The term „Encounter“ stands for meeting, collision, contact, and the unexpected. This diversity of meaning characterizes the program of this CD, which thrives on exchange, resistance, and risk. The works challenge both the soloist and the audience to abandon familiar ways of listening and playing and to engage in situations in which control, physicality, and tonal identity are renegotiated. Several compositions were written especially for the soloist – tailor-made, but deliberately uncomfortable.
Luciano Berio's Sequenza V remains one of the most radical solo pieces of 20th-century music. Inspired by the clown Grock, Berio combines instrumental playing, voice, movement, and scenic action to create a “polyphony of actions.” Whispered, muted, and distorted sounds accompany the famous exclamation “Why?”, the existential question behind the clownish mask. The performer becomes a multitasker, creating a new, fragile voix humaine on the instrument.
In Vier kurze Stücke by Eloain Lovis Hübner, the trombone becomes a laboratory for extreme sound experiences. Noises, air sounds, and extreme playing techniques dominate, supported by everyday objects such as aluminum foil or plastic tubes. The “good tone” is consistently avoided in favor of a fragile, changeable sound system that equally incorporates breath, body, and material.
Bernhard Gander's Messing 1 focuses on the instrument itself: the atomic numbers of copper and zinc are used to derive a driving, hammering rhythm reminiscent of industrial manufacturing processes. Virtuoso tone repetitions, extreme registers, and constant energy demand the utmost physical presence.
Konstantia Gourzi's The Encounter creates an eerie encounter between the soloist and a strange world of sound. Breathing noises, vocal articulations, and instrumental gestures reflect amazement, fear, and curiosity until the confrontation gradually dissolves.
Finally, in Gérard Grisey's Solo pour deux, clarinet and trombone merge into a “hyper-instrument.” Spectral overlays, glissandi, and breathing sounds create an intimate dialogue in the space between two bodies—open, fragile, and suggestively sensual.