EDITION WANDELWEISER RECORDS > CD catalogue _____________________________________________________________________                                                                                                     <<   >> florian wittenburg, carsten daerr blessings   order reference:    medium:              composer:           performer: EWR 2603 CD  florian wittenburg, carsten daerr florian wittenburg (electronics), carsten daerr (piano)   florian wittenburg, carsten daerr blessings   01           blessings (electronical) 1           08’48” 02           blessings (piano)                      07’20” 03           blessings (electronical) 2           09’01”                                      florian wittenburg (electronics), carsten daerr (piano) tr 01 & 03 composed by florian wittenburg tr 02 composed by carsten daerr audio excerpt: ►   blessings (piano)  (07:20) ►   blessings (electronical) 2  (09:01)   carsten daerr's central piano composition blessings pursues the idea of consistent horizontal reflection similar to the surface of a calm lake. at first, the symmetry is still exact; later, in a different key, it is slightly distorted in places, as if small waves were forming on the water's surface. composer morton feldman coined the apt term ‘crippled symmetry’ for this phenomenon, which also inspired me. in the middle of the piece, the tonal scales vary even further to harmonic and melodic minor. the two notes connecting the keys of b minor and e flat minor are b (becoming c flat) and f sharp (becoming g flat): basically like the bordun fifth of b minor. the title refers to the fast upwards and downwards arpeggios falling like raindrops and bouncing off the ground, sprinkling and showering us like heaven’s grace. at the end, it becomes quieter, more delicate and the timbres increasingly luminous. like a ritual, one can undergo this blessing regularly, allowing it to more and more unfold its effect. inspired by erik satie, daerr leaves it open to repeat the piece as often as desired, even over many hours. on this album, however, the piece will only be heard once. within the piece, as in a ritual, individual parts are repeated. in his two electronic versions of blessings daerr's undulating movements inspired florian wittenburg to take the wave as an abstract idea and systematically convert it into slow, gradual crescendos and decrescendos. however, since these movements also contain jumps, giving the two pieces their surprising and unpredictable character, they are strictly speaking no longer waves. the fact that wittenburg deliberately made the electronic freezes of the piano sound ‘blindly’ may make the surprise effect even stronger. the electronic pieces framing daerr‘s com- position adopt its final chords and consist of three subtracks, deliberately designed independently of each other, that together create surprising music.