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Martin Schlumpf Composer

Videos from the  Jubiläumsconcert schlumpf+ (June 2021)
Here you’ll find the videos of the Jubiläumsconcert «Pandora’s Promise» from June 20, 2021 at the Druckerei Baden with the bands of Christoph Baumann, Adrian Frey and Roger Girod: Concert 1 und Concert 2.

Videos from the schlumpf+ concert 1 (March 2019)
On March 10, 2019 the Swiss Piano Trio performed  a wonderful concert with trios by Ludwig van Beethoven and me. Here you’ll find the video-trailer of the concert und here the whole performance of my composition«Zeitspuren»

New program 2019 schlumpf+  (January 2019)
In the new program 2019 of the concert series schlumpf+ three excellent ensembles will come to stage: the Swiss Piano Trio, François Benda and the Basel string quartet, as well as the Eos Guitar Quartet.

New commission for Piano Trio (July 2018)
The Swiss Piano Trio asked me for a new composition with relations to the Beethoven trios. The Premiere will take place on November 21, 2018 at the Swiss Chamber Concerts in the Church St. Peter in Zurich.

Videos of the concerts 1 and 2 from schlumpf+ (April/May 2018)
Several concert videos of the first two impressive schlumpf+-concerts «Schumann in the mirror» and «Improvised spacemusic» are now online. From the first concert, March 18 (with «Spiegelbilder») here and from the second one (with «pulsar_2») here.

Two new Lied-Arrangements (February 2018)
My new arrangements of the two Schumann-Lieder “Du Ring an meinem Finger” and “Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz getan” for  viola, cello and piano are completed. They will be played for the first time on March 18, 2018 in the context of the 1st schlumpf+-concert.

Tools for Clicktrack and Surround-Sound (December 2017)
My friend Ljubo Majstorovic designed excellent new software-tools with rehearsal- and performance-modes for up to four clicktracks and parallel 4-channel-audio-playback, which can be handled by the performers via foot pedal. The tools will be used for the first time in the 2nd schlumpf+-concert.

3rd season concert series schlumpf+ (October 2017)
The program from the 3rd year of the concert series schlumpf+ at the Druckerei Baden, Switzerland, is fixed: we will enjoy the viola-trio Enderle, Grossenbacher, Mihneva, the singer Catriona Bühler together with the Jazz-Trio Stahel, Girod, Hunziker as well as the pianist Arta Arnicane. The 1st concert will take place on March 18, 2018.

2nd season schlumpf+ successfully closed (July 2017)
In the archive of the website schlumpfplus.ch you find extensive Video- and Program-Documentation on the three concerts.

Premiere of Kaleidoscope 2 (June 2017)
T
he premiere of “Kaleidoscope 2” for string quartet has taken place within the last concert of the 2nd season of «schlumpf+» at the Druckerei Baden, Switzerland with the Galatea Quartet.

Brilliant Reperformance of my Clarinet Trio (May 2017)
On May 11, 2017 Robert Pickup, Thomas Grossenbacher and Yoshiko Iwai played in the context of the 2nd schlumpf+-concert the Clarinet Trios of Brahms and mine. Hier goes to the Video of my Trio.

Season premiere of schlumpf+ (April 2017)
On April 6, start of the 2nd season of schlumpf+ with a brilliant Jazz concert of the Adrian Frey Quintett (Reto Suhner, Andreas Stahel, Felix Utzinger, Adrian Frey, Tobias Hunziker), improvising around motives from my Clarinet Trio.

New commissions for compositions (December 2016)
During the next weeks I’m working on “Kaleidoscope 1” for cello solo (for Thomas Grossenbacher) and  “Kaleidoscope 2” for string quartet (for the Galatea quartet).

2nd season concert series schlumpf+ (November 2016)
The program from the 2nd year of the concert series schlumpf+ at the Druckerei Baden is fixed: we will enjoy the Adrian Frey Quintet, the Clarinet Trio Pickup/Grossenbacher/Iwai and the Galatea Quartet. The 1st concert will take place on April 6, 2017; detailed informations will follow in January 2017.

Premiere Jazzsuite “Someday my Prince Will Come” (May 2016)
With a multimedia show with the “Hausquartett Plus” (Grab, Tschopp, Baumann, Hämmerli, Renold) as well as the light design of Karl Egli the first season of the concert series «schlumpf+» found its spectacular end!

CD-Review in Gramophone (May 2016)
In the well-known Gramophone you’ll find a review of my new CD “The Five Points”.

Two new Live-Videos (April 2016)
From concert 2 of the series «schlumpf+» with Thomas Grossenbacher and Petya Mihneva you can watch on YouTube now: short Trailer as well as the Video of the premiere of “Les Extrèmes se touchent”.

Premiere of “Les Extrèmes se touchent” (March 2016)
On March 3, 2016 the world premiere of “Les Extrèmes se touchent” for cello and piano has taken place within the 2nd concert of the series «schlumpf+» at the Druckerei Baden, Switzerland with Thomas Grossenbacher and Petya Mihneva.

Start of schlumpf+ (January 2016)
On January 14, 2016 my new concert series schlumpf+ opened at the Druckerei Baden, Switzerland, with an exquisite program for four female voices, accordion and speaker, repeated at the Muenster in Bern and the Elisabethian Church in Basle.

New CD The Five Points released (December 2015)
This new NEOS-CD contains five of my latest chamber music works: “Spiegelbilder (Mirror Images)”, “Push and Pull”, “The Five Points”, “Puzzle” and “Pandora’s Promise”.

Website of schlumpf+ (October 2015)
On schlumpfplus.ch you’ll find all important informations about my new concert series schlumpf+ at the Druckerei Baden. The Ticketing has opened as well.

New piece for solo voice (July 2015)
Composed in the summer holidays in Lü: “Ritual – for K”.

New composition for cello and piano (June 2015)
The 1975 composed piece “Les Extrèmes se touchent” for cello and piano is now available in a completely revised and partly new written version.

New Triple Concerto (April 2015)
“Triple Suite” for violin, cello, piano and orchestra was composed between June 2013 and April 2015 for the Oliver Schnyder Trio as a direct sequel to Beethoven’s Triple Concerto.

New Trio completed (April 2014)
The new Trio for alto saxophone, cello and piano, commissioned by Harry White, has just been finished: Pandora’s Promise will be premiered by the Harry White Trio on May 8, 2014 in Wuerenlingen, Switzerland and repeated for the first time in Zurich on May 17, 2014.

Edition Kunzelmann (Edition Peters) as my main publisher (February 2014)
Ten of my mainly newer works are available till now from Edition Kunzelmann. As novelties recently published are “December Rains”, “The Five Points”, “Mirror Images” and “Push and Pull”. Further works will follow.

New CD Brahms – Schlumpf – Müller (October 2013)
 The new CD BRAHMS – SCHLUMPF – MÜLLER has been released by NEOS, Munich, with my clarinet quintet “The Five Points”, played by Matthias Müller and the Galatea Quartet.

Premiere of  The Five Points (September 2013)
On September 27, 2013 the successful world premiere of my clarinet quintet “The Five Points” has taken place within the context of the program “Brahms und die Gegenwart”. The piece has been played by Matthias Müller, clarinet and the Galatea Quartet from Zurich.

Release of the new CD STREAMS (August 2013)
With STREAMS, the follow-up to my 2012 Navona Records release SUMMER CIRCLE, I am proud to announce a new album with three of my most important concertos: “Mouvements”, “Waves” and “Streams”. The performance of the various soloists and orchestras is excellent, the album art lures by its harmony of colors. A very special point is the expansion by the “Enhanced Content”: if you place the CD in a computer you will get access to scores and score sketches of all compositions, extended liner notes, pictures  and more.

Big success at the World Premiere of Streams (August 2013)
On August 17, 2013 the world premiere of my Double Concerto “Streams” for clarinet, basstrombone and 17 instruments has taken place at the closing concert event of the PARMA Music Festival at The Music Hall in Portsmouth NH, USA. The piece played by Matthias Müller, David Taylor and the PARMA Orchestra, conducted by John Page, ended in a longlasting standing ovation! With the words of Bob Lord, CEO of PARMA Recordings: “Everybody was blown away by your music, and the sight of the crowd jumping to their feet for you at the Music Hall is something I won’t soon forget.”
The concert was supported by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. At the same festival there have been further performances of “Puzzle” and “December Rains” as well.

Premiere of Push and Pull (May 2013)
On May 24, 2013 the world premiere of “Push and Pull” for accordion solo, the newest composition by Martin Schlumpf, has taken place. The piece was performed by the Russian accordionist Sergej Tchirkov. Here is the link to the concert-video.

Premiere of Spiegelbilder – Mirror Images (May 2013)
The newest composition by Martin Schlumpf, “Mirror Images” for viola, cello and piano will have its premiere on May 12, 2013 in Lugano and will be played afterwoods in a little Swiss tour under the titel “Schumann in the mirror”  in Zurich (May 14), Basel (May 15) and Geneva (May 16). The piece was commissioned by Jürg Dähler and will be performed by the Swiss Chamber Soloists: Jürg Dähler, viola, Daniel Haefliger, cello, Gilles Vonsattel, piano. Here is the link to the video of the Zurich concert.

Premiere of Dawn (January 2013) Here the link to the video
In beginning December 2012 Martin Schlumpf accomplished his new composition DAWN for SABRe bass clarinet and orchestra. The premiere took place within the context of the 3rd European Clarinet Festival in Ghent, Belgium, on January 20, 2013 with Matthias Müller and the Brussels Philharmonic under Dirk Brossé, sound engineering: Isai Angst.

The Five Points has been published (October 2012)
Between March and October 2012 Martin Schlumpf has written a quintet for clarinet and string quartet entitled “The Five Points” (for Matthias Müller and the Galatea Quartet).
There will be a first concert with “The Five Points” in Zurich on January 20, 2013. The real premiere will take place after recording sessions for the label Neos in fall 2013 at the Tonhalle Zurich.

Recordings of  Puzzle (May 2012)
On May 22, 2012 Martin Schlumpf produced recordings of “Puzzle” for bassclarinet and computer with Matthias Müller as soloist and David Bollinger as tone engineer (ToneControl).

Release of the new CD SUMMER CIRCLE! (May 2012)
As a first result of Martin Schlumpf’s collaboration with PARMA Recordings, New Hampton NH, USA, the CD SUMMER CIRCLE has just been released (distributed by NAXOS). With the three works “December Rains”, “Clarinet Trio” and “Summer Circle” it gives a beautiful overview of Schlumpf’s chamber music production since the 1990s. The performance of the musicians from Boston and Washington DC is excellent, the graphical outfit of the album lures by its harmony of colors. A very special point is the expansion by the “Enhanced Content”: if you place the CD in a computer you will get access to printable scores and score sketches of all compositions, extended liner notes, photos and video etc.
More infos here.

New compositions (October 2011)
For a concert in Zurich, January 20, 2012, Martin Schlumpf is writing a new piece entitled PUZZLE for bassclarinet and computer (Ambisonics). On this occasion Matthias Müller, the clarinet player, will give the first performance of his new electronical SABRE-bassclarinet (Vortragssaal, Zurich University of the Arts).
In addition Schlumpf will write a clarinet quintet for Müller and the Galatea Quartet (Zurich).

New “pulsar_1” CD released (September 2009)
The super audio CD “pulsar_1”, co-produced by tgmusic and ZHdK Records, has been released. It contains three of Martin Schlumpf’s latest compositions: “pulsar_1” (2006-7) for flute, clarinet, accordion, percussion and computer (ambisonics), “Atemspuren” (2005) for bass clarinet and accordion, and “Rattaplasma 2” (2001) for clarinet and computer (ambisonics).

World Première of “pulsar_2” (September 2009)
On 11 September 2009 the Festival of the Arts at the Zurich University of the Arts witnessed the world première of “pulsar_2” for voice, flute, piano and computer (ambisonics). A total of twentyfour loudspeakers encircled the audience, reaching a new level of sophistication in ambient acoustics. Moreover, thanks the musicans Kornelia Bruggmann, Matthias Ziegler, and Roger Girod, improvisation found its way for the first time into the “pulsar” series.

Birthday Concert (December 2007)
Martin Schlumpf’s sixtieth birthday was celebrated on 3 december 2007 with a double concert at the Grand Auditorium of the Zurich University of the Arts. The firs part consisted of students playing works composed exclusively by Martin Schlumpf: “Jeux” for three clarinets (1979), “December Rains” for solo piano (1992-3), and “Frühling” for percussion quartet (1995). The second part featured the casalQUATETT and the improvising musicians Adrian Frey and Martin Schlumpf in a program of string quartets by Janacek and Beethoven, combined with arrangements of Perotin, improvisations, and the second performance of Schlumpf’s “Summer Circle”.
The essay “Konstanz im Wechsel”, written for the occasion by the rector of the Zurich Hochschule of Music and Theater, Daniel Fueter, can be downloaded here.