Track Listing

1. Chiffre I, for piano & 7 instruments
2. Chiffre II, for 14 players
3. Chiffre III, for 12 players
4. Chiffre IV, for bass clarinet, cello & piano
5. Chiffre V, for orchestra
6. Applause

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #346130 in Music
• Released on: 2006-06-20
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

Customer Reviews

Chiffre-Zyklus -- The Cipher Cycle
Wolfgang Rihm is one of the best contemporary composers, but his music presents numerous obstacles for his erstwhile listeners. Though his compositional output is vast, little of it has been recorded. I didn't immediately take to Rihm, partly because I didn't find his best works first, but this 2-disc set is superb.

The CHIFFRE-ZYKLUS (Cipher Cycle) brings together 10 short works for chamber ensemble, mainly composed between 1982 and 1985, though the last piece was revised in 2004. They form a series, using related materials, and are here presented as a continuous cycle, performed live on March 14, 2004 by the musikFabrik ensemble, conducted by Stefan Asbury. There are clear parallels to the later JAGDEN UND FORMEN, which also represented the "final" stage of development of a series of smaller works, and which is also an engaging work with a headlong forward momentum. CHIFFRE-ZYKLUS has a distinctive galloping rhythm, convulsive, propulsive and relentless, driven by the piano.

The musikFabrik ensemble is composed of six strings, four woodwinds, four horns, piano, and two percussionists. Of the ten Ciphers, only three [Chiffre V, Chiffre VII and Nacht-Schrift (eine Chiffre)] feature the entire ensemble. The others are for smaller units of 14, 12, 9 or 8 instruments, with Chiffre I featuring piano and seven instruments, and Chiffre IV for only bass clarinet, cello and piano.

Rihm's music in sui generis. He has described CHIFFRE-ZYKLUS as involving "attempts to find a musical language free of prescribed sequential and elaborative procedures. What is involved is the free setting of the individual event, not caused, without consequence in the stricter sense -- the free procreation of an imagination space; the quest for sound objects, for sound signs, a sound writing (quoted in the liner notes by Andreas Gunther). This musical anarchism has no system to ensure any sort of formal "success" through inter-subjective consensus. Of course this is true of the avant-garde in general, but Rihm is an extreme case in his rejection of all trends and forms.

A brief note on one of the Ciphers, Bild (eine Chiffre), which was commissioned for use as accompaniment to the 1928 Buis Bunuel/Salvador Dali film "Un chien andalou." Rihm sees his music as free-standing, and in any event could scarcely be program music for a film which is a surrealist series of images with no linear narrative structure.

Finally, it seems as though Wolfgang Rihm may be receiving his due outside Germany as some key works are documented. The Hanssler label is leading the way with its Rihm-Edition, which has now released Volumes One, Two, and Three -- see my reviews.

I now consider Rihm to be one of THE 12 BEST LATE 20TH/21ST CENTURY COMPOSERS (see my list). And see my WOLFGANG RIHM: A LISTENER'S GUIDE for more recommendations and reviews.

A handful of engaging pieces, but the cycle runs out of steam
The German composer Wolfgang Rihm has long been known as a passionate rewriter of his own works. His pieces go through myriad revisions without stabilising, and he's happy to create whole new pieces from elements of old ones, a technique often compared to overpainting. One of his vastest rewriting projects is the CHIFFRE-ZYKLUS ("Cipher Cycle"), a series of ten pieces written from 1982 to 1988 for anywhere from three to 21 performers. This CPO 2-CD set brings us the complete cycle performed by musikFrabik and Stefan Asbury.

Most of the elements common to the entire cycle are set out in "Chiffre I" (1982): a piercing rising interval, hammering cadences on the piano mainly at high register, and a little cello gesture. While Rihm mainly writes in a neo-expressionist vein, constantly flowing and full of rich instability, the elements he sets own here show him approaching the musique concrete instrumentale of Helmut Lachenmann. Indeed, the following "Silence to be beaten (Chifree II)" (1983) strips away much sense of flow and presents instrumental gestures in isolation. The title refers to a moment where the conductor must beat time even though all remains silent.

The collection really peaks with "Chiffre III", where there's a funny battle between whistle and drum. Unfortunately, most of the remaining pieces continue Rihm's interest in silence, to the point they no longer seem substantial works. Even on repeated listening I just didn't think there was much there there. Only at the halfway point with the colourful "Bild (eine Chiffre)" and at the end with the frenetic "Nacht-Schrift (Eine Chiffre)" do we return to engaging music. I'm therefore hesitant to recommend this disc to all but Rihm completists. You can hear the first two Chiffre pieces on an excellent Kairos disc. Other good introduction to this generally fantastic composer are the massive orchestral work JAGDEN UND FORMEN (on a DG disc) and three of his string quartets (on Naive/Montaigne).

These are live recordings, but the sound quality is very high and I didn't notice their live nature until a lone cough towards the end of the disc.

So you were wondering where German expressionism went...
This is not shy music. Rihm has not created a sound world that the initiate must find his way into. This is a sound world that reaches out and whacks you. The cycle evolved from what had been a standalone piece (Chiffre 1). Over more than a decade, it grew into a suite of ten pieces with varied instrumentation. The generative material is immediately obvious: a triplet pattern of repeated notes, played fortissimo on piano. This material appears in various guises throughout the cycle. It is not hard to hear how this music evolves and feeds on itself.

In this music, there is little in the way of development--at least little that is familiar. Instead there are overlapping blocks of textures, perhaps a little reminiscent of Varese. Rihm uses the full dynamic range available. This may be exemplified best in the second movement, punctuated by long stretches with only a pianissimo string harmonic or just the whiff of maracas. The listener is tempted to turn up the volume in order to hear this quiet detail. Careful about that. A crescendo roll on bass drum is the only warning that we're about to return to the percussive brutality that marks much of the piece.

The overall impression lies somewhere between a set of variations and a through-composed piece. After listening several times, I'm not convinced that it works as a large form--it would be too easy to change the order of pieces without breaking it--but it still presents some great ideas. Rihm is skillful at combining instruments, only utilizing a full tutti when absolutely necessary.

The performance itself is remarkable. It is a live performance (with a very well-behaved audience). I don't know if it's from a single evening or is patched together from multiple performances, but it is consistent in sound and has the tangible benefit of having been performed from beginning to end. Stefan Asbury and musicFabrik play at a consistently high level with unflagging energy. I would love to have been there the night of the performance.