Oxymoron (Music for Tirol) (2003)
(for ensemble)

Oxymoron for large ensemble was commissioned by the "Klangspuren" festival in Schwaz, Tyrol, in 2003. In this one-movement piece, which is rich in form, Tüür's integral, strictly formal way of composing is very clearly revealed in the course of the "vectorial" technique. In layered string formations, for example, one could recognise influences from the Polish school of composers of the 1960s, but such passages are precisely (i.e. "traditionally") notated by Tüür and, in their chiselled quality, are also somewhat reminiscent of the micropolyphony of György Ligeti, who was also a meticulous composer with a systematic approach based on detail. Towards the end, the sound events condense in an almost "finalistic" manner, with brilliant winds and a carpet of sound formed by arpeggiating strings. This music ends surprisingly quietly with a piano garland. In the nevertheless rather loose structure of this piece, which alludes in its title to the "impossible" union of opposites (i.e. to "violent gentleness" or "loose firmness"), Tüür's music nevertheless approaches the "free" pole of his sense of form, which can realise itself unchallenged from an inexhaustible capacity for language.