Projects
Views from Ararat
For many years Rebekka Hartmann has shared a profound chamber music friendship with the pianist Margarita Oganesjan. The Hartmann-Oganesjan Duo has performed at concerts all over the world.
Their CD “Views from Ararat” released by the Farao Classics label in April, 2015, is a masterly achievement in two respects. Firstly, the classical music of Turkish and Armenian composers seems to have been made to measure for the two musicians, doubtless because of their Eastern roots. And secondly, their artistic concept has resulted in an album that makes a strong musical statement in the face of the smouldering political conflict at the foot of the Biblical mountain.
Rebekka Hartmann & Peter Ludwig
IN OTHER SPHERES, KEEPING AN EYE ON THE WORLD
In November 2021, I received a message from a violinist who I knew by name but didn’t know personally. But she knew my music and to get straight to the point: she really wanted to play my music with me. Tango, waltzes, bossa nova, fantasies, improvisations, wild stuff and melancholic songs without words. When we first met at my grand piano, we were on formal terms and after playing for two hours, we knew everything essential about each other. She didn’t speak Finnish and I didn’t speak Arabic, but even if we had, it wouldn’t have changed anything. As a composer, I had repeatedly withdrawn into myself for decades to write down what seemed important to me. When she played my pieces, I felt recognized and realized that the language of music is probably the only one to which lies are foreign. Rebekka Hartmann is not only able to deliver the most technically demanding parts flawlessly, but also has the gift of amazement for her listeners, including the composer. And amazement is the state that took us as children into worlds that our everyday lives could not even compare to.
Vita brevis, ars longa
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/947983715
JAHRESZEITEN Suite für Violine und Klavier in 12 Teilen