Melodien (1993)
(for carillion)

The invitation from de Ysbreker to write melody signals for the carillon of the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam and the DomKerk in Utrecht really fired my imagination. The commission was really unusual for a composer who is used to taking his time when presenting his acoustic ideas. The signals would be allowed to sound for a maximum of 45 seconds at quarter-hour intervals (but for several months in a row).

Carillons are indeed extraordinary musical machines that house technology that is both antediluvian and cutting-edge. The famous illustration from Athanasius Kirchner's Musurgia universalis from 1650 looks like drawings by Max Ernst from the 1920s. Stimulating bells by remote control borders on a poetic act. With these thoughts in mind, I set to work composing different melodies for each carillon. In my imagination, one day it will be possible to hear the sounds of the DomKerk in Amsterdam and the Oude Kerk in Utrecht.
E si non è vero: è ben trovato.

M.K.
(Translation by Edition Peters)