Schlagzeug (Bending Space and Time)

Commissioned by the Palais of Arts (MüPa) in Budapest, this concerto grosso was written for trumpet, piano and percussion, and string orchestra.

This highly impressive piece explores the problem of having 3 instruments in a soloist group that are very difficult to blend together acoustically, making it very difficult to develop a common sound quality. The composition draws on this problem as a source of strength, and it is an amazingly enjoyable exploitation of this resource.

The composer asks the instrumentalists to make very similar gestures. However, what seems to be a very adequate musical gesture for a trumpet player, translated into percussion or piano, it works in a very different way: we perceive the gesture's graphic nature, yet it has a completely different meaning. For a very long time in the piece, these narratives run parallel to each other, while each instrument tries to communicate on the same platform. And yet, by some miracle, a unity is born at the end of the piece. Perhaps it is also because we get used to the fact that this line-up is at the heart of its separateness. (Szabolcs Molnár)

Commissioned by Müpa Budapest - Palace of Arts Nonprofit Ltd

INSTRUMENTS

Trumpet in C

Piano

Percussion

5 Wood Blocks (different sizes)

5 Tom-toms (different sizes)

Xylophone

Strings

Violini I (max. div á 3)

Violini II (max. div á 2)

Viola (max. div á 2)

Violoncello (max. div á 2)

Double Bass

Partitur in C

durata: cca. 12 min.