ECM: 4763098

Friedrich Cerha is best known worldwide as the composer who completed the 3rd act of Alban Berg’s opera Lulu, played universally today in his reconstructed version. Born in 1926, he has always been an independent spirit. Associated early on with the two rival 12-tone schools - Hauer’s and Schoenberg’s - he founded, in 1958, the ensemble “die reihe” which remained under his direction until 1983 and set high standards for the performance of modern music. His Cello Concerto, commissioned by the Wien Modern and Berlin Festivals, employs characteristically unorthodox textures. Heinrich Schiff’s brilliant, energized cello moves swiftly and agilely through ever-changing climates coloured variously by soprano sax, bongos and congas, and organ as well as banks of strings.