Klaviersonate Nr.5

In 2022, when the war in Ukraine began, the first picture I saw was of a child. The child's face was mutilated because it had been hit by some kind of bullet. At first, I thought it was a boy, but several days later I saw an older photo of the child and realized it was a girl. The shock was indeed tremendous and the first image stayed with me. So, I started to write something musical about this picture but it was disastrously bad and unrealistic in relation to the picture. There were many attempts in 2022 and 2023 but they were all nowhere near enough to print the image that had been fixed in my head in the meantime. I asked myself why I couldn't musically express the feelings of an image that had become a part of my life and what this image actually meant to me. The realization was hard. I'm sitting in a warm living room, I live in peace, I have food and drink and I want to write a piece about war and peace? And with checks and corrections? What do I want to control and correct? That's not possible, it would be a lie and it would also be a mockery. I looked at my neighbourhood and asked myself: What's it like if a bomb suddenly explodes there, then how about suddenly a few meters further on and again and again. What is it like when there is no water and no food, what is it like when the hospital can't care for the injured because it has been bombed? These questions came up every day until I started composing the fifth piano sonata in February 2024. And during the composition I also realized what the image of the mutilated child meant to me. This child was the personalization of peace. Incidentally, I composed this piece through. Without corrections, without thinking about form or anything else and without piano. The work is not political. It is simply about the image of a child. After finishing the composition, the following question arose: Do you have to go through all these psychological stresses to write a sonata? The answer to this question is clear to me: Yes!