In some of my more recent pieces, I have set about to break open the linear (formal) process in a different way each time.
The mutual interrupting, slicing and intersecting of different strands of formal development has led all the way up to the shattering of the formal context.
These experiences are intensified in the new piece, in some respects at least. For example, cuts follow each other more closely, even though it remains possible to integrate heterogeneous material belonging to different lines of formal development into larger segments while still developing the individual components in processes independent of one another. This gives rise to a formal complexity in which the idea of "legato" stands in the forefront as the overriding concept in spite of the sharp contrasts, breaks and cuts. Although the different levels within the form that continuously expands and spreads out in a loop shape all bear a very distinct relation to one another, these relationships ultimately begin to float and lose their concentratedness, becoming ambiguous and enigmatic. Something similar is also found on the level of the sound material:
Seemingly familiar sounds such as chains of piano trills, octave fields, a surface virtually in C minor, etc. have no mooring, confirming character, but direct themselves - like the floating form - towards the open space, listening.
Jörg Birkenkötter