[ Taroq (2011) ]  [ Strings (2009) ]  [ Confessions (2008) ]

    Understanding that, comparable to gene codes, tuning always derives from natural ratios in two steps, Pohlit experimented with various fixed cycles, often in combination with scordatura on string instruments. The approach, intended to facilitate performance, turned out unsatisfactory and was abandoned in favor of just intonation. The works of this series stand, nevertheless, as true “Avant-Garde” pieces, reaching out into speculative territory of tone perception that would otherwise require years of training. The decision to treat the orchestra in separate tuning systems actually evolved from prior observations in scores by Schubert and Sibelius – along with 24-note temperament where compound fields of harmonic fundamentals suggest a multidimensional “bitonality”.

    for large orchestra commissioned by the SWR Radio-Symphonieorchester Stuttgart
1st performance at the Eclat Festival 2012, directed by Matthias Pintscher

    In this piece, the composer experimented with a modified take on the sonata form – an approach that was ridiculed upon the first performance because only a portion of his submitted program note had been printed. In fact, the superior role of fifths and thirds has been transferred onto the harmonic seventh 4/7 and the undecimal augmented fourth 8/11. The orchestra is divided in two harmonic spaces, the detuned string orchestra referred to septimal, the woodwind section to undecimal (threequartertone) harmony, and the brass section mediating between them. Placing the eccentric f sharp into its center, the work delineates a large-scale process of release and liberation. The form is accentuated by seven subtitles, drawing on a reading from the Crowley-Thoth Tarot deck the composer had received in Ankara from a friend, foretelling the years 2009-12 on the Princes‘ Isles. Due to their archetypical symbolism and symmetry, these cards fit perfectly into the score’s structure:

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    1st performance: Orchestre National de Lorraine, directed by Jacques Mercier at Centre d‘Acanthes, Metz

    The structure is coordinated as a descent in three stages, based on a subharmonic scale, the hypothetical “Dorian” from Kathleen Schlesinger‘s The Greek Aulos (1939). The string section is detuned by means of “sixths of a tone”, referring to septimal harmony. The woodwind section is characterized by an unusual “hocket” style: in order to avoid special fingering, each first within the pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons is detuned by a quartertone. The brass section is characterized by frequent use higher overtones. The strangest aspect of this piece is its harmonic structure: it evolved out of an experiment with subharmonic (U-tonal) scales that move through superharmonic (O-tonal) harmonic progressions, opening unknown dimensions which to explain prime limits alone do not suffice. The piece‘s title refers to string theory, not to instruments.

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    for flute, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, string trio
Commissioned by the Messiæn Festival Neustadt an der Weinstraße 2008 upon the initiative of Prof. Markus Stange

    Upon its 1st performance, the piece bore a different wind section with recorders, clarinets and trombones in pairs, including Kyrill Rybakov, Mike Svoboda, and members of the ensembles Pipelife and Omega, directed by Holger Best. The title was: ...und die Mauern fielen um (...and the walls collapsed), referring to Joshua 6: the conquest of Jericho and the blow of the trumpets.

    The basic idea was to interrelate two instrumental groups that coexist in different harmonic tuning cycles and unite them in a shared cadential progression. Symbolizing religious diversity, the groups were supposed to perform from either side of the massive wall that, to this day, separates the two confessions of Neustadt’s collegiate church. The harmonic fundamental rests upon the gigantic “Emperor Bell” (the world‘s largest cast-iron church bell), located in the northern tower. The initial and concluding bangs on the bell were performed manually by the composer himself, communicating via cell phones. The final cadence in two steps was modeled after the 2nd movement of Franz Schubert’s late C-Minor piano sonata.

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