Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, David Zinman, Duo46, Trio Flair, Quadriga Fagott Ensemble, W. Bärtschi, L. Cella, E. Flückiger, V. J. Gloor, M. Gould, G. Kanasevich, P. Kleemola | Marcela Pavia - Max E. Keller | NEOS – your online music store for contemporary music and special classics

Marcela Pavia (*1957)

[01] Flair for violin, violoncello and piano (2009) 07:36
Commissioned by Trio Flair

Trio Flair
Stefan Läderach, violin · Emanuel Rütsche, violoncello · Esther Flückiger, piano

[02] Nayla for flute solo (1993) 04:04

Lisa Cella, flute

[03] Per un addio for speaker and piano (2009) 03:35
Dedicated to Esther Flückiger

Valentin Johannes Gloor, speaker · Esther Flückiger, piano

[04] Los senderos que se bifurcan for violin and guitar (2007) 07:17
Commisssioned by Duo46

Duo46
Beth Schneider, violin · Matt Gould, guitar

[05] The Banshee’s Keen for guitar solo (2009) 05:35
Commissioned by Patrik Kleemola

Patrik Kleemola, guitar

[06] Amancay for clarinet and guitar (2001) 05:50

Gleb Kanasevich, clarinet · Matt Gould, guitar

Max E. Keller (*1947)

[07–10] tenuto, battuto, fulminante for symphony orchestra (2001) 14:44
Live Recording of the World Premiere
Commissioned by the Tonhalle Zurich and supported by the Aargauer Kuratorium

[07] 03:59
[08] 04:40
[09] 02:03
[10] 04:02

Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich · David Zinman, conductor

[11] Selbstgespräche for piano and live electronics (2006) 11:28
Commissioned by the concert series ‘Rezital’, with funding from the Winterthur Cultural Foundation and the SUISA Foundation for Music

Werner Bärtschi, piano and live electronics

[12] Cinque for bassoon quartet (2008) 05:56
Live Recording

Quadriga Fagott Ensemble
Matthias Racz · Michael von Schönermark · Elisabeth Göring · Douglas Bull

[13] Trio fluido for violin, violoncello and piano (2009) 08:19
Dedicated to Esther Flückiger
Commissioned by Trio Flair with support from the City of Winterthur and the SUISA Foundation

Trio Flair
Stefan Läderach, violin · Emanuel Rütsche, violoncello · Esther Flückiger, piano

CD total time: 75:26

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The Music of Marcela Pavia and Max E. Keller

The compositions of Max E. Keller and Marcela Pavia have in common an uncompromising expressive clarity which, despite the abrupt cut-offs and aggressive gestures, the subtle and innovative handling of timbre, belies the disparity of their origins. There is no sense of arbitrariness: it is all about inner necessity and truthfulness, often articulated in insistent, nagging repetitions within developmental variation. The taboos of the avant-garde such as avoidance of a perceptible sense of pulse are questioned or are even taken up as a topic.

Marcela Pavia

The works in question were composed quite recently and were commissioned by the performers who actually recorded them – apart from one piece, Nayla. Their musical language have one thing in common: an exploration of timbre that is approached in various ways. These include the use of textures understood as complex sounds, and the numerous ways in which resonance may occur, thus giving rise to a blend between intervals and spectral fields. This, in turn, creates allusions to a multiplicity of various poetical denotations. Sound creates form, at both on a micro-plane and a macro-plane.

Sometimes the complex sounds engender a regular pulse; sometimes complex sounds may occur even in a solo piece like Nayla where velocity and linear polyphony create a spectrum that is a singularity, allowing the listener to have a phenomenological per-ception of waves and bands. On the other hand the resonance which evokes different levels of perception makes audible the agreement or disagreement between resonance (the notes that remain sounding thus becoming spectrum) and linear motion. Other common features include as the gestural importance of a ‘sound object’, but also its significance as a moment in real time. Formal development is often of a ‘spiral’ nature, one marked by strong rhythmical movement and obsessive syntactic figures and recurrent pitch classes.

Flair is dedicated to the Trio Flair. The piece is an acronym that takes into account the consonants of the players’ last names Flückiger/Läderach/Rütsche. The word enjoys several different connotations, both in English and German, some of which suit the ensemble well, i. e. natural talent, aptitude or ability, smartness of style, manner, or keen perception or discernment. In general, it is merely the flexible nature of the word that reflects the soul of the Trio.

Nayla is an ancient Arabic name that evinces a particular sound and which evokes the name of an ancient goddess who hails from a distant place. These and a plethora of other echoes emanate from this powerful ancestral symbol. It was Lisa Cella who accepted the challenge presented by a difficult piece in which the performer is given no respite and the listener no opportunity to avoid a vortex of notes that gradually ripen into spectra.

Per un addio is based on the third stanza of the homonymous poem by Gabriela Fantato. It is dedicated to Esther Flückiger because, beyond her sheer musical talent that I came to admire, she also knows what the poem speaks about.

Los senderos que si bifurcan, dedicated to Duo46, is also a metaphor of the dialectic relationship between two instruments, the violin and the guitar, and the two performers themselves. The ethereal beauty of Matt Gould’s harmonics and the almost ‘spoken’ quality of Beth Schneider’s inflections create a vital dialogue that only they can recite. And recite is the apposite word to describe their performance.

The Banshee’s Keen is the fourth piece of a cycle, the poetical idea of which evokes those fairies which inhabit the British Isles. A common technical feature developed in different ways in each part is the treatment of resonance. The work is dedicated to Patrik Kleemola and represents an homage to his musical talent and sensibility.

Amancay is the name of an Argentinean flower common to Patagonia. The piece is reminiscent of the rhythmic patterns of folk music as realized on the guitar and allows these to become perpetually entangled with the clarinet line. It is dedicated to Matt Gould, and doffs a hat as it were to his decidedly rhythmic sensibility ensconced as it is in an endless dialectic diatribe with clarinettist Gleb Kanasevich.

Marcela Pavia

Max E. Keller

tenuto, battuto, fulminante for symphony orchestra (2001)
The pulsating rhythm of the music is an archetype that the avant-garde had banned for a long time. It was even more decisive in popular music – in the ‘swing’ we notice in jazz, where a sense of pulse is essential. tenuto, battuto, fulminante does not shun it, places it at the centre, in contrast to sustained sounds. The ‘tenuto’ character emerges in the extremes of the instruments and devolves towards the middle register as the piece progresses, to then recede to the outer reaches once more. The vibrant counter-principle articulated in rhythmic patterns, which are delicate and at times barely audible, produce a full-sounding tutti, often cast as multiple overlays. Both poles are designed with the greatest possible structural and tonal differentiation, and the combination of instruments goes off the beaten track. A third basic element is a rapid, noisy gait, like lightning (fulmine), and which come unexpectedly out of the blue, the action suddenly immersed in a different light.

Selbstgespräche for piano and live electronics (2006)
Today, a machine has become more and more the interlocutor of the person, and thus it is in my work Selbstgespräche. A small, digital device is positioned directly on the piano and is operated by the pianist mainly by two pedals. The music played by the pianist is changed and repeated by the device and transformed again by the pianist. The computerised partner is programmed by the composer and is thus not free to formulate a response. As such it acts as an alter ego rather than a partner: ‘Selbst-gespräche’. The piano part consists of a few, simple basic elements which seek variety under new conditions and which are revealed in an ever-changing light. The result is a constantly changing diatribe revolving around the same topics and questions.

Cinque for bassoon quartet (2008)
How can a quartet bear a title with the word ‘cinque’ (five)? The form consists of five basic structures that are repeated as a sequence five times. The temporal structure, super-imposed on this form, consists of five different durations. This ensures that only the outer framework of the music is described. The four bassoons usually act as a collective, encourage each other, and multiply musical gestures to produce multi-phonic sounds that complement themselves and, in an impetuous gallop, rush past us but manage to maintain great composure. And because they work so closely with each other, something new emerges – which takes us from the four to a five.

Trio fluido for violin, violoncello and piano (2009)
There are three very different elements, which flow along in the broadest possible sense: sustained sounds, well-spun tunes, and an oft-repeated phrase from a Swiss folk music – a ‘landler’. All these elements vary greatly and are superimposed. The ‘tenuti’ begin to move, take on rhythmic outlines, and become noise. The melodies are characterised by exalted leaps, new timbres and dizzying runs. The trivial ‘landler’ spins round and round, disfigured by oblique accents, and tumbles into atonality. Sometimes, short and partly violent counter-figures turn up, which form an improvisatory conclusion leading us into another world.

Max E. Keller