Broken Chords (2000)
(for orchestra)

This composition is so centered on the creation of purist sound contexts that I have even dispensed with the inclusion of percussion instruments for the first time - the players of the genre I love may forgive me. The title of the work already refers to an aspect of the work that is expressed in the use of broken chords. This is an ancient principle of the temporal fanning out of harmonies, which can be illuminated in ever new constellations through the rich possibilities of an orchestra's combination of timbres. A comparison with an X-ray image of the thorax, in which the skeleton but also overlaid shadows become visible, suggests itself. The notes of a chord are like sounding ribs, and the shadows of these sounds are the colors themselves.

The work, commissioned by the “Kunststiftung NRW”, was premiered for the 125th anniversary of the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra on September 25, 2002.

M.K.
(Translation by Edition Peters)