BY GERHARD PRAESENT
Styria, the Southeastern region of Austria with its capital Graz, has some historic handicaps musically: it has no Beethoven and Johann Strauss (like Vienna), no Mozart (like Salzburg), no Haydn (like Eisenstadt), and no Bruckner (like Linz). So it's missing the kind of popular figure that could provide easy fodder for publicity. But you might consider it a blessing in disguise; after all, it allowed Styria and Graz to escape the burden of history. And it may well be precisely the reason why Graz acquired a reputation as a center of contemporary and avant-garde music (and later even jazz) as early as 1928, when the Steirischer Tonkünstlerbund or Styrian Tone Arts Association was first established. This Association was always intended as a communication platform both for composing and performing musicians. Its objective is to reach out and establish connections with other contemporary music societies nationally and internationally and to create a more conscious and vital dialogue while at the same time presenting high quality concerts.
In 1968, the avant-garde festival Steirischer Herbst (Styrian Autumn) - now celebrating its 40th anniversary - was founded by the cultural politician Hanns Koren. From the very outset, an important aspect of the festival was Musikprotokoll, a program series for emerging contemporary compositions and performances organized and produced by the Austrian broadcasting company ORF. Many now renowned composers, among them Friedrich Cerha, György Ligeti, Witold Lutoslawski, Krzystof Penderecki, and Isang Yun, were featured in these concerts alongside many others who have more or less disappeared from public attention. Contemporary composers who did not meet the quite strict criteria of being "avant-garde" were not given the same attention despite the high quality of their music. For instance, one of the most successful Austrian composers - Hungarian born Iván Eröd - only saw one of his compositions, his early dodecaphonic "Ricercare ed Aria" (1966), included in the program. Today, Musikprotokoll seems to be heading in much the same direction as most contemporary European music festivals: all "traditionalism" is avoided, while important new "schools" or substantial innovations are barely given any attention. It seems that this leads most composers back into the loop of the experimental "battlefield."
How, then, does the "other" side of contemporary music composition come into play? The year 1988 saw the foundation of another contemporary music initiative: "Die Andere Saite" (a double-entendre meaning "the other side" as well as "the other string"). "Die Andere Saite" was created by three main originators: Bernhard Lang, Georg Friedrich Haas, and Gerhard Praesent (the author). It attempted and attempts to mobilize the younger generation and emerging composers (some of them still students) in the music scene. This platform still exists today and has always primarily focused on concerts and discussions. As for the dialogue between "old" and "new," there are a number of important contemporary music initiatives in Styria, including the Minoriten cultural center (with its Open Music and Szene Instrumental programs) and the Austrian Art Ensemble, the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz and the School of Music at the University (which has inspired a very ambitious and active jazz scene.) As for the Composers: they also have plenty to contribute to the vitality of contemporary music as well: we need to write works that are able to communicate, to carry emotions and messages while leaving lasting impressions. Above all, we need compositions that are equally evocative both for the audience and musicians.
On 26 September 2008 the New York audience will be able to sample some of the compositions which emerged in and around the innovative music scene of Styria during the ACF - MOSTLY CONTEMPORARY series concert with the Alea Quartet.
