"Im Zentrum ohne Worte 1" (1986/87)
for voice, oboe, clarinet, percussion, harp, 2 violins, computer, sampler and live electronics
Language as a means of communication forms the starting point for my septet. Here language is dissolved into its smallest components, whereby a semantic plane is omitted and only the phonetic side processed. The voice uses first vowels, diphthongs, later consonants and with the increasing of noise elements almost only sibilants and explosive consonants.
Parallel to this development the electronic part enfolds the voice increasingly, which is manipulated by modulations such as digital delay, pitch change, reverb, flanger and is disturbed by sounds produced by the sampler. Later on
these sounds replace the singing voice completely. An essentially (in German) spoken general definition of the language (nessecary for communication) is placed in this section. In addition, with the computer controlled language sounds, the semantic aspect is again waived immediately, although the individual parts of the text are usually understandable.
A computer program builds up the fragments of the definition improvising, also illogically. The text provides a direct opposite for me to the rather lyric motives of the singing voice. Linguistic semantics are dissolved; within the piece however there remains a meaningful connection, a musical semantic. The tuning of the harp (b, c#, d#, e#, f#, g, g#), which is at center of the musical event and has the largest liberties, generates the entire tone material. Each of the other instruments has only three tones of this row , whereby it is only the singing voice that can extend the material as the only one in the process of the piece.
Text:
„Our language makes use of different letters with strongly differentiating frequency.
Agreement exists about the meaning of words, so that many combinations can be from start excluded as senseless.
Each sentence must result in meaning.“