électronique, flûte Paetzold, guitare électrique, percussion, violoncelle
durée: 11'
2008
The title of the piece (referring to a poem by Rolf Dieter Brinkmann) says it all: Taking the music to extremes at times, Alle Verbindungen gelten nur jetzt (“All connections are only valid now”) plays with instrumental relationships, disruptions, and collisions. At the beginning, the instrumental sounds only come together gradually to weave a more complex texture – as the music develops, again and again they are broken by sharp disruptions: short time outs, which can hardly restrain the flow of energy. Like in Dr. Best the instrumental sequences are underlaid with machine sounds, with the sometimes mighty huffing of Heidelberg printing presses. Crafted into a basic pattern, these machine sounds determine the rhythmic course of Alle Verbindungen gelten nur jetzt for contra bass recorder, electric guitar, violoncello, percussion and tape.
The matrix already used in Dr. Best with reference to complementary DNA strands – i.e. the tight interweaving of different “sound partners” – is taken a step further, so to speak, in Alle Verbindungen gelten nur jetzt, for not only is each strand of sounds complementary to the sounds coming from the tape but also to those from all the other instruments involved.
The musicians have to perform extremely precise movements within a rigid, tight corset of time in order to achieve the desired sound result, that is, the ideal interlacing of live sound and tape. In doing so they have no time for extravagant movements or improvisational skirmishes. As to both “choreography” and music, a precisely timed, strictly predetermined setting is essential. When executed precisely one might notice a certain analogy between the arm movements of the cellist and the guitarist, the huffing of the recorder player, the impact of the percussionist, and the metal arms and wheels of the Heidelberg printing presses. The performers are instructed to play like machines and given no room for free spatial development. Thus, Alle Verbindungen gelten nur jetzt ultimately also plays with the limits and limitations of the intricate, almost absurd mechanisms of feasibility.