Reißwerck

Klaus K. HÜBLER
Born 1956, Germany

Reißwerck (1987)

guitar solo

The music of German composer Klaus K. HÜBLER exercises the performer with extreme paradoxes in its notation of physical actions that are unpredictable in their resultant sound. (This focus on the dilemma in contemporary music between the notation of action and result is also shared by Volker HEYN and Richard BARRETT). A physiological approach to performing disrupts the traditional performance practice of the instrumentalist. Sounds forbidden or deemed `impossible´ by classical training become the material of this music.

For instance, in Reißwerck, the guitarist caresses every part of the instrument--the full tone of the string is not privileged over the sounds of tapping, harmonics and whispered notes. The usual coordination of the left and right hands increasingly `fall apart´, the de-synchronisation of actions allowing each element of sound production to take on a life of its own. The composition of opposing strata of action gives rise to tensions within the instrument which erupts into a multiplicity of sonorities--a mellifluous cascade of sound which Peter BOTTINGER described as "the unpredictable beauty of predictable collapse".

Reißwerck is a Baroque term similar in meaning to toccata (touched) and can also be translated as `work of wear´. Reißwerck was written for and dedicated to Spanish guitarist Magnus ANDERSON.

Programme note © Liza LIM