Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf: Piano Works

PIANO WORKS

In rhizome. Homage to Glenn Gould two ideas come together, one in terms of sound and performance and one in terms of composition and semantics. The genius of Glenn Gould's piano playing lies primarily in his consistent view of the piano as a »punctualistic« instrument in which a note, once struck, can no longer be manipulated because it quickly fades away. Therefore, the different degrees from "molto legato" to "staccatissimo" are decisive for the timbre and thus for the differentiation of the polyphonic texture, which is why the sound image must not be blurred by the use of the pedals. Therefore, using the (right) pedal is in rhizome most economical. At the same time, all of Glenn Gould's other pianistic achievements are included in the organizational and morphological structure of my piece. The idea for rhizome was to advance the polyphony in such a way that the differentiation of the layers of events involved (in this case: 13) leads to a schizophrenic simultaneity not only of different things, but of different time levels with diverging event complexes. Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari have suggested the title of a rhizomatic labyrinth. By complex polyphony I mean that simultaneously, i. H. in a form that is always constrained, completely opposite, sometimes overlapping, network-like linked with more subterranean reference contexts are banned in a work totality, without nevertheless missing an expressiveness, which in this case is more "formative" and less bound to the intrinsic meanings of the details, but consists of forces between the heterogeneous. This kind of "complexist" compactness means a simultaneous clash of what usually follows one after the other. The question of compositional technique rhizome was to what extent the material and the technology intended for it had to be polyphonically separated so that polyphony could arise in the first place, without however destroying the unity of the stylistic vocabulary on the other side. In rhizome I went so far that each of the 13 layers – vectors that are chronologically directed and seemingly randomly distributed in (semantic) space like picking sticks – are not only assigned their own morphological material, but also their own compositional technique. Thus, not only the compositional technique, but even the compositional technique as a whole is organized polyphonically. I see this "schizothymic organics" as an expressivist reaction to the "constitution" of today's inwardness in an increasingly "disseminative polyplurality". Ultimately, it is up to the listener to find their own, highly individual way through the labyrinth, which has the task of not looking for the exit but for themselves.

The 5 small lacunarities form a small work composed of several movements. I was interested in the fractal geometry of Benoît Mandelbrot and especially the holey phenomena (I was already involved succolarity busy for flute and should me with He trembles deal with it again for percussion). I decided on five movements in order to avoid a striking allusion to Schönberg's op. 19. Each set represents an expression of lacunarity according to the fractal geometry - in the given order: succolarity, fractal dust, fractal foam, trema and finally fractal sponge.

If the polyphony is taken to more and more pronounced extreme areas, this creates an increase in complexity that lies in the differentiation potential of the musical structure. The differentiation of the voices involved in the polyphony leads to their increasing separation while at the same time maintaining harmonic control of the overall event. From a certain moment, the composing of these parts can mean that the parts, which are now drawn very precisely and independently of the rest of the events, can also function as solo parts, thus outside their original place of reference. Then it becomes possible to accommodate others within a work, as it were - with a work consisting of several works that can be performed simultaneously (as a polyphony of pieces) or separately (as individual works). I call such a conception of polyphony »poly-work«. My third poly work is this chamber cycle, which consists of five pieces related in the following way.

The  chamber concert is a piece for obbligato piano and chamber ensemble with three wind instruments and three strings, a kind of chamber music piano concerto. The piano part contains a solo cadenza of about a minute, which can be played externally and then chamber miniature is called. This piece contains, in an extremely compressed space, the entire musical substance of the chamber piece, which forms the rest of the piano part (skipping the cadenza) and can also be performed externally (with additional information on the agogic, i.e. slightly edited). The two halves of the ensemble, i.e. the wind instruments with alto and bass flute, oboe d'amore and cor anglais as well as basset horn and bass clarinet (thus the lower representatives of the instrumental families) and the strings with viola, cello and double bass (also the lower strings), became one wind trio and a trio basso processed, with the rhythmic and pitch material of the ensemble parts being taken over completely (i.e. without the gap of the solo cadence), while all other parameters (above all articulation, dynamics, tempo and timbre) have been changed. Regarding the expressive characteristics, it must be said that the dark colors of the ensemble stand in stark contrast to the bright, gleissnerically provocative upper register of the virtuoso piano. I deliberately aimed at this hard unforgiveness.

That number 3 for the Angelus Novus Cycle is constitutive, as shown, among other things, by the fact that it consists of three ensemble pieces and three solo pieces. The latter are: La vision d'ange nouveau for cello (1997/98), La terreur d'ange nouveau for flute (1997/99) and Le reve d'ange nouveau for piano (1999). The three pieces are developed with the same compositional principles. They have three types of material in common, which can be superficially described as »harmonic«, »melodic« and »rhythmic-motivic«. In each piece, one type dominates, while the other two form secondary materials. In the piece for piano with its large ambitus and the pedals, the harmonic and tonal elements dominate, in the piece for the cello the melodic, sweeping curves, in the piece for the flute, the rhythmic-motivic-repetitive. Because the form, but also the intervals and parts of the rhythm were formed in the same way in all three pieces, care was taken to give each piece a special character. The cello piece consists of up to three layers, which the player has to coordinate polyphonically, mediating back and forth. The flute piece is shredded into smaller fragments, as it were. In addition to motivic material, the piano piece works with large-scale sound surfaces, for which the player's special tonal sensitivity is required.

Asked to compose a contemporary variation of Beethoven's famous Diabelli waltz, I decided to do a little like Beethoven, ignoring the original completely. And since Beethoven presented the "better" version of the original in the Minuetto at the end of his brilliant cycle, I wanted to present a recomposition of Beethoven's last Diabelli variation. At the same time, I intended to arrange this composition in such a way that at the end of the piano concerto Prospero's Epilogue (2004) will sound. But since the dumbest of all possible twelve-tone series, namely the chromatic scale, guides the pitch structure there, I had to Beethoven commentary compose with just this stupid and largely unusable material, which can therefore only be handled flexibly with a great deal of expertise. The somewhat classical and at the same time ambiguous character may not be unwelcome in this respect.

For the piano solo piece Prospero fragments I took from the piano part of Prospero's Epilogue for piano and orchestra a certain number of fragments which, without maintaining the original order in the concert, were put together to form a new constellation and combined with sound bars that the performer was free to shape. As with Shakespeare, this music is also about the question of forgiveness. Forgiving is an extremely complex process, because it not only refers to forgiving another person, but also and above all to being able to forgive oneself. And: what does that mean on a collective level, for the conflicts between peoples, nations, communities of faith? Above all, I am concerned about the question: German culture will at some point have to forgive itself for what it did to the world with the »Third Reich« – a process that can only be imagined as more active. How will that happen?

Tracing such an active process has migrated into the formal idea of ​​the piano concerto. In addition to a prologue and epilogue, it consists of three parts, the first of which presents something that must be forgiven. Accordingly, I have tried to portray something shameful, if not evil, a musical insult, so to speak. The middle part tries to process exactly that and to make friends with it in a reconciling way, i.e. ultimately to forgive it by assimilating it to a state »beyond«. This follows in the third part: an idyll, a natural calm, a relaxed sequence. The sequence of the 33 Diabelli Variations is formally underlined, the 33rd of which is exactly on the Beethoven commentary in the piano to lead to the epilogue.

Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf