Fascinating decay

The German neo-expressionist composer Wolfgang Rihm has written a new piano concerto, which was premiered at the Salzburg Festival this summer by body builder Tzimon Barto and controversial conductor Chris Esch:

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010190552011

Rihm produced a painful, calm lament in an idiom à la Alban Berg, but with a personal touch, harking back to the early 20th century, lovingly caressing a dying late romanticism. The piece has the colours and smells of dead flowers, autumnal graveyards, and old photographs of Vienna. A remarkable and beautiful admission of regret and loss of a classical tradition.