TANZENDES LICHT

Markus Stockhausen

TANZENDES LICHT
a homage to Paul Klee

for solo trumpet,
big band and
string orchestra

Tanzendes Licht (Dancing Light) was commissioned by the Camerata Bern and the Swiss Jazz Orchestra, as a homage to Paul Klee.

After initially feeling that a direct reference to Klee's paintings would be unfitting, I saw an inner image that I wanted to set to music. Most people know it: One is standing by a large stretch of water, a lake, or by the sea. The sun is setting and one sees a streak of lights across the water: thousands of small dancing sparks of light. This image has often touched me deeply. It has something of the eternal journey of the soul. The sparks appear and are gone again in a flash, but all the dancing sparks together are life, full of impulsive strength.

I then sat down at the piano and found a simple musical figure in 9/8 time from which the whole piece evolved. The figure is almost always present, and connects various moments. I deliberately kept the 9/8 time throughout the composition, and thus discovered many possibilities in this rhythmic structure. Apart from the solo trumpet, I wanted to introduce as many soloists from the Jazz Orchestra as possible, so as to make the piece very colourful.

The homage to Klee is an artistic one – Klee too would surely have focused on his very own impressions and ideas. What would he have felt when listening to Tanzendes Licht?

Markus Stockhausen, June 2007

Tanzendes Licht (composition by Markus Stockhausen) was premiered by the Camerata Bern and the Swiss Jazz Orchestra on the 20th of November 2007 in Bern.

We have produced a double CD from the live recording of the concert that has been released on 5th of june, 2009 under the title SYMPHONIC COLOURS

Back to the List of Works