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YEARNING FOR SILENCE The idea for the present 33 piano pieces came from a composition commission for the international composition project "250 Piano Pieces for Beethoven" initiated by the Bonn pianist Susanne Kessel on the occasion of the 250th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven in 2020. 250 composers were asked to to be inspired by the life and work of Beethoven and to write a short piano piece about it. On re-engaging with this great composer, I noticed how much my interest in his music has changed from my student days to the present day. Whereas it used to be the fast, virtuoso movements and large symphonies, today it is primarily the quiet and simple passages of the late works that fascinate and deeply move me. For example, after the final sentence, I hear the Piano Sonata Op. 111 always long in the silence that was created by Beethoven's enrapturing music, pulsating thirds or never-ending trills. I heard or played these passages at moments when I longed for a healing contrast to everyday life, which was often timed and flooded with media stimuli. Out of an inner need, I began to write short piano pieces with this in mind, which should consist of as little musical material as possible. Simple thoughts that end before they manifest themselves, in order to send the listener in a different mental direction with the next piece. I deliberately avoided virtuosic and fast parts in order to create a contemplative mood - my idea of a changing musical mantra, so to speak, which ideally creates a positive feeling of being lost in thought when listening. In this way, »33 Approaches to Silence« came about in two work phases, which I put into a sequence that makes sense to me. Some develop from a chord that is played repeatedly in the arpeggio at the beginning, until new harmonic possibilities arise through a delicate bass tone. Others walk a tightrope between conventional harmony and im pp played dissonances, which create a sensuous, almost harmonious coloring through their soft mixing. What was appealing for me was the tracing of how many repetitions lead to uniformity, even boredom, and to what extent this risk can be exhausted without losing the desire to listen. When is the listener surprised with a small deviation, and what intensity and speed does this result in in the interpretation? In this cycle, the focus for me was on omitting, doing without, but also being able to allow. The final chord in D flat major of No. XXIII is an example. Perhaps too harmonious for some experts, but an inner need for me. As I was writing this, I read a report about Seoul, the capital of Korea, and the tradition there of ringing a giant bell 33 times at the turn of the year, as this number is considered lucky in Korea. So I spontaneously decided to limit myself to this number of pieces. For me a nice thought to put »Yearning for Silence« under a good star. Markus Schimpp program:
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