ab tasten / three pianos
drumming
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As a result of the fascination the unmuted decay of the piano sound
held for me, the fading string vibration became the focus of "ab
tasten". In each sound of this piece at least one tone fades away
unmuted. |
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I also decided to take a
given fact (the different fading times: the higher a tone, the shorter it
sounds) to form the basis of the music’s temporal organisation. The
respective unmuted string determines the overall duration of the sound and as
a result, the timing of the composed "muting activities". |
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Having each sound followed
by a pause of possibly equal weight is a formal concept I have used in many
of my compositions since1995. Each sound stands alone, is a "piece"
of music in its own right, an autonomous "image", an individual,
that may be perceived in its entire appearance from sounding to dying away.
The order of the sounds may be chosen by the musicians themselves. |
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In "ab tasten" I
discovered my interest for the moment the sound falls silent, dies away. I
noticed, that at some point it is not longer possible to asses whether the
strings are still vibrating audibly, or whether it is only the image of the
sound which is still in the mind. A sound has a beginning, an existence and
an end. These parts, though, cannot be clearly divided: we cannot really say
where the beginning is, where beginning turns into continuity, where
continuity becomes an ending, where the end is. |
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In "three pianos
drumming" from 1999, which I wrote for PianoInsideOut (Reinhold
Friedl, Michael Iber, Yunkyung Lee), on the other hand, the piano is used
only as a percussion instrument. In three of the Steinway D grand pianos of
Sender Freies Berlin the same bass string was taped with adhesive tape,
strongly and lastingly muting the string. By this treatment the hammer
beating of the piano becomes clearly audible. The piano is treated as what it
is in terms of its sound production: as a "hammering machine". |
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Hearing recordings of still
existing hunter and gatherer cultures, I kept hearing rhythms which were pure
pulse. These musics – no matter from which region of the earth – refrain from
any conscious accentuation or division of rhythmic units. To me, this seemed
to be an archetype of rhythm, some sort of nucleus to every rhythmic music,
in which the hypnotic power of these first man made time forms makes itself
felt. |
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In "three pianos
drumming" the performers determine a set of parameters (dynamics,
tempo, pitch) within a given range and stick to these for the entire piece. |
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Each part has its own
sequence of beats and pauses, allowing for the emergence of very subtle
spaces and microrhythms between the pianos. |
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What fascinates me about
this piece (and also its successor, "drumming for one to many
percussionists"), is that it remains the same piece, regardless of
whether it is played pianissimo or forte, no matter which tempo between 30
and 120 b.p.m is used. or what order of pages the players select. Different
versions take on very different "expressive qualities". To me, it
seemed very important for my development to have composed a piece which
allows for a strong expressive power, without me as a composer having
provided it with expression. |
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Burkhard Schlothauer |
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