Dorothee Eberhardt

Magma

Like a glowing mass of rock, magma, the rhythm of the quintet's first movement bubbles. Motivic fragments of individual voices break out of this rhythm, which is based on a twenty-bar structure, and dive back into it. The mass as a whole is also in motion, expanding and contracting. The result is a living, breathing body of sound with a wide variety of chords in tonal spaces of varying sizes, up to and including semitone clusters.

The second movement combines stark contrasts: it begins with a rhythmic passage played by flute, oboe and clarinet in their highest registers, at first interrupted, then accompanied by sharp accents in bassoon and horn. In the middle of the movement, a floating material in the oboe begins, gently led to the ground by the flute with aeolian air sounds. A horn solo follows, soft and expressive, soaring up from the depths and sliding back down again. Finally, a solo by the bassoon, aggressive and loud, with strong vibrato, fluttering tongue and blaring sounds. The movement ends much as it began: with rhythmic material in the high register played by flute, oboe and clarinet, sharply accented by bassoon and horn. The basis of the third movement is formed by alternating chords played by all five instruments in complex but clearly structured rhythms. From these moving tutti, longer virtuosic solos by flute together with clarinet, oboe together with bassoon, and horn emerge. Towards the end of the movement, the solos follow each other in shorter and shorter intervals, until at the end all instruments play their solo material simultaneously.

In addition to conventional playing techniques (flutter tonguing, trills, tremoli, horn glissando, etc.), the piece also features more unusual playing techniques.), the piece also features more unusual sounds: e.g. lip glissandi in oboe and bassoon; pure air sounds in clarinet, horn and bassoon; aeolian sounds in the flute and blaring sounds and strong vibrato in the bassoon.