Icons for vibraphone (op. 57a, 1975)
Dedicated to Hermann Gschwendtner
I., II., III., IV., V.
Vibrafon
Duration: 14 minutes
Hermann Gschwendtner
Title: IKONEN (Suite) for vibraphone solo - Length: 7 pages - Date: I.: - / II.: 10 Sept. 75 Athens / III.: 11 Sept. Athens / IV.: 12 Sept. Athens / V.: 13 Sept. Athens - Location: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich
C.F. Peters Music Publishers EP 8383
Hummel's"Five Icons for Vibraphone" were composed in 1975 during a trip to Greece. They were inspired by Byzantine icons in Orthodox churches, by the ringing of the bells and the prayers of the faithful in front of the icons. They provide a chain of exciting rhythms. Sophisticated sound structures allow for multiple dynamic differentiations, and glittering scales flicker through a polyphony of "bell chimes".
Literature list of the German Music Council for the competition "Jugend musiziert": Difficulty level 4/ difficult (intermediate level II)
The work was created during a trip to Greece in 1975. The five sketches record the impressions of visits to Byzantine churches with their marvellous icons like a diary. - Impressions of a light and dark piety, strange and yet familiar, calm and yet moving, contradictory and yet harmonious.
Bertold Hummel