DESCRIPTION:
Gestalt für Orchester (Figure for Orchestra) (1980)

Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra
Cristóbal Halffter

This work is based on a nine-bar passage which is taken up and varied many times in the course of section I, and later as well. Intrinsically, this passage owes its character to the scale B-C-F-E-A-G sharp-G-D-B flat, which governs all four sections of the piece. In its acoustical form, however, it is given to upper-register string sonorities based on a', to the sonorities of the piano, vibraphone and xylophone, and to the trumpets and woodwinds. The e''' in the piccolo dominates and delimits the upper register. These few bars present "breaths" of sound entering peacefully at half-bar intervals.

At first glance, the form of section I may give cause for surprise. The expressive character of the basic figure is subjected to a process of progressive erosion: a conflicting pizzicato structure takes up an increasing amount of space -- three, five and finally 13 bars. Thus section I seems to be riddled with fissures, torn apart by crevasses. On the other hand, the initial passage expands its tonal ambitus to C and is enriched by pivoting 2nds in the deep winds. The conflict between the breathing sounds and the pizzicato attacks from the strings leads ultimately (once the fundamental has changed again from C to E) to a fortissimo gesture which ushers in section 2.

Section 2 evolves from a quiet sonority into a modal-periodic continuum, and hence into a mode of musical thought which finds expression in the overlapping of repeating figues. At first these repetitive layers are given to the piano, marimba and alto flute. Gradually, however, the texture incorporates other formulations and instruments and is accented by striking eight-note figures in the trombones and horns rising to the octave. This section too expands its tonal ambitus, this time from D flat to d", culminating in a 12-note chord. Following these two sections, which pose a conflict and yet remain meditative and subdued, section 3 is given the function of developing the compositional elements and the areas of expression. Seeking to strike a balance between East and West, Hamel begins by presenting the pizzicato structure in frenetic abbreviation and superimposing repeating figures upon it. Even the basic figure itself is manipulated, its half-bar gestures either being welded into mighty blocks of sound or blurring as the unaccented portions of the bar are filled in. This entire process ultimately leads to nine chords based on the fundamental C.

Section 4 is the shortest in the piece. It takes up elements from section 2, extracting the modal-periodic continuum and again developing the eight-note figure in the trombones and horns before ending with a virtually literal reminiscence of the original basic figure. --Wolfgang Burde

Art by Charline von Heyl