The »Perspectives of Parallel and Contrary Movements« are a subdivision of the larger cycle Studies for Winds op. 29. They can be played either separately, as a cycle, or mixed with other Studies for Winds op. 29.

August Strindberg's novella Alone (Ensam), in which old friends meet again after several decades and realize how far apart they have grown over the intervening years, inspired me to compose this work cycle.

Similarly to life always shifting perspectives, one can imagine floating reed islands in moving waters that can be seen from a distance. The islands drift towards one another, seem to meet according to the perspective of the observer, although they only move past each other, and separate again.

 I have tried to translate this living picture into musical islands, in which perspective and change dominate the flowing events. What appear as musically fixed thoughts are presented in isolation, interlaced and separated. It thus becomes clear that it is not only these apparently fixed cells that change but also the environment, the form and the tempo. The dynamics are also subject to continual change.

The cycle so far consists of:

Perspectives of Parallel and Contrary Movements I, op. 29 I No. 1

»For Vasile Marian«

for oboe solo
Duration: 2'30''
Premiere: February 10, 2008, in ASC, by Vasile Marian 

Published by Edition Contemp Art (Verlagsgruppe Hermann),
Obtainable via www.schott-music.com
Product number: VGH 1571-70

In this study for solo oboe, a short three-bar rhythmic motive - consisting of dotted eighth, eighth, two sixteenths, eighth, dotted eighth - undergoes continual transformations. Looking at the motif, one notices that the note values shorten toward the center of the two sixteenth notes, only to expand again in a retrograde manner. These metamorphoses go so far that at the end of the piece one can no longer recognize the shape of the original motif.

Perspectives of Parallel and Contrary Movements II, op. 29 II C No. 1
for B-flat clarinet and tenor saxophone
Composed in Vienna in 2009
Duration: 1'35''
Premiere: February 9, 2010 in Vienna by Stefan Neubauer and Peter Rohrsdorfer

The duo study for clarinet and tenor saxophone carries the insights gained in the quartet study for alto saxophone, trumpet and two trombones into a duo setting, where the more frequent use with tetrachords and longer phrases is striking.

Perspectives of Parallel and Contrary Movements II, op. 29 IV H No. 1
for saxophone, trumpet, and two trombones
Duration: 3'19''
Premiere: November 13, 2007, in the Vienna Musikverein, within the festival »Wien Modern«, played by the EWC conducted by René Staar

Published by Edition Contemp Art (Verlagsgruppe Hermann),
Obtainable via www.schott-music.com
Product number: VGH 1572-71 (Score and parts)

The quartet study for alto saxophone, trumpet and two trombones deals with shifts of rhythmically determined phrases, especially through two tandems (that of saxophone and trumpet, and that of the two trombones) and also processes them in manifold transformations.

Perspectives of Parallel and Contrary Movements IV op. 29 IV J Nr. 1 (2023/24)
Instrumentation: flute, oboe, B-flat clarinet, and bassoon
Duration: 5'47''

In contrast to the previous pieces of this cycle, transformations are limited almost exclusively to the inner intervals and the modifications that result from the alternation between three and four voices.

Since the piece is largely homophonic, there are hardly any opportunities to juxtapose structures against each other, although the beginning of the piece might suggest such a procedure. Instead, there are subtle internal changes of perspective, e.g., in the choice of registers and harmonic usage, as well as in the types of articulation and the duration of the individual harmonic areas – although the term "areas" may not be the most appropriate in this context, since each harmony is broken up by rapid repetitions and trill figurations that create the impression of a rapid tempo, and demand extreme skill and great virtuosity from each performer.

The piece consists of three main parts: an exposition, during which fairly small, partially repeated intervals and scalar structures are in the foreground; a section characterized by wide intervallic leaps; and a recapitulation, in which the rhythmic elements of the exposition reappear within a different harmonic profile. In the coda, a ritardando effect is achieved through rhythmic deceleration as well as a decrease in dynamics and the use of an extremely wide range. (René Staar, 12 January 2024)