Violoncello (Fenster)

for Clarinet in Bb / Basset Horn, Violoncello, Piano

duration: approx. 12 x 90 sec (18-20 min)

commissioned by the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

written for Trio Catch

In March 2020, the first Covid-19-induced lockdown began in Austria. At that moment, our previous life stopped abruptly and something completely new arrived for us. I interrupted all my compositional work from one day to the next and had the feeling that it was no longer relevant, as these compositions did not reflect reality.

For months I could not compose. The same idea kept haunting me: How do people live in lockdown? What happens in the apartments, in these isolated micro-worlds, which remain closed to us?

I composed the piece "Fenster" in December 2020 during the second lockdown in Austria. It is like a life-sized Advent calendar: We open twelve windows one after the other and look into the respective world behind them.

Each movement of the piece lasts 90 seconds – exactly as long as each window remains open. We can open the windows in any order. The choice and order of the movements are left to the musicians. Thus, the piece can be played in countless variations. The total duration varies from 90 seconds to 18 minutes.

The musicians probably find the greatest challenge in this piece in the representation of twelve worlds with extremely different characters and the creation of a large musical-dramaturgical arc over the entire piece.

composed: December 2020 Vienna