Murales

Unlike in the case of a solo concerto, composing for ensemble and orchestra cannot build upon historical models. Even the concertino in the concerto grosso, which we know from the tradition, is a much smaller formation than a complete modern-music ensemble. Naturally, for a number of years there have been examples for the combination of a larger ensemble with an orchestra (for instance, by Wolfgang Rihm, Philippe Manoury, and Georg Friedrich Haas), with very individual solutions to which one would like, however, to add one’s own. The greatest difficulty is audibly separating the ensemble from the orchestra. Except for the two pianos and the saxophone, it is indeed comprised of the same instruments that are also present in the orchestra; in a sense, it represents a scaled-down copy of the orchestra. This brought me back to the idea of the concertante style: there are question and answer situations between the ensemble and the orchestra as well as abrupt contrasts. At the same time, the ensemble is not only to be understood as the sum of the individual soloists, but also as an entity, as a “super instrument.” The experience of composing an organ concerto was a great help in this regard. I conceive of the ensemble – except for several short soloistic passages – as a kind of organ with sixteen stops. The ensemble part is naturally more demanding, extensive, and virtuoso than the orchestral part. The energies that result from the confrontation of the ensemble and the orchestra are enormous. They push their way on their own toward development in space and time. I often thought of Jackson Pollock, of the rhythm and swing in his works, of the nearly cosmic energy that he sets free and captivates. And, above all, of his large-scale “Mural” from 1943. But I would not say that my music is an equivalent to that which one calls abstract expressionism. Although while composing, however, I always think entirely abstractly.
Bernd Richard Deutsch, 2018