Flex

The initial idea for this piece was about flexible metal. An apparently rigid raw material is being bent more and more and this way engages into microtonally changed, more or less elastic scale models, due to the technical possibilities of the different ensemble instruments. This way, the “rigid” autoharp, an American zither for amateur musicians, contributes combined with the plucked piano to a more “flexible” overall sound. The plucking of the (metal-) strings, whose manual deflection at some points lead to repetitive halts, served as a model for further acoustic developments. The “flex” possesses similarities to the metal instrument flexatone, which is, together with the autoharp, another tonal “outlaw” within the overall ensemble sonority. It is being accompanied by its “older sister” the musical saw. The continuous bending of this combination results at the end in a “tonal opportunism”, where the autoharp pretends to sound like a string instrument, or the woodwind players try to subordinate themselves at any cost to the brass instruments “alla tromba”. With the grotesque glissandi of the trombone at the end of the piece, the idea of the “flexible metal” is finally being led ad absurdum.

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