Chronology
Life and work year by year. Every entry is documented; we welcome additions and corrections.
Filters active
2000s
-
1 April 2000
Premiere of “Zeitraffer”
Klosterneuburg
At the concert “Einkreisung” on Saturday, 1 April 2000, 7.30 pm, at the Schömer-Haus in Klosterneuburg (music series of the Essl Collection, a private museum of contemporary art in Klosterneuburg near Vienna, artistic direction Karlheinz Essl), STUDIO PERCUSSION graz under Günter Meinhart gives the premiere of “Zeitraffer” for percussion ensemble and tape, between Iannis Xenakis' “Perséphassa” and Adriana Hölszky's “Jagt die Wölfe zurück”. The six percussionists stand in an ellipse around the audience. According to Heckel the composer was not present. In his programme note Pepl writes: „Ich bin Kind unsrer Zeit: Zeitraffer ist auch meine Devise.“ [“I am a child of our time: time-lapse is my motto too.”] Real-time composing, his working method, he calls „totale Improvisation im Sog der Geschwindigkeit des Augenblicks“ [“total improvisation in the pull of the speed of the moment”].
Works
-
November 2000
“Zeitraffer” at the Autumn Concerts in Graz
Graz
In November 2000 STUDIO PERCUSSION graz played Pepl’s “Zeitraffer” for percussion ensemble and tape at Berndt Luef’s “Autumn Concerts” at the Forum Stadtpark in Graz (Styria, Austria), alongside works by Adriana Hölszky and Iannis Xenakis. ORF (Austria’s public broadcaster) recorded the concert for its programme “Zeit-Ton”.
Concerts
-
2001
“Light Blues” reissued
Vienna
The CD “Light Blues” by Air Mail was reissued in the series Austrian Jazzart on Universal/EmArcy with two bonus tracks.
Recordings
-
10 August 2001
Death of Werner Pirchner
Innsbruck
The vibraphonist and composer Werner Pirchner, Pepl's partner in the Jazzzwio, died on Friday, 10 August 2001, in Innsbruck (Tyrol, Austria), aged 61.
Life
-
28 July 2002 to 24 August 2002
Muthspiel & Muthspiel play Pepl and Pirchner for the first time
Krems an der Donau
Commissioned by the Glatt & Verkehrt festival (idea: Josef Aichinger) and as part of the campaign “Kunst gegen Gewalt” (Art against violence), Wolfgang Muthspiel and Christian Muthspiel presented their programme with the music of the Jazzzwio on Sunday, 28 July 2002, at 9 pm in the Minoritenkirche in Krems-Stein (Lower Austria, Austria). On Saturday, 24 August 2002, they played it at 3 pm at the 24th International Jazzfestival Saalfelden (Salzburg, Austria). Wolfgang Muthspiel had studied with Pepl in Graz until he moved to Boston in 1986.
Concerts
-
24 November 2002 to 1 December 2002
Muthspiel & Muthspiel play Pepl and Pirchner
Austria
After the premiere in the summer, the brothers Wolfgang Muthspiel and Christian Muthspiel tour Austria in autumn 2002 with the programme “Muthspiel & Muthspiel play Pepl-Pirchner”. It is their tribute to the Jazzzwio and to Werner Pirchner, who died in 2001, and their first engagement with composed material. „Wir werden die Musik in unsere Sprache zu übersetzen versuchen“ [“We will try to translate the music into our own language”], says Wolfgang Muthspiel. Besides pieces from the three Jazzzwio LPs, unreleased material and their own compositions inspired by Pirchner and Pepl are planned. According to the Edition Werner Pirchner calendar, the tour ran from 24 November to 1 December 2002 to Oberwart, Vienna (Porgy & Bess), Hallein, Wels, Hall in Tirol, Dornbirn and Deutschlandsberg; further concerts followed from 2003 to 2006, including at the Treibhaus Innsbruck and the Glass Hall of the Vienna Musikverein (2005).
Concerts
-
2003
Two Goodman and Jazzzwio releases
Vienna
In 2003 the concert recording “Live at Miles Smiles” was released in the series Austrian Jazzart, along with the CD/DVD “Farewell” with Benny Goodman, recorded at the Tivoli (amusement park and concert venue) in Copenhagen.
Recordings
-
22 January 2003
Wolfgang Muthspiel Trio pays tribute to Pepl in Dornbirn
Dornbirn
The trio of Wolfgang Muthspiel with Marc Johnson and Brian Blade opened the spring programme of “Jazz&”, as the jazz series of the Spielboden is called, at the Spielboden in Dornbirn (Vorarlberg, Austria), on Wednesday, 22 January 2003, playing standards, pieces by Thelonious Monk and Vince Mendoza and music by his teacher Pepl. According to the Vorarlberger Nachrichten the band was warming up for its next record; in 2004 the same line-up released “Air, Love & Vitamins”.
Concerts
-
20 November 2003 to 22 November 2003
Muthspiel & Muthspiel: 20 years as a duo with the music of the Jazzzwio
Vienna
In the twentieth year of their duo, Wolfgang and Christian Muthspiel played the music of the Jazzzwio together with Pirchner’s film “Der Untergang des Alpenlandes”: on 20 November 2003 at the Porgy & Bess in Vienna (Der Standard gives the 21st), at the Graz jazz club M59, where they had heard the Jazzzwio as listeners some 25 years earlier, and on Saturday, 22 November 2003, at the Treibhaus in Innsbruck (Tyrol, Austria).
Concerts
-
2004
Wolfgang Muthspiel: “Air, Love & Vitamins”
Pepl's student Wolfgang Muthspiel released an album on Quinton Records with Marc Johnson and Brian Blade, with Pepl's composition as the title piece. The “Schönberg Improvations” were reissued in the same year on Universal/EmArcy.
Recordings
-
5 August 2004 to 8 August 2004
Creation of “Dedicated to Michel Noiret's Stockhausen”
Hernstein
Between 5 and 8 August 2004 Pepl recorded the piece, inspired by an ARTE film about the dancer Michèle Noiret, with drums, a double bass sample and electric guitar. It was not released until 2020, on “Volume One”.
Recordings
-
17 September 2004
“Habanero-Slide-Show” at the Blue Tomato, Vienna
Vienna
First performance of music by the Lonely Single Swinger Band with live musicians and photos by Rainer Rygalyk. Pepl was present at the concerts.
Concerts
-
4 November 2004
Salzburger Jazzherbst
Salzburg
At the ninth Salzburger Jazzherbst (jazz festival in Salzburg, Austria), Rainer Rygalyk and Harry Pepl presented their “Habanero” slide show on Thursday, 4 November 2004, at 7.30 pm in the ORF regional studio in Salzburg (Nonntal), in a double bill with the Gerald Preinfalk Trio. Lorenz Raab, Wolfgang Schiftner and Clemens Salesny played live to Pepl's recordings in front of photos by Rainer Rygalyk. There is no live recording, because Pepl rejected an unpaid ORF (Austria's public broadcaster) broadcast. At the rehearsal Pepl explained his music and his concepts to the three young musicians; Clemens Salesny later became the central figure of the Lonely Single Swinger Band's live performances.
Harry Pepl explains his music: rehearsal at the Salzburger Jazzherbst 2004Photo: Rainer Rygalyk Concerts
-
10 September 2005
60th birthday
A few months before his death, Pepl celebrated his 60th birthday and, according to Rainer Rygalyk, still had much planned.
Life
-
5 December 2005
Death of Harry Pepl
Wiener Neustadt
Harry Pepl died on Monday 5 December 2005, aged 60, in Wiener Neustadt. Several obituaries give Vienna as the place of death; Jazz thing gives 6 December.
Life
-
12 December 2005
Funeral in Hernstein
Hernstein
On Monday, 12 December 2005, Harry Pepl lay in state in the parish church of Hernstein (Lower Austria, Austria) and was buried in Hernstein cemetery after a requiem mass, in the presence of many people from the jazz community.
Life
-
15 December 2005
Ö1 “Spielräume”: “Im Gegenwind. Erinnerungen an Harry Pepl”
On Thursday, 15 December 2005, at 5.30 pm, Ö1 (ORF’s cultural radio station) remembered Harry Pepl with Giselher Smekal in its “Spielräume” series (the title means “Against the wind. Memories of Harry Pepl”). On 6 December the 7 am Ö1 Morgenjournal had already broadcast an obituary by Wolfgang Bilek.
Media
-
19 March 2006
JazzWerkstatt Wien: In memoriam Harry Pepl
Vienna
At the second festival of the JazzWerkstatt Wien at the WUK in Vienna, the evening of 19 March 2006 was dedicated to the memory of Harry Pepl and Bumi Fian, with guests such as Wolfgang Puschnig, Wolfgang Reisinger and Raphael Preuschl. The JazzWerkstatt had been founded in 2004 by, among others, Clemens Wenger, Clemens Salesny, Wolfgang Schiftner and Daniel Riegler.
Concerts
-
27 April 2006 to 23 July 2006
Christian Muthspiel Trio plays Pepl and Pirchner
Graz
On the third evening of the GrazJazz 2006 festival (“Heimspiel”) at the Orpheum, a concert venue, in Graz (Styria, Austria), Christian Muthspiel honoured Pirchner and Pepl with his new trio featuring Franck Tortiller and Georg Breinschmid. In the summer the trio played at the Stadttheater in Gmunden (Salzkammergut Festwochen, Friday, 21 July 2006) and in the Minoritenkirche in Krems-Stein (Glatt & Verkehrt, Sunday, 23 July 2006), each time with Pirchner’s film “Der Untergang des Alpenlandes”.
Concerts
-
September 2006
Nikolaus Kohler's diploma thesis
Vienna
At the University of Vienna, Nikolaus Kohler submitted the first detailed academic study of Pepl, supervised by Regine Allgayer-Kaufmann.
Media
-
18 November 2006
First Harry Pepl Prize awarded in Graz
Graz
At the 14th Austrian Soundcheck (festival in Graz) at the Studentenhaus Münzgraben, the Jazzkartell Graz (gamsbART, Graz concert promoter) awarded the Harry Pepl Prize for the first time, for musicians under 30, a scholarship of 5,000 euros from the City of Graz. The print editions of the Kronen Zeitung and the Kleine Zeitung, a daily newspaper from Graz, from 13 to 20 November 2006 confirm 18 November. Heckel dates the founding of the prize to 2009, which contemporary sources refute. The first winner is the saxophonist Wolfgang Schiftner, co-founder of the JazzWerkstatt Wien.
Honours
-
6 December 2006
“A Tribute to Harry Pepl” at the Porgy & Bess
Vienna
On Wednesday 6 December 2006, Lorenz Raab and Raphael Preuschl, the Andy Manndorff Trio, the Koehne Quartet and Peter Ponger played at the Porgy & Bess (Vienna jazz club) in Vienna. The concert films of Goodman 1980 and of the Jazzzwio in Montreux 1981 were shown; the proceeds went to the estate administration.
Honours
-
9 December 2006
Ö1 Jazznacht with unreleased recordings
About a year after Pepl’s death, Christian Bakonyi presented him in largely unreleased recordings in the Ö1 Jazznacht (all-night jazz programme on ORF’s cultural radio station) from 11.05 pm; the studio guest was his son Daniel Pepl. The Wiener Zeitung, the Vienna daily founded in 1703, announced the broadcast on 7 and 9 December 2006 for Saturday night. A recording survives in the family on CD.
Media
-
2007
Christian Muthspiel: “Against the Wind”
Christian Muthspiel released a tribute album with the music of Werner Pirchner, the Austrian composer and vibraphonist, and Harry Pepl on Universal/EmArcy.
Recordings
-
22 January 2007 to 17 June 2009
“Against the Wind” live: prize concert and tour
Vienna
On Monday, 22 January 2007, Christian Muthspiel celebrated the Austrian Prize of Merit for Music 2006 at the Porgy & Bess, the city’s best-known jazz club, in Vienna with his trio and the music of Pirchner and Pepl. The programme “Against the Wind” then toured until 2009, including the Spielboden in Dornbirn (13 April 2007), the Forum Kloster in Gleisdorf (30 May 2007), the Stadttheater in Wiener Neustadt (June 2007), the Posthof in Linz (25 September 2007), Mariahof (29 September 2007), the Generalmusikdirektion in Graz (1 October 2007), the Kunsthaus in Mürzzuschlag (5 October 2007), the Oval in Salzburg (30 January 2008), the Moods jazz club in Zurich, Switzerland (31 January 2008), the Amthof in Feldkirchen in Carinthia (18 May 2008), Lunz am See (25 July 2008), Rottenmann (4 March 2009), Amstetten (5 March 2009), Lienz (21 March 2009) and the Treibhaus in Innsbruck (17 June 2009), all in Austria unless stated otherwise.
Concerts
-
13 March 2007
Deutschlandfunk “Milestones”
The Deutschlandfunk (Germany's national public radio station) broadcast the series “Milestones, Klassiker der Jazzgeschichte” on Harry Pepl in its late-night radio programme, with Montreux 81, the ECM (the renowned European jazz label) trio and Air Mail.
Media
-
July 2007 to November 2008
Daniel Pepl prepares the Jazzzwio release
Vienna
Between summer 2007 and autumn 2008, Daniel Pepl mastered and edited the recordings from Montreux and Innsbruck for release in January 2009. He was supported by Heimo Steps, Gerhard Kosel and Universal Music.
Estate
-
22 November 2007 to 6 December 2007
Wolfgang Schiftner: “FM-Syndrom, A Tribute to Harry Pepl”
Graz
On Thursday, 22 November 2007, the first Harry Pepl Prize winner Wolfgang Schiftner presented his Harry Pepl programme “FM-Syndrom” at the 17th Austrian Soundcheck (festival in Graz, Austria) at the Generalmusikdirektion in Graz; it bears the title of Pepl’s piece “FM Syndrom”. On 6 December 2007, two years after Pepl’s death, he played at the “Tribute to Harry Pepl” at the Porgy & Bess, the city’s best-known jazz club, in Vienna, where Wolfgang Mitterer also performed.
Concerts
-
2008
Wolfgang Schalk dedicates “And Harry Said Goodbye” to Pepl
Los Angeles
On his album “Wanted” (Frame Up Music), released in 2008 and recorded in Los Angeles, USA, with Geoffrey Keezer and Marvin “Smitty” Smith, the Styrian guitarist Wolfgang Schalk dedicates the piece “And Harry Said Goodbye” to Pepl. All About Jazz, the US online jazz magazine, reviews the album in September 2008 and singles out the ballad; on Friday, 20 February 2009, Die Presse, a Vienna daily, calls it particularly beautiful. Schalk’s Graz teacher Franz J. Posch had once drawn his attention to Pepl.
Media
-
17 November 2008
18th Austrian Soundcheck: award ceremony and CD/DVD presentation
Graz
On Monday 17 November 2008, the CD and DVD “Pepl/Pirchner Jazzzwio live in Montreux und Innsbruck” were presented in Graz and the Harry Pepl Prize was awarded. The winner is the trombonist and composer Daniel Riegler, leader of the ensemble Studio Dan and co-founder of the JazzWerkstatt Wien.
Honours
-
January 2009
“Live In Concerts” released
Vienna
The 1981 Montreux live recording, together with the 1984 Innsbruck recording and video, was released on Universal/EmArcy as CD and DVD. It was reviewed by Kurier, Kronen Zeitung, Austria’s largest-circulation daily, and Concerto.
Recordings
