René Staar

Perspektiven paralleler und gegenläufiger Prozesse I op. 29/I/Nr. 1

A short three-bar rhythmic motive dotted eighth, eighth, two sixteenths, eighth, dotted eighth twisted and turned in all directions. Examined more carefully, the motive features note values that shorten towards the central point of the two sixteenths, and then expand again. All in all, the cycle of "Perspectives" is part of a larger cycle, the Studies for Winds op. 29. The perspectives were inspired by August Strindberg's novella Ensam [Lonely], in which old friends meet again after several decades and realize how far they have drifted apart in the meantime. It's like watching floating reed islands in a lake, a constant change of perspective and of the relationship of the entities to each other, the observer being blinded by the sunlight. The flowing action dominates. Musically realized, initial isolated figures are intertwined and then separated again, although it soon becomes clear that this change does not only affect these apparently fixed cells, but also extends to other parameters such as form, tempo and even dynamics.