GEMINI

Duets for violin and another instrument.

Commentary on numbers A1 - A10

The composer René Staar's premises for his works include various phenomena that the average educated observer would not necessarily consider relevant to music. Rhythm and sound are a foundation that the composer builds on in his individal way. The simultaneous sounding of different notes has always fascinated musicians of the most diverse cultures to such an extent that entire generations have constructed models and schools of thought that have led finally to that which we regard today as a "European" musical culture. Harmonic theory and counterpoint have developed into disciplines which have drawn up rules seemingly unalterable and 'eternal' when viewed superficially.
However, just as the conception of dissonance has evolved from generation to generation, so will the simultaneous combination of various notes and forms continue to change and new rules and ideas will be created and developed from apparantly dead, dry and stagnating material.

In his "GEMINI" series, which serves the Ensemble WIENER COLLAGE (formed in 1986) as challenging excercise material, Staar develops with the help of his new insights formative models gained from acquired and transformed harmonic structures each of which combines confrontationally or fusionally two different chords. René Staar has developed an harmonic theory chrystallized from a musical language originally resulting from the tension between major-minor tonality and the idea of an all-embracing dodecaphony which he describes as "creation of harmonic models with the aid of chord realignment"

Since 1991 Staar has been working on the "Premier Livre" of his Gemini-duets which in each case take as their starting-point combinations of two four-part chords formed entirely from intervals of seconds. This first series will comprise 15 duets altogether. The "Deuxieme Livre" will consist of pieces in which the musical material is formed out of two five-part chords completely in seconds.

The DUO A1 for violin and flute (A= working number: is a temporary, chronological numbering to be replaced later by another system - eg. based on instrument groups or performance practice) was written for Wolfgang Schulz, the Vienna Philharmonic's solo flute-player. The short piece demonstrates how, in addition to chord-realignment, other formative elements consciously progress beyond the boundaries of traditional compositional techniques.

A new type of rhythm resulting solely from the relatedness of the tempi is here just as important as the choice of diverse time units which determine the character of the time dimension in the harmonic development. Also a further third rhythmic dimension which lends an additional spiral element is effected by a counteracting accentuation of the movement formulae.

Place and date of composition: Vienna 22.January 1991.
Duration 1 minute 40 seconds.
Place and date of the first and subsequent important performances:
Première 18th March 1991 in Kyoto, later Slovakian Prem. Bratislava, melos-ethos Festival 15th November 1995, Aust.Prem. Salzburg Aspekte Festival Mozarteum 20th September 1997.
CD 10 Years Ensemble Wiener Collage

(1 MB)
(Performers: the composer - violin, Günter Federsel - flute)

The DUO A2 for violin and cello is divided into various phases whose individual characteristics are identified by the composer alphabetically. Each phase manifests 2-3 characteristic developments which clearly define the structure of the piece (phase 1a - frenzied, passionate, phase 1b - dolce e legatissimo, phase 1c - giocoso, the characteristics of phase 2: a - grandioso, b - misterioso, phase 3: a - dramatico, b - steady, lightly urgent, c - brutal, phase 4: a - delicate, b - with growing intensity, c - tumultous, phase 5: a - clearly phrased, b - heavily accented, pesante,vivo). Contrapunctal dovetailing lies at the heart of this duo which was written for the Vienna Philharmonic's solo-cellist, Franz Bartolomey.

Place and date of composition: Vienna on 17th February 1991.
Duration 1 minute 35 seconds.
Place and date of the first and subsequent important performances:
Première 30th October 1996 Lecture Concert of the Austrian Composer's Union, Hobokensaal, Albertina, Vienna. Hung.Prem. Budapest 2nd October 1997.

The formal component of the DUO A3 for violin and viola is characterized by a "cutting-room" style structure (hence the marking of the indivisual parts as "Take" 1 - 3). Each of these cuts represents an intensification of the overall design by means of staggered acceleration although the general impression is one of gentle lines and wavelike motion. This duo was first performed 1991 in Kyoto by its dedicatee, the Vienna Philharmonic viola-player Wolf-Dieter Rath and the composer.

Place and date of composition: Toronto on 24th Febuary 1991.
Duration 2 minutes.
Place and date of the first and subsequent important performances:
Première 18th March 1991 Kyoto; Aust.Prem. 30th October 1996 Lecture Concert of the Aust.Composer's Union, Hobokensaal, Albertina, Vienna.

The DUO A4 for violin and clarinet (written for the Vienna Philharmonic's solo-clarinetist, Ernst Ottensamer) is the shortest of the Gemini series to date with a duration of just over one minute. Direction and tempo are set by a rapidly pulsating Quick March pervaded by feverish syncopations and varying metres.
Place and date of composition Tokyo 7th March 1991.
Duration 1 minute 20 seconds

Place and date of the first and subsequent important performances. Première 18th March 1991 Kyoto, Hung.Prem. Budapest 2nd October 1997.

At first glance DUO A5 for violin and piccolo seems to be based on a conventional, almost variation-form related technique. Here too, however, the composer surmounts traditional clichés. A rather restrained basic tempo robs the piccolo of its customary loud, dominatingly soaring role and violin flageolets even occasionally force the piccolo into a subordinate position. Traditional characteristics of the piccolo come into play in this basically piano piece only as a means of contrast. Formally the composer works with a continually modified refrain and contrasting episodes which, remind us of and, indeed, caricature the more traditional use of the piccolo.

After the short Duo A4 this piece, written for the philharmonic flute-player Günther Federsel and the longest yet (with a duration of 5 minutes), developed into a mini-epic whose formal division into refrain and episodes result in an unique individual with its own raison d'etre.

Place and date of composition: Vienna 1st December.
Duration 5 minutes 40 seconds
Place and date of the first and subsequent important performances:
Première 15.11.1995 Bratislava, melos-ethos Festival, Aust.Prem. Aspekte Festival May 1996
Salzburg, Mozarteum.

In his DUO A6 for violin and trombone the composer seems to revert once more to the march character of Duo A4 intensified here, however, into something grotesque and absurd by orgies of glissandi in both instruments and unexpected rhythmic dovetailing. Trombone and violin indulge in a satirical trial of strenth, tailor-made for the character of the philharmonic solo trombone-player and dedicatee Rudolf Josel.

Place and date of composition: Vienna December 1991 - January 1992
Duration 3 minutes 25 seconds

DUO A7 for violin and tenor saxophone lives off the tension between divisions into two and three of various units. Relations and time units are used more purposefully as in Duo A1 for example. Tension and relaxation of the chordal development result from a calculated structural extension that appears to determine the form of the piece although it is at no time melodically or harmonically noticeably relevant or break out of the appointed framework. The piece is dedicated to the Ensemble Wiener Collage's saxophone player, Peter Rohrsdorfer.

Place and date of composition:Vienna 18th July 1995.
Duration 2 minutes 30 seconds.
Place and date of the first and subsequent important performances:
Première 17th November Bratislava, melos-ethos Festival, Hungarian Prem. 2nd October 1997

In the DUO A8 for violin and accordeon (written for the accordeonist Alfred Melichar) the composer creates, by means of flowing overlapping of the violin part with that of the accordeon, apparently atmospheric transformations that are intensified gradually by tempo and character changes only quite suddenly to disappear completely by a resolution of the final chord. The composer here consciously simplifies the formal structure in the interest of the mood and flow of the music.

Place and date of composition: Vienna 14th April 1997.
Duration 2 minutes 30 seconds.
Place and date of the first and subsequent important performances: Première 20th September 1997, Vienna ORF Studio I, Jubilee Concert 10 years Ensemble Wiener Collage.
CD 10 years Ensemble Wiener Collage

The DUO A9 for violin and double bass (written for the Ensemble Wiener Collage's Michael Seifried) plays with tempo relations within a complex, rhythmic structure and so generates an extreme intensification and transformation of character whereby syncopation and accent effects underline the absurdity of the course of events. Formally the work is characterized primarily by complex tempo relations that stand in contrast to harmonic and rhythmic modulations.

Place and date of composition: 14th May 1997.
Duration 1 minute 50 seconds
Place and date of the first and subsequent important performances:
Première 20th September 1997 Vienna ORF Studio I, Jubilee Concert 10 years Ensemble Wiener Collage.
CD 10 Jahre Ensemble Wiener Collage

Another longer piece, the DUO A10 for violin and trumpet is written for the Ensemble Wiener Collage's young trumpet player Martin Angerer. An idea is developed in two different ways. The form is determined by a phrase consisting of two halves, one stating one amplifying, which occur in five contradistinctive manifestations. These manifestations differ from each other in their harmonic progression and alignment (including the number of chords combined together), in their rhythmically articulated form, in tempo and metre, in the relationship between the two instruments and therefore have nothing in common with the variation form.The composer imposes strange sound patterns such as those of the "wow-wow"-muted trumpet initially articulating its rhythmns with the aid of muting effects and, with its syncopations, contrasting with the 5/8 movements, divided into groups of three and five, in the violin.

The syncopations in the trumpet part at the outset carry the seeds for the further development as mutually divergent syncopation on the second level while the third creates a metrical-rhythmic interplay in which trumpet signals are set into ethereal violin flageolets by means of spontaneous glissando - attacks. Muted flutter-tongue effects and ponticello tremolos produce accents that are woven into a snake-like semiquaver passage (level 4) in varying metre. Level 5 turns around the development of contrapunctally organized rhythmns that transform a fanfare-like trumpet structure into a strangely grotesque oscillation between triplets and duplets before bringing the piece to a surprisingly abrupt conclusion.

Place and date of composition: Vienna 16th April 1998.
Duration 4 minutes 20 seconds
Place and date of the first performance:
Première 4th June 1998. CD Presentation 10 years Ensemble Wiener Collage, Arnold Schoenberg Center, Vienna.