Dieter Ammann’s latest work was composed for the Ensemble intercontemporain. In it he experiments with developments in repeating structures.

Form in music, according to a basic theory, becomes something which can be experienced when musical material recurs, thus structuring what is heard. Dieter Ammann pursues a game with the principle of variation and repetition in Le réseau des reprises, which received its premiere at the Festival “Musica” in Strasbourg. This “theme” in a composition is something new in Dieter Ammann’s output, for the tight-knit works of the Swiss composer have previously been distinguished by the principle of uniqueness, excluding repetition as a formal means.

In Le réseau des reprises, Ammann treads new paths, “a reflection on everything which repetition and variants can signify. It is a kind of ‘variations serieuses’ in which the phenomenon of repetition, that is the formation of variants on quite different levels, is made into the compositional theme.” According to the composer, the process is not about a “block-like sequence of sample-like modules, but about the creation of non-linear sequences – that is, with leaps backwards as well as forwards – whilst simultaneously retaining a forward-driving basic character as the dramatic principle. The compositional challenge lies, therefore, in overcoming a paradox, namely in shaping a constantly developing music despite the repetitive elements.”

For the listener, what results is a game of deception with the elements of the composition which are permuted on different levels, are confronted with new instrumental layers, parts of whose bars are exchanged or compromised, a game with the recognizability of the familiar and the new. At the same time Ammann experiments with the tempo of harmonic sequences. The working title “vertige vertical” expresses this concisely: “a further paradox”, explains Ammann, “is the attempt to maintain the harmonic tempo (that is the progression of chords) in certain passages at such a speed that their consonant verticality recedes in the perception in favour of horizontal movement patterns”. The listener expects a fast-moving, virtuoso and tight-knit game with the patterns of his or her own perception.                                                                         

Marie Luise Maintz

(aus [t]akte 2/2014)