Tilman Hoppstock - I giardini del sogno (Live) (2003/2020)

Publishing a complete guitar CD with works by contemporary composers shows courage and commitment. Tilman Hoppstock, long one of the seasoned concert guitarists in Germany, used a recording of the Darmstadt Days for New Music 2003 for the present CD I Giardini del Sogno. At this opening concert, Hoppstock, who studied at the Akademie für Tonkunst in Darmstadt and teaches there today, presented his dream garden with works by Leo Brouwer, Toru Takemitsu, Alois Bröder, Reginald Smith-Brindle and Karl-Wieland Kurz. In this juxtaposition of familiar and less familiar names, the pieces by well-known composers stand out, above all Takemitsu's delicate Muir Woods from 1971 and Leo Brouwer's homage to Takemitsu Hika. Brouwer's second piece La Espiral Eterna, which he composed during his experimental phase, has a completely different character. The sound-sensitive verses (2002) by Alois Bröder from Darmstadt surprise, if not sustainably, with their simplicity. Hoppstock's undoubtedly outstanding technical skills are required for the demanding fragments by Reginald Smith-Brindle El Polifemo de Oro or for Karl-Wieland Kurz's I Giardini del Sogno. However, it remains unclear why the booklet shows the beginning of the score of a movement for piano - and not for guitar as stated in the text. Track 13 is rather disturbing: a seven-minute work explanation by the composer Karl-Wieland Kurz, who roughly says what is in the booklet. The music is only torn apart unnecessarily.