Statements? (2011) for soprano, flute (+b.fl), trumpet, trombone, cello, percussion and piano

- durata ca. 11 min
- commissioned by the Musik-Akademie der Stadt Basel

- version with recorders premiered in Basel on 28th May 2011 by Johanna Greulich (soprano), Ulrike Mayer-Spohn (recorders), Paul Hübner (trumpet), Stephen Menotti (trombone), Ellen Fallowfield (cello), Louisa Marxen (percussion), Clemens Hund-Göschel (piano) and Jürg Henneberger (conductor)

TEXT (by PB):
Is every piece of music essentially repetitive?
Or is it simply easier to write music that is iterative one way or another?
What would music of today be like if there was no engraving software on hand?
Is re-using other people’s music inferior to inventing your own material?
Is inventing your own material re-using without admitting it?
Do pieces of notated music inherently get crippled when writing music is so laborious?
Could you compose as, for instance, Basquiat painted?
Would you need a computer to do that?
Is sound analysis for composers the same thing as postcards for Sunday painters?
Have you ever realized that the harmonic series is quite ugly?
Have you ever found it in nature?
Does a bell sound better when its sound is made by an orchestra?
Does Gerhard Richter paint on Sundays?
Does a lot of sul ponticello help anything?
Or tremolo?
Or writing harmonics where there are no harmonics?
If you use lots of breathing sounds, will the audience think you are a humanist?
Are imitators always more emotional than inventors?
Is music notes going up and down?
Is working with “sounds” antiquated?
Could setting Rilke instead have worked better?
Are extended playing techniques just ways of upgrading the expressionist style?