Chagall’s clock

I’ve came to the idea of a new piece after the impact given by Marc Chagall canvases, where the image of the time is engraved. It is the image of the time and not the time as itself. One can see the formula of this image at the clock-face where hands time the equal sections in different directions. They represent 10 hours (Roman numeral X) and 10 minutes (Roman numeral II). These sections are equal quantitatively as if it would be a draft, but not qualitatively. As used here a minute is just a little movement of the minute-hand while 60 seconds are the complete circle, which the hand radius passes by. It means that equivalent in quality they are not equivalent in quantity. Looking at the clock-face we can time or fix the time only numerically at the moment of a glance, setting hands position as well as engraving the image of the time. On the contrary we are not capable to catch the qualitative changes of the time, its flow. We can just turn it into the gesture, for instance, the gesture of the minute-hand. And then it’s no more the image of the “now”, but the image of the “no more now” or the “not yet now”. The number of musicians in the piece corresponds with the numbers on the clock-face or to tell it fairer with the point placed in the middle of two sections ? and II and simultaneously equal to their total sum, i.e. to XII.  The whole ensemble is a specific clock mechanism with invisible hands which are being replaced in the circle or stopped with the glance of observer from time to time.
First performance – 2010, Basel Music Academy Concert Hall, “Phoenix Ensemble”, Conductor – Jürg Henneberger