Contrabass clarinet & effect devices
8. September 2020
BKA Berlin – Unerhörte Musik
weitere Aufführungen:
Inter Arts Center MALMÖ 13 09 2020
Ostrava Festival Days 20 08 2021
Theo Nabicht,Contrabass clarinet
I have had the good fortune to work with Theo Nabicht on several occasions and to explore the sound of the double bass clarinet together more deeply than usual. For this piece, we set out to make the “impossible” possible for the instrument by means of two machines like whammy and distorsion pedals: Glissandi, leaps in tonal space, distortions – that go beyond the capacities of the contrabass clarinet.
I also wanted to write a piece that relies on the transformation of very limited sound material and thus plays with our memory. What we have already heard becomes unheard by changing a few parameters. The machines help with this…
I’ve chosen the title from the novel of the same name by Auguste de Villiers de L’Isle Adam, in which he poses the questions of success and failure on the most diverse levels.
I wish Theo Nabicht much success with this performance.
(AMR)