Olga Neuwirth
…ad auras… In memoriam H (1999) #12’25”
pour deux violons
In ...ad auras... - In memoriam H. for two violins and wooden drum ad libitum (1999) the alienation of sound once again plays a vital role. It is achieved here by the two violins playing minimally out of tune with each other rather than through the incorporation of noise spectra; as a result, this composition is dominated by an intentional lack of clarity. This is especially clear when similar melodic figures and different rhythms overlap in the two voices, producing
microtonal differences. Through the adroit interlacement and superimposition of the sound events, a simple line is split up into a surface, and the result is a harmonic system in the micro-interval range, even when the course of the music is strictly controlled by the rhythm - with all unisons in quarter tone values or in the passages organized by complementary rhythms, in which the occasionally chordic playing of the violins is also accompanied by a wooden drum. Stefan Drees