For various groups formed out of an ensemble of 15 players, requiring conductor
First complete performance: June 9th 2011 in the Arnold Schönberg Center (Vienna), played by the Ensemble Wiener Collage
Duration: ca. 45 minutes

The cycle can be played as a whole, but each piece can also be performed seperately.

STRUCTURES I, op. 7/1 (1981)

»dedicated to Herbert Rainer«

For flute and bassoon
Duration: ca. 5 minutes

STRUCTURES II, op. 7/2 (1981)

»To my dear friend Harald Ossberger«

For piano
Premiere: 1982, at the »Fest der Neuen Musik« in Wiener Neustadt (Austria), played by Harald Ossberger
Duration: ca. 3 minutes
Score: ECA Nr. 71008 Score (Extract, Pdf)

STRUCTURES III, op. 7/3 (1981)

»dedicated in friendship to the Gustav Mahler Quartet«

For string quartet
Premiere: 1990, in the »Jugendstiltheater« (Vienna), played by the Gustav Mahler Quartet
Duration: ca. 4 minutes
Score: ECA Nr. 8011

STRUCTURES IV, op. 7/4 (1981/82)

»dedicated to Karin Nemec«

For trumpet, two horns, two trombones, and tuba
Premiere: in Vienna, played by students of the »Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst«, conducted by Werner Hackl
Duration: ca. 7 minutes
Score: ECA Nr. 76003

STRUCTURES V, op. 7/5 (1981/82)

»Dedicated to my dear friends Carlos Rivera and Motti Miron«

For violin, clarinet, and piano
Premiere: 1982, at the »Fest der Neuen Musik« in Wiener Neustadt (Austria), played by Motti Miron, René Staar and Harald Ossberger
Duration: ca. 9 minutes
Score: ECA Nr. 73006 Score (Extract, Pdf)

STRUCTURES VI, op. 7/6 (1982)

»to Christian Meyer«

For chamber ensemble
Premiere: 17. Dezember 2001 in the Vienna Musikverein (Brahms-Saal), played by the Ensemble Kontrapunkte, conducted by Peter Keuschnig
Duration: ca. 16 minutes
Score: ECA Nr. 85001 Score (Extract, Pdf)

About the pieces:

The entire tonal material of the six pieces (structures) is derived from a single five note chord. Nevertheless each piece has its own character.

Structures #1) for flute and bassoon employs in the exposition the intervals of the five note chord horizontally in both voices without any regulated connection among them. In the further parts -variations - these voices have partly a strict connection, partly they set forth the free method of the exposition. The changes between dance-like, cadence-like and brilliant virtuosic parts shape the development of the musical materials, determining nevertheless the ascetic character of this piece.
The piece was composed between 23 October and 16 November 1980 in Vienna.

Structures #2) for piano solo forms different chords from the intervals of the original five note chord. It begins with a two voiced line which therefore (because it must be embellished with touch and must be pedaled) functions chordally with the interspersed two voice line in contrast. A brief polyphonic section leads to the conclusion over the reprise of the beginning. The character of the piece is harsh and abrupt.
The piece was composed on 23 April 1981 in Lima, Peru.

Structures #3) for string quartet (2 violins, viola, cello) begins very elegiacally through the interspersed playing of an irrational 4 voiced choral. From dissolving sweetness and gentleness it changes into a slow forward movement to an explosion-like culmination which ends in 5 bizarre lightweight presto measures. Obviously the musical material for this piece is also derived from the original five-note chord.
The piece was composed on 17 March 1981 in Lima, Peru.

Structures #4) for brass (trumpet in c, 2 horns in f, 2 tenor trombones, tuba) presents the original five-note chord with its transpositions and registers as a starting point for a process which forms a calm homophonic section. Soon, nevertheless, each of the six instrumental parts demands its independence, at first shy and holding back together with the other partners, but finally always more and more demanding. The process is divided into different parts, and each overcomes and destroys the previous one. Thus will the material always be formed a new culminating finally in a presto blast in all of the parts which finally bursts out. The piece represents the eternal circulation, birth and growth, and finally the destruction of old cultures by the new, fresh cultures and people as well as the inhuman violence which that brings.
The piece was composed between 19 April 1981 in Lima, Peru and 8 June 1982 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Structures #5) for violin, clarinet in a, and piano, with the subtitle »Music for the innocent of the crimes of the war of 1981. Dedicated to my dear friends Carlos Rivera and Motti Miron in our common desire for the defeat of hate and violence through our friendship and work«.
In the autumn of 1980 René Staar founded the Trio Des Trois Mondes (Trio of the Three Worlds) together with the Peruvian Pianist, Carlos Rivera and the Israeli conductor and clarinettist Motti Miron. The impression that in Europe the aversion to people of the so-called »Third World« exists and grows more and more became a certainty as he visited Mexico and Peru, in March/April 1981 after a concert tour in the USA. A quote of the author:

»As I saw the extreme and inhumane poverty in these countries and remembered how theses countries have been handled by Europeans, indeed the so-called »development« (accomplished seemingly merely on a material level) in Europe would not have been possible without the oppression of the people in the colonies, I recognized that each of us owes a great deal to the so-called »Third World«. This poverty into which the innocent people of these countries were forced has led directly to hunger, criminality, and economic and cultural dependence. Through European influence it has come - and comes more and more - to great pressure on the people by the military, and to genocide. The natural and cultural riches of entire continents are - and are still ever more - being destroyed, only in order to serve European greed and cultural arrogance, which has led not only to impoverishment of these countries, but also, in a stupid way, to the impoverishment of the European spirit. We, who we live in wealthy countries, should feel responsible for that, and should be clever enough to try to help.«

It was only logical that the composer of the piece for the Trio Des Trois Mondes writes it in memory of the innocent who were murdered in unjust wars - which (at least hypothetically) were supported by Europe, the USSR, and the USA. The end of this war has gone on ever since 1945 – in reality a third World War – must be the responsibility of each true human being.
The starting point of this work is a double choral, which once more is built from the general musical materials of Structures. The four middle themes are variations, which return to the chorale, at least in its reversed constellation.
The piece was composed between 23 July and 29 July 1981 in Hilversum, Netherlands, and in Vienna.

Structures #6) for all instruments used in Structures 1-5 plus a Tambourine. The material of the last Structures consists of other variations of the original five note chord. The work consists of three parts: the exposition, in which the material is first presented, the development which presents the material in new relationships and finally the recapitulation, which is also a sharply abbreviated recapitulation of all 6 Structures.
Integrated within this procedure of 6 Variations a saltarella makes its appearance, for the composer has used a medieval saltarella melody (London, British Museum, ms. Add 29987). In any case the development of these 6 Variations, which are bound up with the musical material of the five note chord, are independent of the above mentioned composition. The structural parts overflow into the saltarelli or evolve out of it, even though the saltarella begins very strongly, that which follows becomes shorter and shorter, until the 5th leads to a reprise. In this recapitulation the ascetic foundational idea of Structure #1 becomes the connecting thread, on which the other recapitulation sections appear to be dependent, as though one wants to remember a dream, which was dreamed the night before, and can recall it only in fragments. Finally only the thread remains, on which these memories seem to hang, over and faded in the end.
The piece was composed between 22 June and 22 August 1982 in Geneva, and later revised.