For large versatile ensemble (20 players).
Commissioned by Acht Brücken - Musik in Köln and Deutscher Musikrat.

–– RETRACTED VERSION OF THE WORLD PREMIERE ––

Performed by the European Workshop for Contemporary Music, conducted by Rüdiger Bohn.

Live-recording of the world premiere at Warsaw Autumn Festival 2021 on Sept 24th 2021, at Frederic Chopin University of Music. Sound engineers: Jacek Guzowski & Krzysztof Kuraszkiewicz, MUSICON

✶ ✶ ✶

By the sea, by the dreary, night-colored sea,
A young man stands;
His heart full of anguish, his head full of doubts,
And with pale lips he questions the billows:
(H. Heine, Questions, from: Book of Songs, 1826)

Stars shining bright above you
Night breezes seem to whisper "I love you"
Birds singing in the sycamore tree
Dream a little dream of me
(Gus Kahn, Dream a little dream of me)

… now it has happened. Nothing more. Just this, and in this way—now it has happened. If I should try to explain it, it means that that happening which gave rise to my cry has only now, with the rejoinder, really and undoubtedly happened.
(Original Remembrance, from: Dialogue, 1929, Martin Buber)

The two Voyager spacecraft are bound for the stars. Affixed to each is a gold-plated copper phonograph record with a cartridge and stylus and, on the aluminum record jacket, instructions for use. We sent something about our genes, something about our brains, and something about our libraries to other beings who might sail the sea of interstellar space. But we didn’t want to send primarily scientific information. […] Instead we wanted to tell those other beings something about what seems unique about ourselves.
(Carl Sagan, Cosmos, 1980) 

“Oh solve me the riddle of Life,
The torturing, deathless riddle
Which has cracked so many heads, […]
Poor, perspiring heads of people—
Tell me, what is Man? And what's his meaning?
Where does he come from? Where is he going?
Who dwells up there among the golden stars?”

Say "Night-ie night" and kiss me
Just hold me tight and tell me you'll miss me
While I'm alone and blue as can be
Dream a little dream of me

But now something happened with me. As though I had till now had no other access from the world to sensation save that of the ear and now discovered myself as a being simply equipped with senses, both those clothed in the bodily organs and the naked senses, so I exposed myself to the distance, open to all sensation and perception. 

Although the recipients may not know any languages of the Earth, we included greetings in sixty human tongues, as well as the helos of the humpback whales. We sent photographs of humans from all over the world caring for one another, learning, fabricating tools and art and responding to challenges. There is an hour and a half of exquisite music from many cultures, some of it expressing our sense of cosmic loneliness, our wish to end our isolation, our longing to make contact with other beings in the Cosmos.

Stars fading, but I linger on, dear
Still craving your kiss
I'm longing to linger till dawn, dear
Just saying this

The billows are whispering their eternal whispers.
The wind blows on, the clouds go sailing;
The stars keep twinkling, indifferent and cold.
And a fool waits for his answer.

[…] But the Voyager record is on its way out of the solar system. The erosion in interstellar space – chiefly cosmic rays and impacting dust grains—is so slow that the information on the record will last a billion years. Genes and brains and books encode information differently and persist thorugh time at different rates. But the persistence of the memory of the human species will be far longer in the impressed metal grooves on the Voyager interstellar record.

And then, not from a distance but from the air round about me, noiselessly, came the answer. Really it did not come; it was there. 
It had been there—so I may explain it—even before my cry: there it was, and now, when I laid myself open to it, 
it let itself be received by me.

craving your kiss (2020) // European Workshop for Contemporary Music [RETRACTED]

for flutist, clarinetist and pianist

Working title: "Himmel floß und Fluß"

Live-recording of the world premiere at Kunststation Sankt Peter Cologne, June 24th, 2022
 
Jennifer Seubel, flute
Moritz Schneidewendt, clarinet
Thibaut Surugue, pianist

Hier war Blau, hier war Geld, hier war Grün (2016/rev. 2021) // Seubel, Schneidewendt, Surugue

For oboe, clarinet, percussion, synthesizer and electropneumatically operated quartertone melodicas and round conduits (6 players)

Performed by Ensemble Recherche on Nov 26, 2021 at Kulturzentrum Zehntscheuer, Rottenburg am Neckar (Germany).

Live-recording by SWR2 Baden-Baden.

****

"What is Man before Beauty lures from him his free enjoyment and tranquil form tempers his wild life? Eternally uniform in his aims, eternally shifting in his judgements, self-seeking without being himself, unfettered without being free, a slave though serving no rule. At this period the world to him is merely destiny, not yet object; everything has existence for him only insofar as it secures existence for him; what neither gives to him nor takes from him, is to him simply not there. Every phenomenon stands before him single and isolated, just as he finds himself in the ranks of beings. Everything that is, is to him through the instant’s word of command; every change is for him an entirely fresh creation, since together with the necessity within himself he lacks that necessity outside himself which binds together the varying shapes into a universe, and, with the passing of the individual, holds law firmly upon the scene of action. In vain does Nature allow her rich diversity to pass before his senses; he sees in her splendid profusion nothing but his prey, in her power and greatness nothing but his foe. Either he hurls himself at objects and wants to snatch them into himself in desire; or else the objects force their way destructively into him, and he thrusts them from him in abhorrence. In both cases his relation to the sensible world is immediate contact, and being for ever harassed by its pressure, restlessly tormented by imperious need, he finds rest nowhere but in exhaustion, and limits nowhere but in spent desire." (Friedrich Schiller, On the Aesthetic Education of Man, 1793)

Die freye Lust (Passacaglia on a Theme by Daft Punk) // Ensemble Recherche

EXCERPT #02

For large versatile ensemble (20 players).
Commissioned by Acht Brücken - Musik in Köln and Deutscher Musikrat.

Performed by the Klangforum Wien, conducted by Baldur Brönnimann.

Live-recording of the world premiere at Acht Brücken Festival 2022 on April 30th 2022, at Stadthalle Köln-Mülheim.
Recording: Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (West-German Radio Broadcast/Cologne)


✶ ✶ ✶

By the sea, by the dreary, night-colored sea,
A young man stands;
His heart full of anguish, his head full of doubts,
And with pale lips he questions the billows:
(Heinrich Heine, Questions, from: Book of Songs, North Sea, Second Cycle, 1826)

Stars shining bright above you
Night breezes seem to whisper "I love you"
Birds singing in the sycamore tree
Dream a little dream of me
(Gus Kahn, Dream a little dream of me)

… now it has happened. Nothing more. Just this, and in this way—now it has happened. If I should try to explain it, it means that that happening which gave rise to my cry has only now, with the rejoinder, really and undoubtedly happened.
(Original Remembrance, from: Dialogue, 1929, Martin Buber)

The two Voyager spacecraft are bound for the stars. Affixed to each is a gold-plated copper phonograph record with a cartridge and stylus and, on the aluminum record jacket, instructions for use. We sent something about our genes, something about our brains, and something about our libraries to other beings who might sail the sea of interstellar space. But we didn’t want to send primarily scientific information. […] Instead we wanted to tell those other beings something about what seems unique about ourselves.
(Carl Sagan, Cosmos, 1980)

“Oh solve me the riddle of Life,
The torturing, deathless riddle
Which has cracked so many heads, […]
Poor, perspiring heads of people—
Tell me, what is Man? And what's his meaning?
Where does he come from? Where is he going?
Who dwells up there among the golden stars?”

Say "Night-ie night" and kiss me
Just hold me tight and tell me you'll miss me
While I'm alone and blue as can be
Dream a little dream of me

But now something happened with me. As though I had till now had no other access from the world to sensation save that of the ear and now discovered myself as a being simply equipped with senses, both those clothed in the bodily organs and the naked senses, so I exposed myself to the distance, open to all sensation and perception.

Although the recipients may not know any languages of the Earth, we included greetings in sixty human tongues, as well as the helos of the humpback whales. We sent photographs of humans from all over the world caring for one another, learning, fabricating tools and art and responding to challenges. There is an hour and a half of exquisite music from many cultures, some of it expressing our sense of cosmic loneliness, our wish to end our isolation, our longing to make contact with other beings in the Cosmos.

Stars fading, but I linger on, dear
Still craving your kiss
I'm longing to linger till dawn, dear
Just saying this

The billows are whispering their eternal whispers.
The wind blows on, the clouds go sailing;
The stars keep twinkling, indifferent and cold.
And a fool waits for his answer.

[…] But the Voyager record is on its way out of the solar system. The erosion in interstellar space – chiefly cosmic rays and impacting dust grains—is so slow that the information on the record will last a billion years. Genes and brains and books encode information differently and persist thorugh time at different rates. But the persistence of the memory of the human species will be far longer in the impressed metal grooves on the Voyager interstellar record.

And then, not from a distance but from the air round about me, noiselessly, came the answer. Really it did not come; it was there.
It had been there—so I may explain it—even before my cry: there it was, and now, when I laid myself open to it,
it let itself be received by me.

craving your kiss (2020) // Klangforum Wien (Excerpt #2)

For flute, clarinet and grand piano

(alternative title: "Himmel floß und Fluss")

Live-recording, performed by Ensemble Aventure, at Elisabeth-Schneider-Stiftung Freiburg (Germany), July 30th, 2022

Keiko Murakami, flute
Andrea Nagy, clarinet
Akiko Okabe, piano

* * *


"Er blickte um sich, als sähe er zum ersten Mal die Welt. Schön war die Welt, seltsam und rätselhaft war die Welt! Hier war Blau, hier war Gelb, hier war Grün, Himmel floß und Fluß, Wald starrte und Gebirg, alles schön, alles rätselvoll und magisch, und inmitten er, der Erwachende, auf dem Wege zu sich selbst."

(Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha)

Hier war Blau, hier war Gelb, hier war Grün (2016, rev. 2021) // Ensemble Aventure

Live-recording at Kapuzinerkirche Paderborn (Germany), May 24th, 2023

Michael Schultheis, organ

Recording: Tobias Tobit Hagedorn

conTemp[s]lations (2010) // M. Schultheis, org

Live-recording of the performance on June 17, 2023 at Domicil, Dortmund (Germany)

Composition and live-electronic programming: Matthias Krüger

Performed by ensemble consord: 

Norbert Fabritius, trumpet
Karsten Süßmilch, trombone
Gereon Voß, drumset
Felix Feßke, bass drum 
Deborah Rawlings, synthesizer
Stephan Wolke, electric guitar
Rebekka Stephan, electric cello

Tamon Yashima, conductor
Robert Beck, live-electronic triggering

André Weisse, Matthias Krüger – sound direction

Recording: Norbert Fabritius
Mix: Matthias Krüger

le vide à perdre (2016, rev. 2019) // ensemble consord

For 4-channel electronics (fixed media). Stereo/binaural version.
Commissioned by Dominik Susteck, funded by Archdiocese of Paderborn (Germany).

Premiered at Marktkirche Paderborn (Germany) on September 2nd, 2023.

Stereo version by Matthias Krüger.

* * *
"And yet nature has added hands to our bodies primarily for the sake of language. If man had no hands, his face would be formed like that of the quadrupeds, so that he can feed himself. (...) If the body had no hands, how should an articulated voice be formed in it? The constitution of the parts situated around the mouth would not correspond then to the requirements of the language. In this case the human being would have to bleat, to emit screams, to bark, to neigh, to scream like the cattle or donkeys or to roar like wild animals.“
(Gregory of Nyssa, Sermones de creatione hominis, 379 A.D.)

mens et manus (2023) // for 4-channel electronics (stereo/binaural version)

Excerpt from "L'Être contre le vent" – Composed improvisation by Matthias Krüger, performed by Adrian Foster (organ) and Matthias Krüger (electronics + computer-enhanced organ control)

Ascension of Our Lord, Westmount (Montréal)
March 17th, 2024 – 08:30 p.m.
As part of "La Semaine du Neuf" festival by Le Vivier - Carrefour des Musiques Nouvelles

L'Être contre le vent (2024) // Kruger/Foster (Excerpt #2)

Excerpt from "L'Être contre le vent" – Composed improvisation by Matthias Krüger, performed by Adrian Foster (organ) and Matthias Krüger (electronics + computer-enhanced organ control)

// ORGAN LOFT MIC RECORDING //

Ascension of Our Lord, Westmount (Montréal)
March 17th, 2024 – 08:30 p.m.
As part of "La Semaine du Neuf" festival by Le Vivier - Carrefour des Musiques Nouvelles

L'Être contre le vent (2024) // Kruger/Foster (Excerpt #5) !!! LOFT MIC !!!

CAFÉ: Une émission d’art et culture en français depuis 1996, avec des entretiens approfondis avec des membres de la scène artistique montréalaise et de nouvelles musiques d'artistes locaux.
Every Friday 6 - 7pm (EDT)
March 15, 2024: CKUT FUNDRIVE - international artists alert : Esther s'entrentient avec Matthias Krüger et Alexe avec James Laudicina

For the full show, click here: https://ckut.ca/playlists/shows/17917

Radio interview Matthias Krüger at Radio ckut 90.3 Montréal (w/ Esther Bourdgages) [in French]

Spontaneous improvisation on the organ featured in Zhanna Kadyrova's artwork "Russian Contemporary Baroque" at Palazzo Contarini Polignac in Venice (Italy).

June 20th, 2024. Performed by Matthias Krüger.

Recording by Ferdinand Grätz, mix by Matthias Krüger.

Organ Improvisation at Palazzo Contarini Polignac (Venice)

for alto saxophone

Performed by Xavier Larsson Paez on 20 January, 2015, at Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln (Cologne, Germany

Check out the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34rvnTxDV8Y

fuckin' A! (2014)

Complete recording "L'Être contre le vent" – Composed improvisation by Matthias Krüger, performed by Adrian Foster (organ) and Matthias Krüger (electronics + computer-enhanced organ control)

Ascension of Our Lord, Westmount (Montréal)
Recordings:
Live on March 17th, 2024 – 08:30 p.m.
Studio setting on March 26th, 2024

* * *
Presented as part of "La Semaine du Neuf" festival by Le Vivier - Carrefour des Musiques Nouvelles

Huge thanks to Joel Peters who made this entire project possible.

l'Être contre le vent (2024) / COMPLETE // Matthias Krüger [elx] - Adrian Foster [org]

Dance of the Dream Men (2018) // Slagwerk Den Haag

Complete recording "L'Être contre le vent" – Composed improvisation by Matthias Krüger, performed by Tobias Tobit Hagedorn (manual organ control) and Matthias Krüger (live-electronic processing + computer-enabled organ control)

Voice recording by Constance de Bock (Paris). Excerpt of "La Jeune Parque" by Paul Valéry (1917).

KunstKulturKirche Allerheiligen, Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
Live Recording of the German premiere on June 13th, 2025 – 07:30 p.m.

l'Être contre le vent (2024) / Frankfurt 2025 // Matthias Krüger [elx], Tobias Hagedorn [org]

Complete recording "L'Être contre le vent" – Composed improvisation by Matthias Krüger, performed by Tobias Hagedorn (manual organ control) and Matthias Krüger (live-electronic processing + computer-enabled organ control)

Voice recording by Constance de Bock (Paris). Excerpt of "La Jeune Parque" by Paul Valéry (1917).

National Music Forum, Wrocław (Poland)
Live Recording of the European premiere on May 21st, 2025 – 09:00 p.m.

– BACKUP RECORDING – (official recording coming soon)

l'Être contre le vent (2024) / Wrocław 2025 // Matthias Krüger [elx], Tobias Hagedorn [org]

For alto saxophone

Performed by Xavier Larsson Paez at Kunst-Station Sankt Peter (Cologne, Germany) on October 28, 2015

Check out the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzgD5se615c

fuckin' A! (2014) // Xavier Larsson, sax

For grand piano.

Performed by Claudia Chan, February 20, 2016, at Salle de l'Institut at the Conservatoire d'Orléans

Check out the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0YnPvIJJqg

renk (2015) // Claudia Chan, pno

For flute, clarinet and piano

–– RETRACTED VERSION OF THE WORLD PREMIERE –– (for new version, see above)

Live-recording, performed by Meitar Ensemble, at Felicja Blumental Center Tel Aviv, July 14th, 2016

"Er blickte um sich, als sähe er zum ersten Mal die Welt. Schön war die Welt, seltsam und rätselhaft war die Welt! Hier war Blau, hier war Gelb, hier war Grün, Himmel floß und Fluß, Wald starrte und Gebirg, alles schön, alles rätselvoll und magisch, und inmitten er, der Erwachende, auf dem Wege zu sich selbst."

(Hermann Hesse, Siddartha)

Hier war Blau, hier war Gelb, hier war Grün (2016) // Meitar Ensemble [RETRACTED]

Matthias Krüger (b. 1987): Wie ein Stück Fett (Redux) (2015/16) 

For soprano, alto flute, prepared cello and prepared grand piano.

Ensemble BRuCH
Marie Heeschen, soprano
Sally Beck, alto flute/piccolo
Ella Rohwer, cello
Claudia Chan, piano

Recorded and produced by Deutschlandfunk Cologne/Germany.

For the video, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI-oAXTI1yo

Wie ein Stück Fett (Redux) (2015/16) // Ensemble BRuCH

Matthias Krüger (b. 1987): le vide à perdre (2016)

–– RETRACTED VERSION OF THE WORLD PREMIERE ––

For prepared trumpet, prepared trombone, bass drum, drum set, synthesizer, electric guitar, electric cello and live-electronics

Performed by Ensemble ascolta, conducted by Nicholas Kok, on February 5th, 2017 at Theaterhaus, Stuttgart (Eclat 2017)

Markus Schwind, trumpet
Andrew Digby, trombone
Julian Belli, bass drum
Boris Müller, drum set
Jürgen Kruse, synthesizer
Hubert Steiner, electric guitar
Anna Carewe, electric cello


"Quand je m’y suis mis quelquefois à considérer les diverses agitations des hommes et les périls et les peines où ils s’exposent, dans la cour, dans la guerre, d’où naissent tant de querelles, de passions, d’entreprises hardies et souvent mauvaises, etc., j’ai découvert que tout le malheur des hommes vient d’une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos,
dans une chambre. [ ... ]
De là vient que le jeu et la conversation des femmes, la guerre, les grands emplois sont si recherchés. Ce n’est pas qu’il y ait en effet du bonheur, ni qu’on s’imagine que la vraie béatitude soit d’avoir l’argent qu’on peut gagner au jeu, ou dans le lièvre qu’on court : on n’en voudrait pas, s’il était offert. [...]
De là vient que les hommes aiment tant le bruit et le remuement ; de là vient que la prison est un supplice si horrible ; de là vient que le plaisir de la solitude est une chose incompréhensible. [...]
Ainsi on se prend mal pour les blâmer ; leur faute n’est pas en ce qu’ils cherchent le tumulte, s’ils ne le cherchaient que comme un divertissement ; mais le mal est qu’ils le recherchent comme si la possession des choses qu’ils recherchent les devait rendre véritablement heureux, et c’est en quoi on a raison d’accuser leur recherche de vanité ; de sorte qu’en tout cela et ceux qui blâment et ceux qui sont blâmés entendent la véritable nature de l’homme.
Et ainsi, quand on leur reproche que ce qu’ils recherchent avec tant d’ardeur ne saurait les satisfaire, s’ils répondaient, comme ils devraient le faire s’ils y pensaient bien, qu’ils ne recherchent en cela qu’une occupation violente et impétueuse qui les détourne de penser à soi, et que c’est pour cela qu’ils se proposent un objet attirant qui les charme et
les attire avec ardeur, ils laisseraient leurs adversaires sans repartie. Mais ils ne répondent pas cela, parce qu’ils ne se connaissent pas eux-mêmes. Ils ne
savent pas que ce n’est que la chasse, et non pas la prise, qu’ils recherchent. [...]
Ils s’imaginent que, s’ils avaient obtenu cette charge, ils se reposeraient ensuite avec plaisir, et ne sentent pas la nature insatiable de leur cupidité. Ils croient chercher sincèrement le repos, et ne cherchent en effet que l’agitation.
Ils ont un instinct secret qui les porte à chercher le divertissement et l’occupation au-dehors, qui vient du ressentiment de leurs misères continuelles ; et ils ont un autre instinct secret, qui reste de la grandeur de notre première nature, qui leur fait connaître que le bonheur n’est en effet que dans le repos, et non pas dans le tumulte ; et de ces deux instincts contraires, il se forme en eux un projet confus, qui se cache à leur vue dans le fond de leur âme, qui les porte à tendre au repos par l’agitation, et à se figurer toujours que la satisfaction qu’ils n’ont point leur arrivera, si, en surmontant quelques difficultés qu’ils envisagent, ils peuvent s’ouvrir par là la porte au repos."

Blaise Pascal, Pensées

le vide à perdre (2016) // Ensemble ascolta [RETRACTED]

Live-recording of the world premiere by Ma'alot Wind Quintet at Rittergut Störmede (Westfalen, Germany) on April 28th, 2017

Recorded by Deutschlandfunk

Kersten McCall, flute
Christian Wetzel, oboe
Ulf-Guido Schäfer, clarinet
Sibylle Mahni, horn
Volker Tessmann, bassoon

"How we laugh and take joy in the irrational, the purposeless and the absurd. Our longing for these bursts out of us against all the restraints of morality and reason. Riots, revolutions, catastrophes: how they exhilarate us. How depressing it is to read the same news day after day. Oh God, if only something would happen: meaning, if only patterns would break down.
By the end of that month I was thinking if only Nixon would get drunk and say to someone, ‘Fuck you, buddy.’ If only William Buckley or Billy Graham would say, ‘Some of my best friends are Communists’; if only a sportscaster would just once say, ‘Sure is a boring game, folks.’ But they don’t. So each of us travels, to Fort Lauderdale, to Vietnam, to Morocco, or gets divorced, or has an affair, or tries a new job, a new neighborhood, a new drug, in a desperate effort to find something new. Patterns, patterns, oh, to break those chains. But we drag our old selves with us and they impose their solid oak frames on all our experience."

Luke Rhinehart, The Dice-Man (1971)

Patterns, patterns, oh, to break those chains (2017) // Ma'alot Quintet

Matthias Krüger (b. 1987): à portée de souffle (2010/11)

For saxophone quartet

Performed by Fukio Ensemble, on June 23rd, 2014 at the Concert Hall of Cologne University of Music (German premiere, live-recording)

Joaquin Sáez Belmonte, soprano saxophone
Xavier Larsson Paez, alto saxophone
José Manuel Bañuls Marcos, tenor saxophone
Xabier Casal Ares, baritone saxophone

https://www.fukioensemble.com/

à portée de souffle (2010/11) // FUKIO Saxophone Quartet

— Composer —

Matthias Krüger is a composer of contemporary classical and experimental music. He has studied music composition at Cologne’s Hochschule für Musik und Tanz and at Columbia University in New York City, as well as French language in Cologne and Sorbonne University in Paris. He spent the 2021/22 year following the postgraduate Cursus in electronic and computer music at IRCAM, Paris. His principal composition teachers include Krzysztof Meyer, Fabien Lévy and Johannes Schöllhorn. Aside from his activity as a freelance composer, he is currently a doctoral candidate at Hamburg's University of Music and Theatre, researching on hybrid composition between music, dance and theatre. Between September 2023 and April 2024 he is composer in residence at Goethe-Institut of Montreal/Le Vivier as well as a Graduate Researcher at McGill University Montreal.
He has received numerous awards (including DAAD, Berlin’s Mendelssohn competition in 2013, Cologne's Zimmermann award in 2015 and Prix Chevillion-Bonnaud of Orléans 2016) as well as commissions and has had his music performed in Austria, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the US and Canada as well as China and Japan, including festivals such as ECLAT Stuttgart, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Warsaw Autumn Festival, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, Festival de Royaumont, Northwestern University New Music Conference 2014, Shanghai New Music Week and Mallorca Saxophone Festival, and venues such as Konzerthaus Berlin, Palau de la Música Catalana Barcelona, Centre Pompidou and Carnegie Hall New York.

His first portrayed disc "ain't nuthin' but fairy dust" was released in the fall of 2021 and has been longlisted for the German Record Critics' Award 01/2022.

Matthias Krüger (b. 1987) // Composer

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