Thomas Wilbrandt
Encyclopedia
Thomas Wilbrandt is a German
composer
and conductor
.
He studied with Franco Ferrara
, Hans Swarowsky
and Bruno Maderna
in Rome
, Vienna
and Salzburg
and was Assistant to Herbert von Karajan
and the Berlin Philharmonic for three years in Berlin
and Salzburg
.
1980 he founded the Berlin Chamber Academy (Berliner Kammer-Akademie), a forty-piece orchestra originally formed from players of the Berlin Philharmonic, with whom he recorded a highly acclaimed Mozart Series for RCA/Victor. The Berlin Chamber Academy received rapturous reviews for the fresh, vital, and exciting approach of Wilbrandt’s readings, both in concerts played to capacity audiences, and in recordings.
Next to international conducting activities and cooperations with major orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic and the Philharmonia Orchestra
in London
, Wilbrandt became more involved in his own projects and recordings, concentrating on his work as a composer, especially in the field of Avant-garde
and electronic music. This led to developed experimentation regarding multimedia content and expression and to the constant exploration of new forms of music presentation. Wilbrandt’s ongoing issue and ambition is to transform and merge sound and vision into a stimulating new dimension.
In its stylistic eclecticism and acknowledgement of tradition, the post-Modernist spirit may serve as a key to understanding Wilbrandt´s music.
One of his first major projects was the creation of a totally new kind of fusion between acoustic orchestral playing and digital and electronic instruments and sounds, entitled THE ELECTRIC V., a so far unheard approach to Vivaldi’s famous concert cycle The Four Seasons
. The musical style he developed after the formula tradition+innovation = future is unparalleled in uniqueness and originality. The first edition of THE ELECTRIC V. was released in 1984 in twenty countries and rapidly became a worldwide bestseller that was selected by critics as being one of the best available productions on CD in terms both of musical quality and audio technology.
Wilbrandt wrote, directed, and produced THE ELECTRIC V. film between 1987 and 1990. Using the most modern state-of-the-art post-production techniques, it was the first realisation of an audio-visual project on such a large scale.
Wilbrandt has composed and advised music for several films and documentaries; amongst others, for the AOS project he contributed music to the highly acclaimed soundtrack of Oliver Stone
’s film Natural Born Killers
.
Ballets with Wilbrandt’s music are performed worldwide.
2011 sees the launch of FENNster, a Berlin based Foundation for Contemporary Art and Multimedia Innovation, initiated by Thomas Wilbrandt. The objective of the foundation is to foster new impulses, combining innovative potential and creative forms of expression as well supporting young artists with studio and working spaces and to develop their creative potential and abilities in a highly inspiring think-tank melting-pot environment.
Peter Gabriel
“… But this is nothing compared to Thomas Wilbrandt’s two-CD reinvention of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. It’s a sort of strung out version, with fragments of themes, synthesised sounds of nature, and hallucinatory expansions of the accompaniments into long, hazy days and nights. Computers play along with the Philarmonia Orchestra and solo-violinist Christopher Warren-Green. There is even a real conductor. The piece is very good and sexy, it must be great for making love to…”
LA Weekly
“an amazing hitherto unheard blend of classical and electronics. If you want to hear what the music of the year 2000 could sound like, you will be fascinated by this double album – the music of the future is already here.”
Cosmopolitan
“… an acoustic delicatessen: melting string echoes, fat bass notes from the organ, saturated sound – from the whispered pianissimos to the raging thunderstorm. A Venetian gondola has been turned into a stream-lined musical steamer on a journey to fantasy land.”
Stern
“Thomas Wilbrandt has the unique ability to visualise the orchestra as one single complex contemporary instrument. His attitude has already displayed an uncanny parallel between the Synclavier/Fairlight sound-building concepts of synthesis – and his own moulding and texturing the wholly organic infrastructure of a living orchestra. Aided by people like Thomas, the orchestra can be thrown, alive and kicking, into the 21st Century.”
Rupert Hine
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
.
He studied with Franco Ferrara
Franco Ferrara
Franco Ferrara was an Italian conductor.After obtaining diplomas in piano, violin, organ and musical composition at the Conservatory of Bologna, Ferrara began his career as violin player in Bologna, in Rome and in Florence, with the Orchestra of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino...
, Hans Swarowsky
Hans Swarowsky
Hans Swarowsky was an Austrian conductor of Hungarian birth and Jewish descent.Swarowsky was born in Budapest, Hungary. He studied the art of conducting under Felix Weingartner and Richard Strauss...
and Bruno Maderna
Bruno Maderna
Bruno Maderna was an Italian conductor and composer. For the last ten years of his life he lived in Germany and eventually became a citizen of that country.-Biography:...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
and was Assistant to Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
and the Berlin Philharmonic for three years in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
.
1980 he founded the Berlin Chamber Academy (Berliner Kammer-Akademie), a forty-piece orchestra originally formed from players of the Berlin Philharmonic, with whom he recorded a highly acclaimed Mozart Series for RCA/Victor. The Berlin Chamber Academy received rapturous reviews for the fresh, vital, and exciting approach of Wilbrandt’s readings, both in concerts played to capacity audiences, and in recordings.
Next to international conducting activities and cooperations with major orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic and the Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Wilbrandt became more involved in his own projects and recordings, concentrating on his work as a composer, especially in the field of Avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
and electronic music. This led to developed experimentation regarding multimedia content and expression and to the constant exploration of new forms of music presentation. Wilbrandt’s ongoing issue and ambition is to transform and merge sound and vision into a stimulating new dimension.
In its stylistic eclecticism and acknowledgement of tradition, the post-Modernist spirit may serve as a key to understanding Wilbrandt´s music.
One of his first major projects was the creation of a totally new kind of fusion between acoustic orchestral playing and digital and electronic instruments and sounds, entitled THE ELECTRIC V., a so far unheard approach to Vivaldi’s famous concert cycle The Four Seasons
The Four Seasons (Vivaldi)
The Four Seasons is a set of four violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. Composed in 1723, The Four Seasons is Vivaldi's best-known work, and is among the most popular pieces of Baroque music. The texture of each concerto is varied, each resembling its respective season...
. The musical style he developed after the formula tradition+innovation = future is unparalleled in uniqueness and originality. The first edition of THE ELECTRIC V. was released in 1984 in twenty countries and rapidly became a worldwide bestseller that was selected by critics as being one of the best available productions on CD in terms both of musical quality and audio technology.
Wilbrandt wrote, directed, and produced THE ELECTRIC V. film between 1987 and 1990. Using the most modern state-of-the-art post-production techniques, it was the first realisation of an audio-visual project on such a large scale.
Wilbrandt has composed and advised music for several films and documentaries; amongst others, for the AOS project he contributed music to the highly acclaimed soundtrack of Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
’s film Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers is a 1994 crime/black comedy film directed by Oliver Stone about two victims of traumatic childhoods who became lovers and psychopathic serial killers, and are irresponsibly glorified by the mass media...
.
Ballets with Wilbrandt’s music are performed worldwide.
2011 sees the launch of FENNster, a Berlin based Foundation for Contemporary Art and Multimedia Innovation, initiated by Thomas Wilbrandt. The objective of the foundation is to foster new impulses, combining innovative potential and creative forms of expression as well supporting young artists with studio and working spaces and to develop their creative potential and abilities in a highly inspiring think-tank melting-pot environment.
Quotes
“What is extraordinary about Thomas is the breadth of his abilities. I have been continuously impressed by the range of his talents and interests. As a composer, conductor and, he is always looking for new and interesting ways to approach his work. Thomas is very much a Renaissance man.”Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
“… But this is nothing compared to Thomas Wilbrandt’s two-CD reinvention of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. It’s a sort of strung out version, with fragments of themes, synthesised sounds of nature, and hallucinatory expansions of the accompaniments into long, hazy days and nights. Computers play along with the Philarmonia Orchestra and solo-violinist Christopher Warren-Green. There is even a real conductor. The piece is very good and sexy, it must be great for making love to…”
LA Weekly
LA Weekly
LA Weekly is a free weekly tabloid-sized "alternative weekly" in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Editor/Publisher Jay Levin and a board of directors that included actor-producer Michael Douglas...
“an amazing hitherto unheard blend of classical and electronics. If you want to hear what the music of the year 2000 could sound like, you will be fascinated by this double album – the music of the future is already here.”
Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan (magazine)
Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...
“… an acoustic delicatessen: melting string echoes, fat bass notes from the organ, saturated sound – from the whispered pianissimos to the raging thunderstorm. A Venetian gondola has been turned into a stream-lined musical steamer on a journey to fantasy land.”
Stern
Stern
The stern is the rear or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite of the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Originally, the term only referred to the aft port section...
“Thomas Wilbrandt has the unique ability to visualise the orchestra as one single complex contemporary instrument. His attitude has already displayed an uncanny parallel between the Synclavier/Fairlight sound-building concepts of synthesis – and his own moulding and texturing the wholly organic infrastructure of a living orchestra. Aided by people like Thomas, the orchestra can be thrown, alive and kicking, into the 21st Century.”
Rupert Hine
Rupert Hine
Rupert Neville Hine is an English musician, songwriter and prolific record producer, having produced albums for artists including Kevin Ayers, Tina Turner, Howard Jones, Saga, The Fixx, Bob Geldof, Thompson Twins, Stevie Nicks, Chris de Burgh, Suzanne Vega, Rush, Underworld, Duncan Sheik, and ...
Works and Releases (Selection)
- The Mozart Series, Berliner-Kammer-Akademie. Conducted by Thomas Wilbrandt. RCA/VICTOR (1981-1989)
- The Electric V. – A New Perspective on Vivaldi´s Four SeasonsThe Four Seasons (Vivaldi)The Four Seasons is a set of four violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. Composed in 1723, The Four Seasons is Vivaldi's best-known work, and is among the most popular pieces of Baroque music. The texture of each concerto is varied, each resembling its respective season...
(1984), Philharmonia OrchestraPhilharmonia OrchestraThe Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
. Solo-violin Christopher Warren-GreenChristopher Warren-GreenChristopher Warren-Green is a British violinist and conductor. He attended Westminster City Grammar School and the Royal Academy of Music....
. Created, arranged, and conducted by Thomas Wilbrandt. Mercury 818 147-2 (1984) Decca 425 205-2 (1988) Thamos 37501 (1999) - Antonio VivaldiAntonio VivaldiAntonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
, The Four SeasonsThe Four Seasons (Vivaldi)The Four Seasons is a set of four violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. Composed in 1723, The Four Seasons is Vivaldi's best-known work, and is among the most popular pieces of Baroque music. The texture of each concerto is varied, each resembling its respective season...
, Philharmonia OrchestraPhilharmonia OrchestraThe Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
. Conducted by Thomas Wilbrandt. Solo-violin Christopher Warren-GreenChristopher Warren-GreenChristopher Warren-Green is a British violinist and conductor. He attended Westminster City Grammar School and the Royal Academy of Music....
. Philips 412 321 (1984) - Transforming V. – Variations on Vivaldi, Royal Philharmonic OrchestraRoyal Philharmonic OrchestraThe Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
. Created, arranged, and conducted by Thomas Wilbrandt. Decca 425 211 (1990) - Erik SatieErik SatieÉric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...
, Alone, for a Second, Modern Sinfonietta. Created, arranged, and conducted by Thomas Wilbrandt. Decca 425 226 (1991) - Modest P. MussorgskyMussorgskyMussorgsky can refer to:*The Mussorgsky family of Russian nobility;*Modest Mussorgsky, a Russian composer belonging to that family.*Mussorgsky , a 1950 Soviet film about the composer...
, Pictures at an ExhibitionPictures at an ExhibitionPictures at an Exhibition is a suite in ten movements composed for piano by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874.The suite is Mussorgsky's most famous piano composition, and has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists...
, Modern Sinfonietta. Orchestrated, arranged, and conducted by Thomas Wilbrandt. Decca 436 717 (1993) - MussorgskyMussorgskyMussorgsky can refer to:*The Mussorgsky family of Russian nobility;*Modest Mussorgsky, a Russian composer belonging to that family.*Mussorgsky , a 1950 Soviet film about the composer...
/Wilbrandt, Exhibitionistic Echoes (from Pictures at an ExhibitionPictures at an ExhibitionPictures at an Exhibition is a suite in ten movements composed for piano by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874.The suite is Mussorgsky's most famous piano composition, and has become a showpiece for virtuoso pianists...
). A reworking for acousticAcoustic musicAcoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
instruments and electronic delays Modern Sinfonietta. Decca 436 717 (1993) - Thomas Wilbrandt, Mono Tones – 12 Studies in Silence, for one and two pianos. Decca 440 228 (1993)
- The Electric V. The Four Seasons Variations (Film c. 92 mins). Created, filmed, produced, and directed by Thomas Wilbrandt. Decca/Universal (1990) LD-Video 071 117
Performances
- Alone, for a Second, choreography by Nacho DuatoNacho DuatoJuan Ignacio Duato Bárcia, also known as Nacho Duato is a Spanish modern ballet dancer and choreographer. After a long and successful career, he was selected by the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Education as the artistic director of the National Spanish Dance Company in June 1990...
, Netherlands Dans Theater (1993) / Compania Nacional de Danza de Espana, SevilleSevilleSeville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
(2002) - Interlaced, choreography by Lynn Cote, ballet set to The Electric V, Washington Ballet (1996)
- Anotimpuri (Seasons), choreography by Sergiu AnghelSergiu AnghelSergiu Anghel is a choreographer born in Mediaş, Transylvania, Romania.He is a graduate of the Choreography high school in Cluj and Bucharest, class of 1973. In 1974 he set up the ballet group Contemp' based on contemporary Repertory...
, ballet for 12 dancers set to "The Electric V.", Orion Ballet Company (1998) - Sea of my Soul, choreography by Patrick CorbinPatrick CorbinPatrick Corbin , is an American dancer and founder of CorbinDances.-Training:He began dance training at a young age in Potomac, Maryland and also studied at the Washington School of Ballet...
, Company C Contemporary Ballet, San Francisco (2007)