Frei: Zwei Gespräche (Klostermann Essay)

Wolfgang Rihm is undoubtedly the most versatile, imaginative and prolific composer of the present day. His seemingly inexhaustible work is realized in a wide variety of musical genres, be it chamber music or opera, music for the large orchestra or song. Peter Trawny, who has followed Rihm's work closely since the 1980s, visited Rihm in Karlsruhe to discuss with him questions of aesthetics, music history, and life in general. In these discussions it becomes clear again and again what Rihm understands by "musical freedom". Freedom is par excellence the space and time in which works of art can be created; considering the limitations that artistic creation has to deal with today, a definition such as this borders on the provocative.