so far off in our own day.
Der Nächtliche Wanderer [The Night Roamer] presents Hölderlin from his experimental side. Almost unbelievable that this poem could have been written at the end of the 18th century! It practically jumps beyond all the movements and trends of the Romantic period and re-instates itself stylistically as 20th century Surrealism. It seems, indeed, to be describing a nightmare in which a predacious owl attacks its victim.
Lebenslauf [Life’s Path] Not without cause, will the arc of life return from whence it came. A description of “going full circle” as one might say today: the feeling of satisfaction and wonder at having learned some portion of wisdom on the rough paths of life.
The voice part of Sechs Hölderlin Lieder was especially conceived for the British baritone, reciter and actor Orlando Schenk with whom I also collaborated during the process of composition and at the first performance in the Hochschule für Musik und Bildende Kunst, Stuttgart, Germany.
The Blue Book is a solo piano improvisation made on the 21st of October 2023 in the Da Vinci studio in Cigole, Italy and, with that, the newest piece on the CD. I have titled it The Blue Book because I have recently immersed myself in the works of the Swedish writer August Strindberg (1849-1912). Even if some concrete connection to Strindberg’s highly recommendable Blue Book may be missing in my music, Strindberg was a quick thinker, provocative, and very modern for his time, as unafraid, truth-loving, and outspoken an author as ever there was. His writings (and they are not all on the same high level) are, at this moment in time, a general fountain of inspiration for my music.
My English Songs were supported by the German scholarship agency “Musikfonds” and composed between 2021 and May of 2023. The idea of this song-series is a marathon through four centuries of English (and Scottish) poetry in four four-song sections. The 17th century poet John Donne plays an important part in my creative life – I composed a whole opera about his life (John Donne – a poetic opera), and his poetry is used in the first (17th century) section of my series. For this recording, however, we have chosen 4 songs, from the 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.
Absalom and Achitophel (excerpts from John Dryden, 1681)
Michael Stapleton writes that this poem is “generally acknowledged as the finest political satire in the English language.” Dryden was satirizing the events around the “Popish Plot” and the hysteria concerning the heir of King Charles II. The Popish Plot was a Protestant attempt (which was partly successful) to spread allegations that a Catholic conspiracy to assassinate the king was at hand. Dryden puts these subterrestrial murmurings into a metaphorically Biblical context and uses his forceful and quick-footed language to dismantle the essence and the danger of libel and consciously spread false information.
The Catharsis (Al Alvarez)
Another artist who I think should be receiving more attention is the English writer of Sephardic stock Al Alvarez (1929-2019). His poetry combines, I think, the best of British tradition with an unerring sense of the reality of the modern world. His work is seldom openly experimental, but often owns a certain sophisticated simplicity and flow with a strong will to communicate. The carefully structured poem, “The Catharsis” gracefully nudges the reader to release himself from his or her own self-constructed bonds. When it was written is not clear, but it was published first at the beginning of our century. (Many thanks to the Waywiser Press and Anne Alvarez for permission to use this poem as a song.)
Dulce et Decorum est (Wilfred Owen, 1917)
Owen himself was a soldier who served on the front-line during World War I and wrote this description of the atrocities of a gas attack in 1917. “How sweet and honourable it is to die for one’s country” (Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori) is a line from a poem by the Latin classical poet Horace – a line often used to make war appear attractive and even “sweet,” kind and brave. Owen’s vivid language can only come from someone personally acquainted with the horrors of war.
I Think that we were Children (Edmond Holmes, 1903)
Edmond Holmes was born in Ireland in 1850 and died in 1936. He was a teacher and educationalist and rose to become chief inspector for elementary schools in 1905. Amongst his written works are studies of poetry as well as essays and books on philosophical and religious topics, but also poetry of his own. I discovered his work through songs written by his personal friend Charles Villiers Stanford. Holmes is not widely known, but what impresses me is his ability to combine the mystical with the playful using such suitable and atmospheric language. When I first read this poem, the music almost immediately began to run through my head.
Some may find it unusual that the composer himself has, in these notes, spent all his time dealing with the lyrics and none at all with the music itself. My goal was always to bring life and lend emotions to this great poetry, to spread its messages, accent the innate rhythms of its ingenious language and to add a dimension of immediacy and depth. It is always me writing and expressing myself, but as if through a sieve of chosen words by gifted poets whose lines resonate strongly inside me. The idea is musical poetry diverse in means and expression: from the highly chromatic, aggressive and dark, through the majestic and warm, the dreamy and the playful to the satirical and even to the simple and sophisticatedly obvious and accessible. The poetry and the music should be heard and understood as a single communicative unit.
Chris Jarrett © 2023
Chris Jarrett: Born in Allentown, USA in 1956 and grew up in the mountains of Eastern Pennsylvania. He studied piano at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Indiana University, but was unable to finish his studies for financial reasons. At the same time, he was also less and less willing to do so, feeling very “caged-in” within these institutions. It was in the following several years of struggle, working odd jobs from shrimp-fishing in Texas to office work in New York City that he feels his real musicianship developed.
No wonder he has written so much music for the stage – including his opera “John Donne”, his film-music to the “Battleship Potemkin” or incidental music to “Romeo and Juliette.”
The human drama and it‘s immediate and present manifestations are what his music is about. Chris Jarrett has been living in Europe, touring as a solo pianist with his own compositions, with ensembles and duos or as an improvising organist for decades now. In jazz circles, he is often seen as a jazz musician, while musicians and critics of “serious contemporary music“ may categorize his compositions under the heading “classical.”
When asked how his music should be described, Chris Jarrett‘s stoic, habitual answer is: “Yes.”
www.chrisjarrett.de
Orlando Schenk was born in the U.K. and studied history and music at the University of Durham and singing at the Guildhall School of Music of Drama in London. He has subsequently stood on opera stages around the world, working with, among others, Peter Brook, Claudio Abbado, Daniel Harding and Mark Elder, in Aix-en-Provence, Tokyo, New York, San Diego, Chicago, London and Milan. He has also been active as an actor for many years, appearing on the BBC, Sky Arts, Channel 4, and Artichoke's renowned production of “Dining with Alice” and also in numerous TV commercials in Germany, where he now lives. He is part of the permanent ensemble at the Academy for the Spoken Word in Stuttgart, and has performed and lectured in Ekaterinburg, Russia, Spoken Arts Festival, Stuttgart and has performed as a narrator throughout Germany. His work as a theatre director includes the Düsseldorf premiere of the Broadway hit “Guys & Dolls”, “Non(n)sens”, “Chicago”, “L’Elisir d ́Amore” for the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra and, among others, the dramas “8 Women”, “Hamlet”, the political satire “Bye Bye Bundeskanzler” and street theatre play “Odyssey” in Germany, France, and Poland.
Chris Jarrett was born in 1956 in Allentown, Pa. and raised in the Appalachian Mountains of Eastern Pennsylvania. He never doubted that he would become a composer, but economical and family problems hindered his musical education until Virginia Waring (wife of Fred Waring) introduced him to the Austrian pianist Vincenz Ruzicka (of Dougherty and Ruzicka, piano duo) at the age of 13. Ruzicka, a student of Rosina Lhévinne living in the Pocono mountains becomes his most important teacher.
Jarrett continues his musical studies at Indiana University and Oberlin Conservatory, where he receives a partial scholarship. Disappointed with the environment and musical standards of these institutions, he leaves for “the road.” He says that it was really then that his career as a creative musician began (“15 Questions with Chris Jarrett”). Jarrett unwillingly gets to know the hardships of work on a shrimp boat, in various factories in Texas, in offices in New York. He travels, first the U.S. and then Europe, by thumb in a wild quest for survival and first-hand knowledge.
It was in North Germany that friends give him what he needs – a new musical start and a job. Within a short time, he studies, and then teaches at the University of Oldenburg. He composes small political piano compositions and then the full-fledged ballet “For Anne Frank”, which is premiered in the Oldenburg Palace in 1985. After this important year, Jarrett’s career is on its way. First LPs are “Tanz auf dem Vulkan,” and “Aufruf/Outcry”. He becomes an unusual, critically thinking and engaged musical figure in Oldenburg – and more and more in all of Northwestern Germany.
From 1985 to 1990, Jarrett writes film music (“Danton”, “Faust”, “Battleship Potemkin”, among others), a symphonic ballet (“… Liebt Mich Nicht” – Oldenburgisches Staatstheater; Choreographie: Ingrid Collet) and a choreadrama (“LP” – Nada Kokotovic). He tours Central and Eastern Europe as a solist and composer. In Berlin, he presents his first “motivic” improvisations with German musicians. He develops a friendship with the Austrian poet and translator Erich Fried, and tours with him, performing his own compositions, during some of Fried’s very last public readings in 1988. Especially notable are the performances of his ballet music in the Soviet Union in 1986 and 1988 (Moscow, Alma-Ata, Mahachkala, etc.), and his intense work in the Yugoslavia of this period.
In the early 90s, Jarrett begins his biggest composition to date – the opera “John Donne – a Poetic Opera.” He leaves North Germany to move to the “Middle-Rhein” area of Germany near Koblenz. Here he completes new projects, such as an oratorio for trombones, organ and chorus, “Erlösungen 3?” (“Salvations 3?”), premiered in St. Wendel, Saarland, and “Hände” (“Hands”), a composition performed to introduce a speech by the German president of that time, Richard von Weizsäcker. New solo CDs are “Fire” and “Live in Tübingen.” He also finds time for recording sessions with the famous Hungarian violinist Zoltán Lantos and launches on an extremely successful solo-piano-tour of the concert halls of the Ukraine, including the Philharmonic Hall, Kiev. Other colleagues with whom he works at this period are Ramesh Shotham, Urna Chahar Tugchi, Ralf Siedhoff, Dorsaf, Dhafer Youssef, Muhammed Zine-el-Abidine and many more. Chris Jarrett’s interest for “ethnic” music had always been intense, and it blossoms in the 90s leading to many tours of Tunisia and Northern Africa.
Jarrett tours Poland, Germany, Serbia and France in 2001/2002, but also dedicates himself to the foundation of the Chris Jarrett Trio with Karim Othmann Hassan (Oud) and Shakir Ertek (drums). Along with such musicians as Wolfgang Dauner and D.R. Davies, the trio concertizes at the opening of the Theaterhaus Stuttgart in April, 2003. This year also sees the premiere of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliette” in the Young Person’s Theater, Düsseldorf (Germany) under Guido Schumacher’s direction and with new stage music by Chris Jarrett. During a solo-tour of Serbia in November, Jarrett plays in the renowned Kolarac Hall, Belgrade (“Carnegie Hall of the Balkan”) where he is rewarded by a thunderously thankful audience. Solo piano CD productions of this time include “Scenes and Preludes”, and “Short Stories for Piano” (Edition Musikat, Stuttgart). The Chris Jarrett Trio releases the CD “New World Music” (Edition Musikat, Stuttgart).
Jarrett’s composition for 2 pianos, clarinet and percussion, “Suite Grecque” has first performances in Athens, Thebes and Alexandroupolis in 2004. Continuing his career as a film music composer, Jarrett writes music for Karl-Heinz Heilig’s “Geträumtes Leben, Gelebter Traum” and is invited to the Cairo Opera House to perform “Suite Grecque.”
The beginning of 2005 sees the founding of a new formation: “Four Free.” Three of France’s most talented improvising musicians (Adrien Dennefeld, electric guitar; Jérôme Fohrer, double-bass; and Pascal Gully, drums) and Chris Jarrett make up this “chamber-hardcore” ensemble with it’s own very special sound. The same year witnesses the creation of a piece written especially for performance during the soccer world championship in Germany in 2006. “Viertelfinale” (“quarter final”) for 11 strings and conductor/referee consists of motives translating a football game (and not without humor) into the language of contemporary music.
Aside from some concerts in Germany and the U.S. (New York City, Maryland), Jarrett’s concertizing and compositional work is interrupted for a few years after the birth of his son Ivan Shaoki, in Paris, in 2006. But his new role as a father in Paris is as inspiring as it is complicated, and his work continues with new vigor in 2008. The virtuoso accordianist Jelena Milojevic performs the music of Chris Jarrett in Weil Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York in 2009. The piano piece “The Simmer” is dedicated to his son.
In the following busy years, there are new projects with the Turkish saz-player and composer Ismail Türker, with the Wagnerian soprano Jayne Casselmann in an Eisler/Tucholsky programm, with the creation of a satirical work about Jacques Offenbach (commissioned by the Offenbach Festival, Bad Ems) and with the development of an extensive and “game-changing” music history course. The CD “Wax Cabinet” with his group “Four Free” is released by Edition Collage, Munich in 2010. Jarrett tours Canada, Austria, Croatia, and various parts of Germany, where he now again resides. A 2012 solo tour of the Prekmurje and Apasko Polje areas of Slovenia, where his family origins are to be found and where he still keeps in close touch with relatives and friends, is especially remarkable.
Since 2013 Chris Jarrett begins to intensify his teaching activities by leading workshops for piano improvisation. He dedicates himself again to composing new piano music (his wife, the pianist Martina Cukrov Jarrett now regularly performs his compositions). He produces a new CD with stories by the Russian author Ludmilla Petroshevskaya (recited by Julius Pischl) and begins a new musical journey with the renowned Italian violinistLuca Ciarla in a duo formation. 2014 also sees the beginning of a new chapter in Jarrett’s musical career, and in September of that year, his first CD with music for the pipe-organ appears: “New Journeys” – organ improvisations by Chris Jarrett (Atrius Records). In the same month, he performs the first performances of two piano works commissioned by the Mozart Society of Rovereto, Italy: “Hommage a Mozart” and “Rondo a la Wolferl.” In 2014 and 2015, extensive concert tours with Luca Ciarla in duo formation, and with his band, as well as with solo concerts are sending Chris Jarrett on tour to Italy, France, Australia, Indonesia and Singapore. The new CD “Offshots” by “Four Free” is released in 2016.
Chris Jarrett utilizes the structures of classical music and the freedom of jazz improvisation. He combines his secure instinct for formal structures with the spontaneity of jazz. Great influences to be heard in his music come from as diverse a list of personalities as Johannes Ockeghem, Sergej Prokofiev, Charles Mingus and Frank Zappa.
2017 sees the creation of a new duo project with the German drummer Erwin Ditzner ("Variations for Piano and Drums") as well as the release of Jarrett's new solo CD "Tales of our Times" on Centaur Records, Louisiana, USA. In October, Chris Jarrett concertizes on one of the finest organs in the world: the Silbermann organ of the Petri Church in Freiberg, Germany.
In 2018, Chris Jarrett and his wife Martina Cukrov Jarrett form a duo-piano unit which performs Jarrett's own works as well as improvisations on the music of Bela Bartok. In 2019, Chris Jarrett appears with in an especially noteworthy performance of his composition "Udo's Cheesecake" at the Enter Enea Festival in Poland. "Erwin Ditzner/Chris Jarrett Live @ Enjoy Jazz, 2019"
- a recording of a live duo concert with Erwin Ditzner, (drums) and Chris Jarrett (piano) in the "Alte Feuerwache," Mannheim, Germany is released as CD and LP in 2020. His organ performances include an appearance in the Rhein-Mosel Halle, Koblenz, Germany. The "Sechs Hölderlin Lieder" for baritone and piano are among the most important compositions of the period 2019/2020.
As of 2019, Chris Jarrett teaches music history as a guest lecturer at the University of Mainz, Germany.
The year 2021 sees the release of Jarrett's first important organ music CD: "New Journeys - live in Saarwellingen" is published by the Japanese-Italian label DaVinci Records. Other compositions in 2021 include "Conversations," (which is made up of piano music to be performed simultaneously to Bach's Passacaglia for organ), as well as solo piano pieces such as "The Mask," "Finally Talkin'" or "Strindberg's Castle." In the years marked by Corona (2021-2023), Chris Jarrett received a number of grants and scholarships from the German state that enabled him to continue composing. This is how the approximately 300 pages of the "16 English Songs" were created, his largest art-song project to date - with music to texts by such great poets as Dryden Donne, Wordsworth, Pope, Burns, Shelley, Fried, Eliot, Alvarez, Blake and others.
From April to May 2024, Chris Jarrett went on a piano (and organ) tour of the USA, where he performed in Akron, Dallas, New York City, as well as at Solebury School, Pennsylvania and at the legendary jazz club "Deer Head Inn".
In June 2024, the first CD recording of some of his songs for baritone and piano under the title "Chris Jarrett: Sechs Hölderlin Lieder/English Songs," was released by DaVinci Classics, Osaka, Japan.
13.55€
Physical Release: 24 April 2026 Digital Release: 1 May 2026
Physical and Digital Release: 24 April 2026
Physical Release: 24 April 2026 Digital Release: 1 May 2026
