writings

• expand_moreMesostics (2006)
  
  
• expand_morealiasing bell pattern (2009)
  Aliasing is a well-kwown term in digital signal processing theory. Simply put, it describes the artefacts that arise when you reduce the sampling frequency, from a standard value like 44,1 kHz. The original signal is then not well represented digitally anymore and mutates.
  Because you falsefy the original acoustical signal, aliasing is regarded as an artefact, which should be prevented. Basically, it is regarded as a mistake.
  I have discovered a method with which you can apply this "mistake" in a musical, transformative way. You can hear how a rhythmical pattern mutates gradually, away from its original pattern, until it has finally evolved into a completely different sound-phenomenon - a complex, slow changing drone; from a bell sound it transforms into an organ sound and vice versa.It was my intention to explore the different perceptual qualities of that same algorithm/technique, because 'transitions inbeteween always have the sensation of something phenomenal' (Trevor Wishart). Maybe with this piece I was able to go into this direction.
• expand_moreWhat Was Was (2011), by David Baker
  Wherein an alphabet of surges and shadows bloom like Rorschach indices, clouds of indeterminate origin in a continuous refulgent hierophany, hierophany from the Greek roots "hieros" meaning sacred or holy and "phainein" meaning to reveal or to bring to light."...the true God mimics the universe...debris no longer noticed.. Lurking,the true God literally ambushes reality and us as well... Hence we say, the true God is in the habit of concealing himself... 'Latent form is the master of obvious form.' " - Philip K.Dick, Valis
• expand_moreBeyond the traceries (2020)
  the english word “tracery” means a.o. “flechtwerk“ in german. one could call the programming structures which i construct for my electronic music ”flechtwerke“ - ”traceries“. however, the resulting music is more than these patches, more than just the algorithm. to a large extent the music depends on how you control it in real time. therefore i found beyond the traceries a fitting title for my new album. it is a phrase quoted from eric pankey's poem epitaph. it inspires the electronic manipulations in the same titled first piece on this album. in this piece it is the deformed language which results from this (time-)stretched phrase that forms white noise. to be more exact, the music results from interactions between two differently stretched phrases and the resulting shifting noise sounds, which permanently and constantly create different combinations.

  in the pieces called noise bowls the fundamentals and harmonics of two glass bowls - which are, as it were, infinitely changing (in time) - equally produce permanent new combinations. especially the rhythmical,almost infinitely varied interplay of fundamentals and harmonics for me keep these pieces very intruiging from begin- ning to end.

  the two vibraphone pieces called moving thirds are actually two different takes of the same piece and form the intermezzo between the previously mentioned meditative works. in these pieces, sort of moving thirds - hence the title - are characteristic for the applied harmonic language.in the first phrase it is a minor third, which moves through the chord, so that it first is at the bottom, than in the middle, and finally at the top. as a result a minor/major, a major and a augmented chord emerge. in the second phrase it is a major third, which moves through the chord in the same way and which results in a dominant,a minor and a diminished harmony. in the third phrase elements of these previously mentioned progressions are combined.
• expand_moreKranenburg tree (2021)
  As the title already indicates, a small tree, which I discovered at the former train station of the small german town Kranenburg (lower rhine area), forms the basis for the music on this album.To be more precise, a photorgraph of this tree, whose musical potential I saw immediately, served as a template for sketches in Metasynth, a software with which you can draw, paint music.This resulted in 4 sketches, consequently the composition has 4 parts.What still fascinates me about this music, is how out of one simple sound (branch) a fairly complex sound structure arises, where fundamentals and partials interfere.

  Composing the intermezzi for these metasynth main pieces was a real struggle for me as a composer: nothing pleased me, nothing fitted, nothing convinced me. Then eventually the idea came to me to try it simply with silence. This started as an experiment,but then the hearing impression of this music combined with silence convinced me more and more. I made the experience, that in the beginning of the silent tracks the preceding music still resonated. And then at a certain point I started to notice environmental sounds,like heating noise or birdsong, maybe already realizing that absolute silence doesn’t exist - wasn’t it John Cage who discovered that a certain point, maybe in a dead space, you start to hear your own breathing or nervesystem. In my case this is unfortunately enhanced by my tinnitus.
• expand_moreOhne Titel (2024)
  My synthesizer pieces "Untitled - 1976" and "Untitled - 1976-78" were originally conceived as applied compositions to paintings of the same names by Raimund Girke, one of my favorite German painters; they were my first attempts. I attempted to musically translate the monochrome character of these paintings through sine-like synthesizer sounds that vary subtly and unpredictably in timbre and volume. The resulting chords thus form ever-varying drones. Harmonically, I opted for stacked fifths (perhaps corresponding to the static nature of the paintings) combined with a minor third. In the first piece, the minor third remains in the lower position; in the second, it systematically changes position within the chord (i.e., top, middle, bottom, middle, top), thereby creating structure. In the second piece, higher notes repeatedly resonate above the drone sounds, with the length of these notes constantly varying, perhaps creating a tension between chord and single note.

  These synthesizer pieces alternate with vibraphone improvisations by my friend Fabian Kraus, which lighten the austerity of the synthesizer pieces. They are based on two speech samples („C’est Valentine," „Un juge a la retraite“) from my favorite film by Krzysztof Kieslowski, "Trois Couleurs: Rouge," more precisely, based on their speech melody and rhythm. They represent the film's two protagonists, the young, inquisitive student Valentine and the embittered old judge Joseph Kern. They overcome their initial contempt (Valentine) and indifference (Kern) and grow to touch and like each other over the course of the film—perhaps in the spirit of the "fraternite" (fraternity, French ideal), Kieslowski's theme for this film.
• expand_moreSix drones (2025)
  Das Projekt „Six drones“ hat, wie der Titel schon andeutet, mit 6 Klavier-Bordunklängenangefangen, die durch Magneten (Ebows), die auf Klaviersaiten gesetzt werden, erzeugtwerden. Dies resultiert in einen ätherischen Sinus-artigen Klang. Zu diesen Bordunklängen habe ich dann Melodien komponiert, meistens diatonischer Art, einmal eher chromatisch. Diese spiegeln die Bandbreite meiner Einflüsse wieder, von Jazz (z.B. Keith Jarrett), über Folk (hier Lappländisch/Samisch), bis zu Modern Klassisch (hier Messiaen und Pärt).Es sollte noch erwähnt werden, dass die Gesamtkomposition einmal nicht unwesentlich verändert wurde, als ich das Material an meinen damals neu gekauften Flügel angepasst habe.Von da an fängt es an und endet es mit einem 3-minütigen harmonisierten Bordunklang, bzw. erklingen die Bordunklänge dazwischen abwechselnd repetitiv (normal, als Akkorde) gespielt und, wie gehabt, auf einzelnen Tönen, durch Ebows erzeugt.