The Gesture of Listening

Inner listening is a precondition of composing. It is associated with the sonic imagination of a music still in the process of being created. Moreover, for some years now, I have been interested in listening as its own form of musical expression. I perceive similar phenomena in musical figures of several oral cultures, where they emerge within cycles entailing performance, memory, reinterpretation and transformation.

Comparable principles can also be recognized in Samuel Beckett's late work or in the calligraphies of the Japanese artist Inoue Yūichi. The lecture offers insight into artistic experiences between research and practice. It is complemented by sketches for viola solo played live.