verwellenteilt
4 percussionists
by Sven Hermann [1997/98]

back

Flesh can be divided into smaller portions which still are flesh themselves: homoeomerous. A hand, however, cannot be cut into smaller hands. You get flesh and bones instead. So hands are not homoeomerous. While non-homoeomerous parts exist for the advantage of homoeomerous parts, homoeomerous come to be used as organs as they fulfill certain functions. The organ is part of a whole, because when the body is destroyed the hand ceases to exist as a hand. When talking about organs, Plato distinguishes between material tools...the fade-out sound of a drum skin...and living tools [slaves]...the fade-out controlled by the percussionist... Aristotle's thinking is even more abstract. He distinguishes between the moving...the percussionist... the moving means...arms legs...and the moved...the musical material... The organ is function-oriented... collective work of musicians towards intended musical expression... Searching for the organinc: observing nature... Finding organic organisation of time... Waves on Atlantic coast in France... Associated colours... BLUE... synaesthetics... Bach's two-part invention in d minor... the pitch D... It is based on four organs: 1) "background": waves far away from the coast on the acoustic horizon - metal 2) "returnmurmur": the retreat of the water from the shore - glissando upwards 3) "wavebreak": the wave breaks, muffled but close - skin 4) "foreground noise": the sea foams onto the sand - rainmaker... The transposition of an experience onto different senses... dissected waves positioned anew in space-time.

[sh]

duration: 25'00

[first performance: Folkwang Hochschule Essen, 30.1.1999]