Grande Sonate, D 617 (2015)
(Arrangement of Schubert’s Sonata op. 30 for piano (four hands) and string orchestra)

For me, the arrangement of the Sonata D 617 represents a renewed engagement with Schubert's music, which has accompanied me in my compositional work since the beginning: after the orchestration of the Fantasia in F minor D 940 for orchestra (1983), the creation of my version of Schubert's unfinished opera Der Graf von Gleichen D 918 (1993-1996), the Three Pieces D 946 I/II and D 625 IV for chamber orchestra, the completion of the Symphony in E major and also in my work ‘Nebensonnen’ for string orchestra (2002), in which quotations from the Piano Sonata in B flat major D 960 fulfil a decisive role in the composition.

The musical landscapes to be found in all these works, with their sometimes gloomy moods, dark landscapes of the soul and fragile utopias, have fascinated and inspired me, as they have many other composers of the 20th and 21st centuries (Webern, Denisov, Zender...).

In the version of the Sonata D 617 for four-hand piano and string orchestra, I also wanted to emphasise the architecture and dramaturgy and work out the instrumental groups as partners leading a dialogue - the existing texture was carefully altered or expanded for this purpose.