Qadar

1997

Flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano

UA: 3/8/1998, Darmstadt, Phorminx Ensemble

CD: BVHAAST 0400 Performer(s): Ensemble Phorminx

QADAR was composed in 1997. The title refers to mediaeval Arabic philosophy, where it means “measure of things”, – not in the Christian-scholastic sense of a measure imposed upon things but as a measure which arises from matter itself. As the great Arabic philosopher Avicenna (Ibn Sina) formulated as early as in the 11th century: “Development is the emergence of form from matter”.

In my opinion this is a highly musical thought which describes, better than I could, my thinking concerning musical processes. Being the (only) child of the “serial” Cologne school, I cherish greatly the idea of developing musical processes and forms from the smallest elements or figures, and of doing this in such a way that the “measure” of the form is the result of this developmental process and not an obstrusion upon it.

The piece was written for the Phorminx Ensemble. QADAR is dedicated to José Luis de Delàs for his 70th birthday.

You can download the score here: Qadar.pdf