Ulrich Schultheiß
*1956
World premiere: 7 May 1988, Zurich, Tonhalle
Camerata Zurich | Räto Tschupp
Duration: 11 minutes
Publisher: C. F. Peters
Down East was composed in 1984/85 during a journey through the USA. ‘Down East’ refers to a region in the New England states.
The string symphony is conservative in style, in four movements – Molto espressivo – Scherzo – Poème – Presto – and is influenced by impressions from the journey and encounters with the music of the late 19th and 20th centuries in the USA.
Bertold Hummel was very fond of this composition, even though at the time I discussed its “simplicity” of style quite critically with him. As early as the beginning of 1985, I planned to dedicate this work to him for his 60th birthday in November 1985. The third movement then also serves as the connecting element to the 2nd String Symphony “Poème”, which was composed in 1994. This 1st String Symphony was premiered in 1988 in the version for 13 strings at the Tonhalle in Zurich by the Camerata Zürich under Räto Tschupp. Further significant performances took place in Lviv (Ukraine), Minsk (Belarus) and St Petersburg. Down East has been published by C.F. Peters since 1987, in versions for 13 solo strings and for string orchestra.
Ulrich Schultheiss
