Fünf zärtliche Bagatellen (1993)

I wrote many piano compositions as I grew up; some were notated, and then were lost. Many others were stored in memory and are now forgotten. This one is the first that survived and that was allowed to spread its wings and find its own way in the world. The Bagatelles was written as a reaction against the serial music that I studied on various occasions. So many of the compositions I studied as examples of serial technique were very serious and sounded rather harsh. I wanted to write sweet music with (almost) the same techniques, just to hear if it could be done. I had to take a few liberties with the strict doctrines, though, and this resulted in pieces that sound quite a bit tonal, at least to me. The serious serial technique became like a toy that are treated in ways that the designer of the toy might not have imagined.

• 1 (c. 1’00”)
• 2 (c. 20”)
• 3 (c. 40”)
• 4 (c. 0’40”)
• 5 (c. 4’00”)

Total duration c. 7 minutes