Bernhard Gander: Blood Beat

January 9, 2021 / ISCM

(Submitted by ISCM – AUSTRIAN SECTION)

Bernhard Gander (b. 1969 in Lienz) studied at the Tyrolean Provincial Conservatoire (piano, musical composition, conducting) and had subsequent composition studies with Beat Furrer in Graz, as well as pursued electro acoustic music at Studio UPIC in Paris and at the Swiss Centre for Computer Music in Zurich. He was the recipient of a Young Composers Grant of the City of Vienna in 2004, the Erste Bank Composition Prize in 2005, Austrian federal grants for musical composition 2005/2007, theSKE Publicity Prize in 2009, and the Ernst Krenek Prize in 2012 for his composition melting pot. He music has been performed by Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Intégrales, Talea Ensemble, Arditti Quartett, Ensemble Phace, Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, RSO Wien, DSO Berlin, Brüsseler Philharmoniker, SWR Sinfonieorchester, WDR Sinfonieorchester, hr-Sinfonieorchester, and NÖ Tonkünstlerorchester at Wiener Konzerthaus, Steirischer Herbst, ORF, Klangspuren, Transart Bozen, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Wiener Festwochen, Wien modern, Musica Strassbourg, Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, and Biennale München.

About his 2016 composition Blood Beat for orchestra, Gander writes:

pulse beat
drops of blood
rhythme, bloodstream
the heart pumping blood through the arteries to the finest capillaries and cells of the body
moaning, screaming
becoming tired
recovering
repeating

Bernhard Gander: Blood Beat
Performed by Ensemble Modern Orchestra conducted by Enno Poppe

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