Erhard Grosskopf
b. 1934
German
Summary
Erhard Grosskopf is a freelance composer living in Berlin. His music has been performed at the EXPO’70 in Osaka (Dialectics), by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Hörmusik), at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (Lichtknall), by many radio orchestras in Germany, Canada, and with internationally renowned ensembles and soloists at many events for contemporary music both in Germany and abroad. In the 21st century he wrote, among other works, the orchestral work Pleiades - Seven similar pieces for piano and orchestra in 2002 and KlangWerk 11 for orchestra in 2011. Radio recordings of both works from the Berlin festivals MaerzMusik and Ultraschall were released on CD by NEOS/harmonia mundi in 2018.
Grosskopf’s works are published by Edition Peters, Ricordi (Catalog Rob. Forberg Musikverlag) and Boosey & Hawkes - Bote&Bock. Documents about both his life and work can be found in the archive of the Berlin Academy of the Arts. Erhard Grosskopf is a member of the Berlin Academy of the Arts.
A House for Music
• Composing sound is different from composing with sounds.
• Space for music is created by composing sound.
• Leave space for sound, create space.
In our thoughts about the body and spirit, the body appears to be more distinct, comprehensible, measurable and therefore more real, although the spirit shapes the body just like water and wind shape the Earth. Similarly, the spirit of a work of art can also change us when it touches our souls. Or to put this in another way – as a composer I feel like an architect building a house for music, hoping that music moves into it – not like substance into a form, but rather like the spirit into the soul.
Erhard Grosskopf
Biography
From 1955-1964 Erhard Grosskopf was student in Frankfurt/Main and then in Berlin for composition with Pepping and Blacher. After his studies he taught at the Berlin Conservatory for over two years. He has been a resident at the Villa Massimo in Rome, a tutor at the International Summer Courses at Darmstadt, and worked several times at the Institute for Sonologie of Utrecht University and later at the ZKM Karlsruhe. From 1978-1998 he served as artistic director of the concert series Insel Musik in Berlin. Erhard Grosskopf is member of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin.
His music has been performed at the EXPO ’70 in Osaka (Dialectics), by the Berlin Philharmonic (Hörmusik), at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (Lichtknall), by several radio orchestras in Germany (DSO, RSB, HR, SWR, BR), in Tokyo (NHK), Radio Montreal, and at chamber music events throughout the world.
Among the performers of his music have been: the pianists; Frederic Rzewsky, Ursula Oppens, Marianne Schroeder, Carlos R. Alsina, Aki Takahashi and the Piano Duo Scholz-Persson; the wind players; Eberhard Blum, Hans Deinzer, Vinko Globokar, Michael Riessler, Harry Sparnaay, Roger Heaton, Marcus Weiss; the percussionists; Robyn Schulkowsky, Christian Dierstein; the string quartets; Arditti Quartet, Pellegrini Quartett, Vogler Quartett, Kairos Quartett; the ensembles; ensemble recherche, Ensemble Modern, trio accanto, KNM Berlin; and the conductors; Bruno Maderna, Michael Gielen, Jacques Mercier, Peter Rundel, Vykintas Baltakas, Friedrich Goldmann, Lorraine Vaillancourt, Maki Ishii, Peter Ablinger, Martyn Brabbins, Lucas Vis, Johannes Kalitzke.
Grosskopf has said about his music: “Just as in thoughts on body and spirit, the body appears to be more distinct, more tangible, more measurable and therefore more real, and yet the spirit shapes the body like water and wind shape the sand, so too can the spirit of a work of art change us if it touches our soul. Or to use a different image: as a composer, I am like an architect building a house for music, hoping that music will move into this house – not as content into form but as the spirit into the soul.“ (1988…)
Erhard Grosskopf's works are published by Edition Peters.
https://www.erhardgrosskopf.de