the form of collide collide is a composite composition form from four separate parts (with different combinations of instrumentation).
lectio brevis
ἀντί – Ἀνταῖος
querschnitt
ciemna materia

However, they are not played in sequence but are fragmented into sections and distributed through the 21-minute duration of collide.

additional notes on lectio brevis

The 2 parts of lectio brevis are quite different except that the violin plays the leading role in both parts (and both being a sort of dialectic (in a Hegelian sense) re‐reading of J.S. Bach’s double from Partita No.1 for violin) while the other instruments act as an almost “electronic” background. The first part consists of a sequence of disjunct phrases separated by short rests. These pauses should be as abrupt and silent as possible, almost as someone hits a mute button. The second part separates the left/right hand of the violin: left hand playing mostly glissandi between different “chords”. Both parts have the duration of approximately 160 seconds.

additional notes on ἀντί – Ἀνταῖος

The dynamics form a crucial aspect of the structure of ἀντί – Ἀνταῖος. The accented and non-accented sounds should be clearly distinguished from one another: the accented sounds are notated throughout two degrees louder than the non-accented ones. This scheme is however subject to rapid and often extreme variation in the clarinet and percussion parts, for example between p/ppp and fff/f. The violin part, on the other hand, consists mostly of gradual crescendi and diminuendi. ἀντί – Ἀνταῖος is fragmented into 4 parts, each with 22 bars in 6/8 but with a retarding tempo evolution: 120, 112.5, 108, 90 – meaning they get longer for each time. The barring of these parts is intended as an aid to coordination and has no metrical implications. The constantly-changing “metre” of the music should be associated principally with the aforementioned accentual framework.

additional notes on querschnitt

The 3 parts of querschnitt are basically different degrees of free improvisation with indications of instrumentation, duration, dynamic range and general approach. The durations of the 3 parts are: 116, 96 and 76 seconds – meaning they get shorter for each time.

additional notes on ciemna materia

The pitch-material of ciemna materia consists solely of 21 eighth-tone pitches: 6 for percussion (semi-tones, 7 for clarinet and 8 for violin

collide

Atmen – Breath.

From the onset my musical thinking has always aimed at composing out the abundance of mediations between a number of extremes, or pairs of opposites (like a single breath can be seen as the opposites of inhaling / exhaling): between sound and noise, extreme depth and highest height, durations of such length that they can hardly still be perceived, and the most fleeting moments, between greatest complexity and simplest static. Between the absolute periodicity and complete aperiodicity of rhythms, between scrupulously notated groups of notes or parts of a work and their free combination for performances, between the most detailed through-composed sections of works and passages left to the intuition of the interpreter.

But breathing is also rhythm: oscillation or vibration. On the one hand, this is a term from physical acoustics. On the other hand, “vibration” also has a metaphysical connotation. (In the context of a “theology of dance”, as the theologian Hugo Rahner has deciphered it from Greek and early Christian texts in his book Man At Play, it is “the free-soaring motion [ Beschwingung ] which God as creative principle has imparted to the cosmos.)

If music is the interplay of proportionate vibrations which move in time and which can reoccur cyclically but always generate new forms, then it is possible to say that rhythm is the essence of music, since rhythm is the reoccurrence of a movement as time passes, is repetition of something similar, not the same. The temporal arrow intervenes in the cycle of time and stakes its claim on the new, unrepeatable. In rhythm (and breath) the periodic reoccurrence of something identical, as indicated by the beat, is modulated into aperiodicity.

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Klaus Lang 6 Präludium für Klavier

Please, use headphones or good loudspeakers.

The purple fuchsia bled upon the ground. (2023–24)
Commission: Westdeutschen Rundfunk & Wien Modern

Live Recording: Pierre-Laurent Aimard & WDR Orchestra (cond. Elena Schwarz), 12 May 2024, Cologne

Photo: WDR/Holger Talinski

The purple fuchsia bled upon the ground. (2023–24), for piano and orchestra

Emergence II. Sans fond ni rivage

Wand'ring Bark (2024)

Recorded 13 April 2025, Skt Lukas Kirke, Aarhus, Denmark

Ensemble Abstraktion
Charlotte Norholt, flute/piccolo; Patricia Martín González, clarinet
Henrik Knarborg, percussion; David Strong, piano
Anne Sophie Andersen, violin; Malthe Volfing Højager, cello
Robert Andrew Baker, conductor

The third part of the triptych, Veil - Arc - Trace.

www.ensembleabstraktion.com
www.robertabaker.net

Trace for six instruments

The Catholic University of America Choirs and Symphony Orchestra. Recorded live, 4 December 2015, Washington, DC.
Molly Allen; soprano; Leo Nestor, conductor

EXCERPT (Introduction)

Stellam - Lunam - Rorate caeli desuper for soprano, chorus & orchestra (Introduction)

2017 New work for Accordion and String Quartet - live recording.
Andreas Borregaard & Sonar Quartett

photo by: Klang Festival

Dissolved Voices for Accordion and String Quartet

For flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano & percussion. 

Trace for six instruments

Robert A. Baker

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