Kaleidoscope (2004)

mp3 Ausschnitt  (Nikolaus Kolb, oboe; Das Neue Ensemble Hanover; conductor: Stephan Meier)     programme notes Especially in the composition technique of this work for solo oboe, string orchestra or quintet and harpsichord parallels to a kaleidoscope can be found. The piece consists of several “small and colourful stones” which are hitting each other in steadily different combinations when the kaleidoscope is turned and so various pictures are coming into being in that way. The extent of changes is also different and the rotation is more or less abrupt. However a real metamorphose does not take place. The tempo of changes is irregular, sometimes the kaleidoscope turns fast, sometimes a picture gets some more attention. Like these combinations – based on coincidence – a waltz appears suddenly and apparently by chance. This waltz is at the same time a kind of play with different historical perspectives. The setting of oboe, string quintet (or orchestra) and harpsichord provokes a definite association: the music of the Italians Baroque maestros seems to sound at once. Not only today this music seems to be antique, even in the earlier times it has already been “oldfashioned”. The waltz functions as a kind of “bridge” between the epochs as dance forms played an important role also in the Baroque time. When this waltz is played by the harpsichord, it sounds like a stylistical anticipation. The same constellation when the rhythm of the “Kaiser-Waltz” by Johann Strauss is quoted for a moment.