CHORAL and SEHNSUCHT

CHORAL

The theme was written for the late “Jazz Pope” Joachim Ernst Berendt, on the occasion of his 75th birthday. It has now become a brass choral in this version with orchestra. CHORAL has been played as a trio with Arild Andersen and Patrice Héral and myself in many concerts, usually being followed by a rhythmically intense bass improvisation. This is the case here too – after the brass intro, double bass and drums begin, but the trombones soon join in with a ‘riff’, followed by the trumpets and strings. Room for rhythmic, fiery bass-drums improvisations.
Following this, the solo trumpet plays a second theme in a triplet rhythm together with the strings before continuing the improvisation. The piece ends with the ostinato bass-percussion figure which introduced the bass improvisation earlier on. Only a static sound in the violins and basses remains, leading into…

SEHNSUCHT (Longing)

The passacaglia-type theme of this piece suddenly occurred to me. I was looking for a touching melody, something that didn’t scream and shout. The title SEHNSUCHT describes the feeling I have myself when I hear the theme.
The piece develops slowly. This time it is the woodwinds that begin, accompanied by sensitive bass improvisations. The solo flugelhorn then, for a short time, leads to a first melodic theme, livening the atmosphere. It then plays a second theme, before increasing the tension in a fairly long improvisation which ends in a spirited passage for the whole orchestra in unison.
The climax is a drum solo fired on by short interjections from the orchestra. The solo flugelhorn then calms the music down in reverse order, presenting the shortened second theme followed by the first. The piece ends as it started, with longing passacaglia lines in the woodwinds, entwined with delicate improvisations from the solo instruments.
Many thanks go to my friends and colleagues, the great bassist Arild Andersen and the always lively, inventive percussionist Patrice Héral. It has been an honour to share some exciting times together. I also thank the Bergische Symphoniker under Romely Pfund for commissioning the works and playing two beautiful first performances in 2002. Many performances followed in Germany, Estonia, Switzerland and Norway.

• Markus Stockhausen
• Arild Andersen
• Patrice Héral

A third composition, SONNENAUFGANG, written in 2004, completed CHORAL and SEHNSUCHT and in all following concerts preceeded them. The duration of all three works is about 45 min.

We have produced a double CD from the live recording of a concert in 2008 with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, conducted by Christoph Poppen with the title Symphonic Colours (Aktivraum 2009).