1 / 57
0:00/0:00
Quartet
2023
Fixed Media Audio
Melodica
Objects
Toy Piano
- Program Notes
- Merkwürdige Metamorphosen (2023) In recent years I have repeatedly used toy and effect instruments in my compositions. There they usually complement “conventional” line-ups, that is to say they have the function of secondary instruments. By working with the Non-Piano Ensemble, I was finally able to realize my dream of working exclusively with a huge arsenal of unusual sound generators; a total of forty different ones are used in the three movements. There are no “main instruments”, but the combinations are constantly changing, with individual objects – a lotus flute, an andes, a stylophone – temporarily emerging as soloists. As the title suggests, each movement begins with an initial state that is usually defined by materiality. The first is characterized by metallic sounds, the second by air noises and flute gestures, and in the third a melodic ensemble faces a solo mini-synthesizer. The initial sound world always changes over several steps and more or less homogeneously into a different state – in the first movement it is constituted by a toy piano toccata, flanked by tin bowl attacks. In the second part, the deep lotus flute textures give way to a shrill dialogue of recorder and siren sounds. The third movement culminates in an extended melodica chorale with a didgeridoo-organ-bass. The effect instruments are always accompanied by a sampler triggering various pre-recorded sounds that were created in improvisation sessions with the musicians of the ensemble and, like a modern basso continuo, provide the blueprint for the dramaturgy of the piece. [Benjamin Scheuer]
- Recording Notes
- Benjamin Scheuer "Merkwürdige Metamorphosen" (2023) For toy instrument quartet. NonPiano Ensemble, Hamburg Roland Cremerius, Video Benjamin Scheuer, Audio Recorded in Hamburg, 29th of June 2024.
- Record Label
- none
- Performer Credits
- Non-Piano Ensemble
- Publisher
- none
- External Links