a piece that is a size that is recognised as not a size but a piece (2013)

for piano
21′
WP 7 July 2014, Eclat-Festival, Theaterhaus Stuttgart
Nicolas Hodges

Edition Juliane Klein Order No.: EJK0584

Score Preview (Publisher, pdf)

in memory of Detlef Hoffmann. Premiere 07.02.2014. Festival Éclat, Stuttgart. Nicolas Hodges. Commissioned by SWR2/ Musik der Jahrhunderted with support from the ministry of culture of the city of Stuttgart.

Programme notes: A piece that is a size, that is recognized not as a size but as a piece, for piano and optional text/ image projections was composed in 2013. The density of sounding material in the piece was structured in accordance with the time in which the composer created the material. Each day of the creation time is equal to circa seven seconds of the piece.

The idea for the time structures and the material in the piece were inspired by the Text „Rooms“ by Gertrude Stein from her collection „Tender Buttons“, a text which deals with the relationship of material to the space in which it finds itself, as well as themes of presence and absence. Sections of this text, handwritten by the composer upon her calendar, may be projected during the performance.

The piece is dedicated to the memory of Detlef Hoffmann and contains no D.

04.04.2013: An exchange, an offer, an anniversary. This is a sound an obligingness more obligingness leads to a harmony in hesitation. 31.07.2013: An occupation. The whole arrangement is established. 01.08-01.12. 2013: There was a whole collection made. Diminish. Doubt. All along the tendency to deplore the absence of more has not been authorised. Destroy. Discard. Desert. This does not mean the same as disappearance. Dull. The question is this, is it possible to suggest more to replace that thing. This question and this perfect denial does make the time change all the time. In all the time there are three days, those are not passed uselessly. Any little thing is a change that is if nothing is wasted. . . A silence is not indicated by any motion, less is indicated by a motion, more is not indicated it is enthralled. So sullen and so low, so much resignation, so much refusal and so much place for a lower and an upper, so much and yet more silence, why is not sleeping a feat why is it not and when is there some discharge when. There never is. It happened in a way that the time was perfect and there was a growth of a whole dividing time so that where formerly there was no mistake there was no mistake now. A measure is that which put up so that it shows the length has a steel construction. Tidiness is not a delicacy, it does not destroy the whole piece, certainly not it has been measured and nothing has been cut off and even if that has been lost there is a name, no name is signed and left over, not any space is fitted so that moving about is plentiful. This means clearness, it means a regular notion of excercise, it means more than that, it means liking counting, it means more than that, it does not mean exchanging a line. 01.12.-19.12.: Distribute. If comparing a piece that is a size that is recognised as not a size but a piece, comparing a piece with what is not recognised but what is used as it is held by holding, comparing these two comes to be repeated. Suppose they are put together, suppose that there is an interruption, supposing that beginning again they are not changed as to position . . . Is there an exchange, is there a resemblance to the sky which is admitted to be there and the stars that can be seen. Is there. That was a question. There was no certainty.

“matching hyper-virtuosity with a ragged heads-down race to certain doom . . . [with] grittiness and resolve”- review of Daan Vanderwelle’s superb performance in Ostrava Days 2013:
Mark Longley, All About Jazz, 3.10.2023. https://staging.allaboutjazz.com/ostrava-days-2023