commentary to opus 99a

Eight "Musical Paintings" for Percussion solo, op. 99a (1995)

I. Ezechiel 37

II. Passion I

III. Passion II

IV. Passion III

V. Dreieck

VI. Viereck

VII. Kreis

VIII. Ludi

Percussion: Vibraphone, 2 Tom-Toms, Stand-Tom-Tom (large 18''/22''), Bongos, Small Drum, Bass Drum, 5 Templeblocks, 3 Crotales, 4 Cymbals, Sizzle Cymbal, small Glissando-Gong, 2 Gongs (medium-sized), Tam-Tam (32 Inches), Log-Drum, Vibraslap, Chimes (metall), Flexaton, 2 Stones, 2 Tubular Bells, 2 Bottles, Ocean-Drum, Rain-Stick, Guiro, Cow Bells, 2 Chains (heavy/light), Dobaci (could be replaced by a vibraphone) Triangle.

First performance: December 15, 1995, Gnadenthal (Bad Camberg)
Stefan Eblenkamp

Duration: 21 Minutes

There are manifold artistic links between music and painting. Particularly towards the end of this century many artists have been looking for mutual collaboration or have found inspiration in such guidelines.

My first musical encounter with a combination of both arts dates back to my childhood days, when I played a piece written by American percussion player Al Payson entitled "The twittering machine", which was based on Paul Klee's painting of the same name. Ever since that time I have been interested as a performer in the fascinating relationship between colors and sounds. As I see it, percussion instruments with their enormous capabilities in terms of musical coloring are a particularly natural choice for such a task.

With great enthusiasm I have kept track for many years of the work of painter Andreas Felger and was therefore particularly pleased when he asked me to help him set some of his works to music.

With Bertold Hummel we succeeded in winning a composer for this plan who was able to transform the aspects of contents, form and color of the chosen paintings in a masterly manner into eight pronounced musical statements.

I am grateful for having been given the opportunity to participate in the creation and the first as well as a few other performances of these "Klangbilder". I'd recommend to combine future performances of the pieces with a slide presentation of the corresponding paintings, because only the direct and simultaneous linking of both dimensions will convey the full artistic power of the "musical paintings".

Stefan Eblenkamp

For performances combined with a slide presentation a set of slides can be ordered from:

(©) Präsenz Galerie
Gnadenthal
D-65597 Hünfelden
Germany

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