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News & Current Affairs

28.11.2023 Juergen Schaarwaechter on "Klassk.com" : "Wolfgang Rihms Kammermusik mit Violoncello. Fuer das Schaffen Wolfgang Rihms lassen sich immer wieder einige besondere Interpreten ausmachen. Bei der Musik mit Violoncello hat sich besonders Friedrich Gauwerky profiliert. Der "duomonolog" fuer Violine und Violoncello (1968) sowie die zwei fruehe kurze Streichtrios (1969 und 1971) zeigen die kompositorische Entwicklung des jungen Komponisten, kompositionstechnisch hoch entwickelt und anspruchsvoll in der Anforderung an die Interpreten. Zusammen mit Alexandra Greffin-Klein und Axel Porath weiss Gauwerky die Musik auf das Eindringlichste zu vergegenwaertigen. "Grat" fuer Cello solo (1972) verbindet die Interpretenschule Siegfried Palms mit eigenen kompositorischen Wegen, "von weit" fuer Violoncello und Klavier stammt von 1993 und zeigt eine radikal gewandelte Klangsprache, fuer die ein genauestes Hinhoeren nunmehr essenziell ist. Zusammen mit Florian Uhlig ist Gauwerky hier abermals Rihm ein authentischer und empathischer Interpret."

Friedemann Kluge Februar 2023 in "Das Orchester" : "Der Ton, den er aus seinem Instrument zieht, ist (...) ausserordentlich schneidend, fern und ergreifend." An dieses Lob, das Carl Ludwig Junker 1791 in Bosslers Musikalischer Korrespondenz dem Cellovirtuosen und Komponisten Bernhard Romberg ausspricht, fuehlt man sich beim Spiel des hiesigen "Hauptdarstellers", des Cellisten Friedrich Gauwerky erinnert. Und da wir schon bei ihm sind, faellen wir ueber seine Interpretation der Cellowerke Wolfgang Rihms ebenfalls ein eindeutiges Urteil: Er meistert die nicht geringen Schwierigkeiten, die der mit ihm befreundete Komponist ihm "zumutet", mit groesster Bravour. Doch hoeren wir dazu noch einmal Junker: "(...) der Kenner hat einen andern Massstab, wornach er die Groesse des Virtuosen ausmisst; und dies ist Spielmanier, das Vollkommene des Ausdrucks, oder der sinnlichen Darstellung."Auch diese Attribuierung laesst sich problemlos auf Gauwerky uebertragen."

Lutz Lesle in "Neue Zeitschrift fuer Musik" , 4/2022, about the recently released CD "Wolfgang Rihm. works for and with Violoncello" (Wergo):

"Im Beiheft eingehend und anschaulich beschrieben, vom tonangebenden Cellisten und seinen Mitverschworenen bis ins Feinste ausgestanzt und im Kammermusiksaal des Koelner Deutschlandfunks makellos aufgezeichnet, fuellt die Edition eine diskographische Luecke in Rihms Kammermusikschaffen."

SMS by Wolfgang Rihm to Gauwerky on 2.5.22 : "Lieber Friedrich, heute erhielt ich von Wergo Deine wunderbare CD mit den "fruehen Stuecken" - ich bin Dir sosehr dankbar , dass Du das ermoeglicht und so prachtvoll intensiv gestaltet hast - und natuerlich bin ich auch den Kuenstlerinnen und Kuenstlern dankbar , die mit Dir sind! Ein herliches Geburtstagsgeschenk ... Und endlich nach 51 Jahren darf ich mein op.9 in dieser eurer fulminaten Aufnahme hoeren! Und Dein Farbenreichtum bei "Grat" ! Hinreissend! Meinen tiefen Dank euch allen - und vor allen natuerlich Dir. Sehr herzlich Dein /Euer Wolfgang"

"Dear Friedrich, today I received from Wergo your wonderful CD with the "early pieces" - I am so much grateful to you , that you made that possible and shaped it so gorgeosly - and of course I am also grateful to the artists , who are with you! A splendid birthday present...and finally after 51 years I may listen to my op.9 in this your brilliant recording! And your richness of colours in "Grat" ! Gorgeous ! My deep gratitude to all of you - and of course especially to you. Most cordially, yours Wolfgang " (translation F.G.)

31.5.2022, 23.03 MET, Radio Berlin Brandenburg: Wolfgang Rihm, "Streichtrio Nr.2"

March 2022 ,"Wolfgang Rihm, works for and with Violoncello" with "Streichtrio Nr.2", "Grat" for Violoncello solo, "duomonolog" ,"von weit"and "Strechtrio op.9" (WERGO 74022) has been released

June 2021: Gauwerky has been awarded a scholarship from the Ministry for Cultural affairs NRW for CD recordings as well as concert-performances

August 2020: Gauwerky has been awarded a scholarship from the Ministry for Cultural affairs NRW for research on works for Violoncello by Bernd Alois Zimmermann

October 2020: Gauwerky has been awarded a scholarship from the German federal Governemant for his artistic activities

Manfrad Karallus in "Musik-Texte", November 2020 about "6 Miniaturen" by Martin Herchenr der (CD, NEOS): "...Und was Miniaturen sind , das sind dann eben auch Kleinigkeiten. Webern-artig verdichtete auf vierzig bis siebzig Sekunden verdichtete Petitessen. Diese sind f r Violoncello solo geschrieben und werden bezaubernd ausgef hrt von Friedrich Gauwerky..."

"Tempo" , 2020: "Gauwerky meets every technical challenge Blake throws his way with staggering proficiency"

Martin Herchenr der :"Winternachrmusik works for Violoncello and Piano" together with Severin von Eckardstein (NEOS 11815) has been released

"Neue Zeitschrift f r Musik" , 1/2019 : "Both as soloists and as Duo-performers - Herchenr der got with Cellist Friedrich Gauwerky and Pianist Severin von Eckardstein performers at his side, who are not only technically brilliant but also dip into his subtle sound-world with great devotion ..." (Egbert Hiller)

"Two - not only for contemporary music - prooved virtuosos on their instruments: Friedrich Gauwerky , Violoncello and Pianist Severin von Eckardstein ( , who grew up in Siegen), perform Duos and Soloworks , which represent an excerpt of works by Martin Herchenr der (Professor at the Universit t Siegen) , composed over the last 25 years ..." ("Neue Musikzeitung ", Mach 2019)

Michael Blake, "The philosophy of composition", works for Violoncello and Piano (Wergo, WER 73612) has been released.

The Times (London) -08.09.2018 "... and Pentimenti (a cello solo) celebrates The Rite of Spring. Gauwerky and Vandewalle play with passion and precision throughout. SP"

WDR 3 "Tonart", 17.7.2018, 17.05h Michael Blake: "The richter scale" f r Violoncello solo (2015) Friedrich Gauwerky im Gespr ch mit Oliver Cech https://www1.wdr.de/mediathek/audio/wdr3/wdr3-tonart/audio-friedrich-gauwerky-im-gespraech-100.html Michael Blake: Sonata , erster Satz , Allegro misterioso (2016)

MASTERCLASSES in 2017/18/19

19.-21.4.2017 HONG KONG, residence at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts

24.4.-1.5.2017 MELBOURNE, masterclasses

14.12.2018 , MANNHEIM, Germany, Hochschule f r Musik, masterclass

8.5.2019 MELBOURNE, masterclass at the University of Melbourne

"Long experience and personal relationship with the composer afford cellist Friedrich Gauwerky an easy familiarity with this music, and it shows in a nuanced and charming performance" (Peter Quantrill in "The strad", November 2014 about the recently released CD, Karlheinz Stockhausen , "In Freundschaft")

May 2014: "In Friendship" for Violoncello has been released (Stockhausen Complete Edition No. 102)

"...On one side the impressiv atmosphere of the over 200 years old half timbered house, and on the other side the contemporary music of finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, which the famous instrumentalists Camilla Hoitenga and Friedrich Gauwerky presented within the context of a portrait-concert... The programme focused on works of this composer and were brilliantly interpreted by flutist Camilla Hoitenga and Cellist Friedrich Gauwerky... "(Weser-Kurier , 10.9.2013, referring to the Saariaho-Portriat-concert on 6.9.2013).

"Ulrich Isfort and Friedrich Gauwerky raised virtuosically and with passion the five movements ... on a level, which at present hardly will be achieved by a comparable duo..." , Oberbayrische Volkszeitung , 15.5.2012

" this concert was an event , which the listeners honoured with standing ovations" ...(Gudrun Scabell in "Weser-Kurier", 13.3.2012, about the Gubaidulina-Portrait-concert 11.3.2012)

"...remarkable is the intuitive assertivness, which which both musicians perform even the microtonal sections precisely...the special aspect of this recording is, how Gauwerky and Knoop make music on one level with John Cage himself, and enter into this experiment...(Achim Stricker, NMZ March 2012)

" The concert consisted exclusivly of works of the german avantgarde. The Sonata for Violoncello solo by York H ller and the following very demanding Sonata by Bernd Alois Zimmermann were followed by a short and most concentrated miniature , the work opus breve by Klaus K. H bler as well as the Cello-version of the composition In Friedship by K.Stockhausen, a work which initially had been composed for clarinet. The astute mastering of new technics of Cello-playing is indeed not the only and most important device of Gauwerky. The consistency of his aesthetical concept includes the ability for imagination and immediacy of expression. The result for the listeners is a very coherent interpretation of highly demanding musical structures "(Robert Kolar in Hudobny Zivot in Slovakia, December 2011)

Rapturous applause for soprano Manuela Kriscak and Cellist Friedrich Gauwerky The recital of german cellist Friedrich Gauwerky started with a bow for the founder and artistic director of the Festival,the deceased Giampaolo Coral. Paesaggio con la caduta di Icaro is the titel of a composition , which Gauwerky premiered earlier this year in Stuttgart, a composition , which - as many of Corals works - was inspired by works of the visual arts: Pieter Breugel and in later works Matisse and Chagall show tragical scenes, which Coral transposed in music, in this work at the beginning with dark tones of the cello in low register, which later in the process of the composition are embadded in a dense canvas of polyphonic structures , all of this masterly performed by Gauwerky . (Katja Kralj in Primorski, Italia, 10.12.2011)

world-premiere: 24.11.2011, WAIBLINGEN, Germany, Galerie Stihl, Giampaolo Coral, "Paesaggio con la caduta di Icaro" for Violoncello solo

CD - release "John Cage: Etudes Boreales Harmonies 10'40.3''" (WERGO WER 6178 2):

"...Understanding of postmodern music-philosophy here meets great virtuosic mastery of the instruments - and this is a demand in particlar for the cellist.The piece looks back at a history, in which performances have been cancelled by the most highly profil d cellists , as they declared the Etudes as unplayable. Cage - or the celestial chart - demands shifts accross several octaves aside from the diatonic system without the help of vibrato.Gauwerky shines in his interpretation with stunning technique and magnificant precision... "(Vera Salm. "Das Orchester", April 2011)

"The German cellist and new music specialist Friedrich Gauwerky succeeds here in bringing coherance and structure to two of the most challenging works of 20th-century cello literature, John Cage's Etudes Boreales (1978) and 26'1.1499'' (1953-5) (of which he plays a shortened version, called 10'40.3'' after its duration).Despite the two works' huge technical difficulties, which Gauwerky overcomes with aplomb, the challenges are not purly of execution. The two pieces are both chance-based - Etudes Boreales drawing on star maps of the northern sky, 26'1.1499'' using imperfections in the paper it was written on - and so run the risk of sounding like a ramdom sequence of unrelated pitches, effects and noises from the cello's wooden body. It's hugely impressive that Gauwerky brings a truly musical coherance to the works, imposing a sense of order on the bewilding range of sounds and a sense of forward movement that grips he listener from start to finish. There's lightness of touch to his playing in 10'40.3" that brings what could almost be called a sense of fun to the piece, and his pinpoint intonation amid multi-octave jumps in the Etudes Boreales is breathtaking...(David Kettle in "The Strad", August 2010)

"...This demonstrates in particular: in both cases Gauwerky set a high standard for future recordings with his Cage-interpretations and as such made an important contribution to a seroius involverment with this music" (Stefan Drees in "Neue Zeitschrift f r Musik", July/August 2010)

"...This disc is an excellent introduction to both John Cage's thechniques and the best possible rendition of the aural experience.The performances are top notch and the recording is sensitive to the very subtle nature of these works; consistantly soft but present throughout...(Daniel Coombs in "Audiophile Audition", August 2010)

"...This CD reflects a principal problem of New Music within the area of conflict between freedom and determination, a conflict which however does not cause any distress for the excellent performers" (Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, 27.5.2010)

"The Suite for Violoncello solo by Johann Sebastian Bach is music related to physical movement.Accordingly it consists of the baroque movement-titles Allemande , Courante, Sarabande and so forth. If this rhytmically complex music , which was performed by Gauwerky with such lightness and virtuosity, can be danced to today, this was a question for the audience to think about"("Elbmarschpost", 6.5.2010)

"Gauwerky revealed hinmself as a sensitiv sound-timbre-virtuoso also in "Fluente" by norwegian Ruben Sverre Gjertsen..." (Neue Musik Zeitung, December 2009)

"Cellist Friedrich Gauwerky's task was to transform formations entering the screen from the side into sounds, the result of which revealed itself as happening partly at the limit of audibility, a task, which he mastered with sovereinty and credibility" (Elisabeth Risch, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 26.11.2009)

"In addition Friedrich Gauwerky exibited in his performance of '10. 1.640" for a string-player'his outstanding vituosic skills on his instrument..."(Siegener Zeitung 29.4.2009)

"musicians like Gauwerky are just desirable: an unbelievable beauty of tone despite all sound-distortion, great wisdom of expression, an organic unity between performer and instrument, as one can experiance very rarely" (Achim Stricker in "Schw bisches Tagblatt", 23.10.2008)

"- the atteniv musical approach, with which Friedrich Gauwerky brought accross the work by H ller in his concert in the "AusSichten" - series in Tolstefanz last Thursday exibitet in a very lively way the mixture of subtlety and tension, which determines the work by H ller." ("Elbe-Jeetzel-Zeitung", 25.10.2008)

"John Cage: Etudes Boreales Harmonies 10'40.3''" (WERGO WER 6718 2) has been released !

World premiere of Schoenberg cadenza
On 18th Jan. 2000 happened a performance of the Cello-concerto g-minor by M.G.Monn in Frankfurt /Oder/Germany(Staatsorchester Frankfurt /Oder, cond. Nikos Athinäos, soloist Friedrich Gauwerky). Included in the performance was the world premiere of a cadenza for this concerto by Arnold Schoenberg, written in or before 1913.The cadenza is from Schoenbergs estate and has been published for the first time 1977 in the Schoenberg Complete Edition. Written statements about the lack of any documentation of or information about any previous performance of these cadenzas have been received from: Prof.Dr. Reinhold Brinkmann, Harvard University, Ms. Iris Pfeiffer, Arnold Schoenberg Center , Vienna, Mr. Ulrich Scheideler/Mr. Nikos Kokkinis, Schoenberg Gesamtausgabe Forschungsstelle Berlin and Ms. Elisabeth Knessl, Universal Edition Vienna #

"Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Chambermusic" with "Vier kurze Studien","Intercomunicazione","Presence" etc. has been released (Albedo, Oslo, AlbCD 022)
"...This of course was a credit also to the mainly very attentive audience, which experienced with Friedrich Gauwerky a serious Cellist , who exibitet in the Sonata for Cello solo by Bernd Alois Zimmermann such a superior playing technic in servive of the composition, that it was simply firing with enthusiasm..." Rolf Bernhard Essig in "Fr nkischer Tag", June 2007
Michael Pitz-Grewenig in "Bremer Nachrichten:"...The interpretations achieved its very special standard due to the quite uncramoed , concentrated art of the 2 performers, Friedrich Gauwerky, Violoncello and Stefan Hussong, Accordion. Both performers cooperate since years with the composer (i.e. Adriana Hoelszky,Anm.)and form an outstanding pair of soloists, what also was proved in Klaus Hubers "Ein Hauch von Unzeit",the performance of which became a faszinating event in this version for Accordion and Violoncello by the two performers due to the intelligently crafted interpretation..."

Marianne Kierspel in "K lner Stadtanzeiger" : "...One hardly could have found better musicians for the theme of the evening than Friedrich Gauwerky (Cello) and Stefan Hussong (Accordion)..."

B.Hagerup in "Morgenbladet", Norway, about the recently released CD "Friedrich Gauwerky cello solo" (ALBCD 013): "Opus breve is an almost unpleasantly persuasive piece of music in which the musical vocabulary has been reduced to its basics: the conjunction of instrument and body. It is this conjunction that Gauwerky demonstrates with more discipline, intensity and expressivity than most. He is without doubt one of our time's most fascinating instrumentalists".

Lutz Lesle in "Neue Zeitschrift f r Musik" about the recently released CD "From Johann Sebastian Bach to Bernd Alois Zimmermann: "...business-card of a virtuoso with far-sightedness, good taste, amazing technique, and a captivating instrument"