On March 3rd, the JACK Quartet performs the New York premiere of Matthias Pintscher’s string quartet Study IV for Treatise on the Veil at Merkin Concert Hall, kicking off a string of premieres of Pintscher's work in New York. Later in the month, on March 18th-20th, the New York Philharmonic performs the American premiere of Pintscher's towards Osiris, conducted by Christoph Eschenbach. And in April, Pintscher sees the world premiere of his new work for baritone and chamber orchestra songs from Solomon's garden, written for baritone Thomas Hampson. Alan Gilbert leads musicians from the New York Philharmonic in the performance.

Study IV for Treatise on the Veil is the fourth work in a series that Pintscher has composed in reaction to the works of the same name by visual artist Cy Twombly. Pintscher writes:

Cy Twombly's series of drawings titled Treatise on the Veil includes numerous sketches and two main works. My own Treatise cycle draws directly on this series of works and pays homage to Twombly, an artist whom I deeply admire, and whose work in the last few years has connected more and more the structural impulses in my own work. "Veil" is haze, fog: a notion that has many different associations with visual and acoustic phenomena, and in composing this music I wish to explicitly explore these associations.

towards Osiris was premiered in 2006 by the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, and was included on an EMI recording of Gustav Holst’s Planets by the orchestra as a new work relating to the astral theme. The Chicago Tribune described towards Osiris as “extraordinarily well-made music that reveals real harmonic integrity beneath its glistening, whispering surfaces. Pintscher savors delicate restraint, exults in coloristic subtlety."

For more information on the New York premiere of Study IV for Treatise on the Veil, visit www.kaufman-center.org.

For more information on the US premiere of towards Osiris, visit: www.nyphil.org.

Learn more on Matthias Pintscher at www.matthiaspintscher.com and www.baerenreiter.com.

Matthias Pintscher
Study IV for Treatise on the Veil (2009)
for string quartet
13’

towards Osiris (2005)
for orchestra
3.(2, 3.pic).2.ca.2.bcl(cbcl).2.cbsn-4.3.2.btbn.1-4perc-2hp.pno.cel-str
8’