Birger PetersenDEATH-ZONE WARM PASTA SALAD
Birger writes: Even though it’s called "warm", this pasta salad can also be eaten cold, and a day later you can simply gratinate it with cheese. Above all, however, it can be prepared very quickly and is perfect before or after a concert, especially in the "death zone" after a rehearsal and before the evening performance.
INGREDIENTS
METHOD
"Death Zone" pasta
|
Birger Petersen
(Photo: Vincent Leifer)
The general idea: After many years on various organ benches in northern Germany, Birger Petersen has been Professor of Music Theory at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz since 2011 – surrounded by vineyards and sausages.
The detail: Prof. Birger Petersen (*1972) studied music theory, composition, musicology, theology and philosophy in Lübeck and Kiel; in 2001 he received his PhD at Kiel University. In addition to his teaching activities in Lübeck, Bremen, Herford, Greifswald and Osnabrück, Birger Petersen was an organist in Eutin. He taught at the Rostock University of Music and Drama (2008 appointment as professor); since 2011 university professor for music theory at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. Birger Petersen is Senior Fellow of the Gutenberg Academy and was Vice-Rector in 2014 and Rector of the School of Music Mainz from 2015 to 2017. In 2017/2018 he worked as a Senior Fellow at the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald
Birger writes:
The performance of an organ composition by Johann Sebastian Bach can generally present difficulties insofar as the independence of the pedal part demands quite advanced playing skills. (Surprisingly, this applies to large parts of organ literature, whether from the 17th or 19th century ...) Drinking wine, especially Rhine wine, can only help to a limited extent, as I discovered when I was still serving as a cantor and organist in northern Germany – but it can also lead to phenomenal performances, as I learned at a concert in Eutin in Holstein. (Admittedly, a decent Christian does not drink wine during Passiontide, but as a church musician I am not a decent Christian by profession.) So in the "death zone" between rehearsal with my choir and the Passion concert in the late afternoon, I had one, maybe two glasses of wine with my pasta salad. Maybe three. During the concert in which I had little to contribute (mainly continuo playing) I then managed to start the pedal part in Bach’s Leipzig chorale arrangement O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig BWV 656 at bar 98 instead of bar 97 – and then to play the pedal bass consistently and from sight, offset by one bar until the end. It sounded strange. To be honest, I tried it again the very next day when I was sober – without success. And I’ve been trying to recreate that particular effect for years now. I could imagine that one or two organ works that I don’t like (perhaps because I don’t understand them) could be significantly improved in this way ... In the meantime, the conditions have probably changed, especially as I have been working in the best wine-growing region in the world for 13 years and my wine consumption has changed accordingly. Websites: Hochschule für Musik Mainz
and Research |
