Ikonen for Vibraphone, op 57a (1975)
II.
III.
IV.
V.
First
Performance: April 6, 1976, München, Lenbachhaus
Hermann
Gschwendtner
Duration: 14 Minutes
Publisher: C.F. Peters Musikverlag EP 8383
Video: Works by Hummel on youtube
The
work was written during a stay in Greece in 1975.
The five sketches are like
diary notes recording impressions of visits to Byzantine churches with their splendid
icons - impressions of a piety with light and shade, foreign and yet familiar,
peaceful and yet in motion, full of contrasts and yet a harmonious whole.
Bertold
Hummel
Press
Fränkisches
Volksblatt, 23rd November, 1979
Hummel's
"Five Icons for Vibraphone" were written in 1975 during a visit to Greece.
They were inspired by Byzantine icons in orthodox churches, by the sound of bells
and by the prayers of believers in front of the icons. They bring us a chain of
stimulating rhythms. Refined combinations of sounds make a variety of dynamic
differentiation possible and glittering scales shimmer through a complex polyphony
of "bell chimes".