• Mauricio Kagel
  • Schattenklänge (1995)
    (three pieces for bass clarinet)

  • Henry Litolff’s Verlag GmbH & Co. KG (World)

für Bassklarinette

  • bcl
  • Bass Clarinet
  • 15 min

Programme Note

When I heard this instrument for the first time, it was love at first sight so to speak – as the player in the orchestra pit remained invisible from my standing position.
These tones of dark but always clear color remained unforgettable, suggestive and changeable; even in the extreme pianissimo of great resilience, expressive, compassionate. However, I waited almost a lifetime before I started working on these three pieces. It was as if the voluntary withdrawal would only increase my weakness for the monodic instrument.

One aspect that occupied me intensively during the composition was the creation of transitions. It was about gliding steps between the melodic material and the harmonic fields, which are perceived as virtual chord sequences in the course of events. It was clear to me from the outset that this illusion could only be achieved in part through extreme tempi. Now, harmony is one of the elements of New Music with which the listener still has difficulty. This is certainly understandable, because the composition of chords usually does not obey any obvious tension and relaxation, but rather principles that make the vertical dimension uneven. And last but not least: composers knowingly listen differently ...

M.K.
(Translation by Edition Peters)

Media

Scores

Discography

Schattenklänge for Bass Clarinet

Schattenklänge for Bass Clarinet
  • Label
    Label Musikfabrik
  • Soloist
    Carl Rosman
  • Released
    2nd May 2014