Gielen, Michael (Andreas)

(b Dresden, 20 July 1927). Austrian conductor and composer. A son of the producer Josef Gielen and nephew of Steuermann, he studied the piano and composition with Erwin Leuchter in Buenos Aires (1942--9) and with Polnauer in Vienna (1950--53). He began his career in Buenos Aires as a pianist (during 1949 he performed Schoenberg's complete piano works) and as a repetiteur at the Teatro Colon (until 1950). From 1951 to 1960 he was repetiteur and conductor at the Vienna Staatsoper, and during this period he conducted radio and concert performances of contemporary music, including works of his own. He was principal conductor at the Royal Opera of Stockholm from 1960 until 1965, when he left for Cologne; there he was responsible for the premiere of Zimmermann's Die Soldaten (1965). In 1969 he was appointed principal conductor of the Belgian National Orchestra, in 1973 principal conductor of the Netherlands Opera, and in 1977 director of opera at Frankfurt, a post he held until 1987. From 1978 to 1981 Gielen was chief guest conductor of the BBC SO, and from 1980 to 1986 music director of the Cincinnati SO. In 1986 he became chief conductor of the SWF SO, Baden-Baden, and the following year was appointed professor of conducting at the Salzburg Mozarteum. During the 1990s he developed a close relationship with both the Berlin SO and the Berlin Staatsoper, and in 1995 made his Salzburg Festival debut with Lulu.

Gielen's performances are marked by a sharp, analytic intellect, coupled with an ability to present music with force and vitality. His facility in mastering complex avant-garde scores has earned him a high reputation in this field; he has been involved in many first performances (including those of Ligeti's Requiem, Stockhausen's Carre, Zimmermann's Requiem fur einen jungen Dichter and Henze's Dramatische Szenen aus 'Orpheus') and has recorded works by Kagel, Ligeti, Nono, Zimmermann and many others. Of earlier 20th-century music, he has been most associated with Mahler, Schoenberg, Berg and Webern, making the first commercial stereo recording of Moses und Aron in 1974. He has also given distinctive performances of works from the Romantic and Classical periods and has recorded a Beethoven symphony cycle with the SWF SO; his operatic repertory includes Mozart and Wagner, as well as Falstaff, to which he brings a Toscaninian dry brilliance and clarity.

In Gielen's earlier compositions, the influence of the Second Viennese School is strong. For example, the Vier Gedichte von Stefan George have quite patent serial structures, in which the range of harmony is firmly restricted, somewhat in the manner of Webern, while the orchestration owes much to Schoenberg's op.22; the use of George texts, too, is obviously significant. In later works Gielen has absorbed the techniques and aesthetics of more recent music.

WORKS
(selective list)
Variationen, str qt, 1949; 4 Gedichte von Stefan George, chorus, 19 insts, 1955--8; Variationen, 40 insts, 1959; Ein Tag tritt hervor (Neruda), Pentaphonie, obbl pf, vib, mar, elec gui, hmn, ondes martenot, 5 qnts, 1960--63; die glocken sind auf falscher spur (H. Arp), melodramas and interludes, female v, speaker, vc, gui, pf, perc, hmn, tapes, 1967--9; Einige Schwierigkeiten bei der Uberwindung der Angst, orch, 1976; Un vieux souvenir, str qt, 1983
Principal publishers: Gerig, Universal

BIBLIOGRAPHY
M. Eggert and H.-K. Jungheinrich: Durchbruche: 10 Jahre Musiktheater mit Michael Gielen (Weinheim, 1987)
J. Fruchtl: 'Avancierte Musik ist von den Menschen weit entfernt', Geist gegen den Zeitgeist: Erinnern an Adorno, ed. J. Fruchtl and M. Calloni (Frankfurt, 1991), 136--49 [interview with Gielen]
M. Gielen and P. Fiebig: Beethoven im Gesprach: die neun Sinfonien (Stuttgart, 1995)
P. Fiebig, ed.: Michael Gielen: Dirigent Komponist, Zeitgenosse (Stuttgart, 1997) [incl. discography]
 

WOLFRAM SCHWINGER/MARTIN ELSTE