wind whispers

op. 85, 2020

I. raindrops
II. floating leaf
III. glittering albatross
IV. shimmering light

For piano solo
Duration: ca. 10 min.

CD recording for Sony classical, July 2020 in the Bavarian Radio studios, Munich

Piano: William Youn

Composer’s Notes

wind whispers is one of my compositions dedicated to nature. This series of compositions is both a reflection on, and an appeal for, a careful approach to nature. This has shown us how to live together since the beginning of time.

It is in Greece that I learn most intensively about the wind, its power, and its beauty. I love and respect it, I admire it, and at the same time I am afraid of it. Nature needs the wind to continue its cycle: it can be destructive, but also very beautiful. I often stay in silence to listen to it, and to perceive the sounds it produces.

The four miniatures of wind whispers, like my other compositions about nature, progress in the form of a hypothetical musical dialogue with humans. They are a statement or a narration of observations on the subject of nature. All sound figures, rhythms, tempi, and timbres follow the intensity of these thoughts.

All four miniatures in this composition are tonal observations of the wind from the position of inner silence. What language and what sounds do the raindrops have? What about those of a leaf floating in the air in front of me? Or an albatross flying majestically in the air, or a light either showing or hiding itself in between cracks?

Although each piece could also be performed independently, the entire 10-minute composition has a binding dramaturgical sound sequence that takes time to unfold. wind whispers could be viewed as a composition in four movements, since all four pieces contain musical elements that contribute to a unified whole.
Each piece is composed as a continuation of the previous one, but the fourth piece is not the end of the composition. It was important to me to compose the four miniatures as a compact work, but also an open-ended one, which might possibly be extended later.

Photo: Norbert Banik