Irvine Arditti, Gianluca Pirisi: Fremde Szenen

The Strad Issue: December 2025

Description: Blistering conviction marks out this Rihm tribute

Musicians: Irvine Arditti (violin) Gianluca Pirisi (cello) Roberta Pandolfi (piano)

Works: Rihm: Fremde Szenen nos.1–3; Antlitz

Catalogue number: ODRADEK RECORDS ODRCD456

By his own account, Karlsruhe-born Wolfgang Rihm – one of Europe’s most respected senior composers, who died last year – wrote music whose distinctive blend of emotional intensity and intellectual complexity made it a sometimes thorny, uncompromising listen, and which might require several encounters before its secrets began to open up.

That said, there’s plenty that’s immediately compelling in this collection of his three Fremde Szenen (literally ‘Foreign Scenes’) for piano trio from the early 1980s, which grapple with and mull over Rihm’s enduring love for Schumann in music that occasionally strays daringly close to that of the earlier composer, without ever quoting it verbatim. They make for an attention-grabbing collection, from the sonic abstractions of no.1 via the almost camp humour of no.2 – which most overtly references Schumann’s sound world – and the austere, hushed nocturnal mutterings of the valedictory no.3.

If the pieces raise questions about new and old music, respect for and rejection of tradition, then they receive superbly committed performances from violinist and new music authority Irvine Arditti – on blisteringly form – and two younger Italian performers. Cellist Gianluca Pirisi matches Arditti’s subtleties and insights in gloriously agile, adaptable playing, while pianist Roberta Pandolfi brings both subtle nuance and immense force to Rihm’s piano writing. The later violin-and-piano Antlitz (‘Countenance’) is a study in restraint and sonic detail from Arditti and Pandolfi. A thoroughly engaging, rewarding release, captured in close, warm sound.

DAVID KETTLE