“Blue Notes” for Piano (2008)

My Study No. 2 for piano Blue Notes addresses issues of space, harmony and resonance. Spaces result from an overlapping of different harmonic levels with differing dynamics and durations. The harmony reflects symmetries that are repeatedly broken by ‘blue notes.’ The middle (sostenuto) and right (sustain) pedals of the piano enable a play with resonances: they catch the “destiny” of permanently transforming sounds. How does a sound change between the moment it appears, its mixture with or suppression by another sound and its return after the new sound makes room for it again (or vice versa)? A focus on concealment and the passage between notes allows for the discovery of openings…

Blue Notes is also an etude on the boundaries of time. On account of its rigid, almost “egoistically” engrossed sound production, the beginning of a piano sound is usually clearly specified. Its interruption however can grant access to deeper-seated layers. Last but not least, the piece is a progression in circular motion (Rilke: I circle around God, around the age-old tower): The two main sections are made up of several periods, in the concluding section of the piece the individual sound itself becomes a “period.”

Blue Notes was written for the Greek pianist Ermis Theodorakis and is dedicated to him.