Szenario (1981)
(for string orchestra and tape)

This composition was commissioned by Swiss television for the soundtrack to the silent film “Un Chien Andalou” (1928) by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí. The title of the film in particular inspired me to choose the final cast for my piece. By taking Un Chien Andalou literally, as if the ominous dog were a central subject of the cinematic anecdote, I tried to recreate a plot as surrealistic as Buñuel and Dalí did in naming their work. In contrast to the use of my tape, where a composite of solo dog sounds is audible, the inclusion of the string orchestra serves as a tactful, traditional sound source. In doing so, I aimed for a musical form that is initially reminiscent of a symphonic poem or a concerto grosso, but on careful listening confronts the independent parallel course of a piece of absolute music for strings with a series of concrete events over loudspeakers. An ostinato on the alternating notes E and F in the low register of the cellos and double basses runs through the piece from the beginning until shortly before the end. This motif is constantly varied in articulation and timbre, in sections of different lengths. The frequent changes of stroke types and the different bow and finger pressure of the ostinato are supported by wide-ranging chords and noisy accents in the remaining strings.

Buñuel himself accompanied the first public screening of the film with records of very different provenance: alternating between excerpts from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and Argentinian tangos. At two points in my composition I paid homage to this adventurous setting. At one point, I quote the first four chords from the prelude to Tristan; towards the end, a tango that I wrote on my own theme sounds timidly.

M.K.
(Translation by Edition Peters)