There is music that moves on the edge of silence, that doesn’t even dare to be loud. You can only hear this music while holding your breath. It is music that has been taught by the silence.
Before music can begin, there must be silence. Absolute silence. Nothing may sound, everything seems possible. The pencil rests in a hand above a blank white sheet. Silence is the primordial state of all music. It has something magical. The longer it takes, the more curious we wait for what is to come.
After a long silence, a single sound can mean the whole world. It is like throwing a stone into a lake that was still calm just now. The resulting sound can be carried over long distances carried by the wind. We follow it with our ears, until it is no longer audible. Like nothing ever happened.
Silence is not just that which precedes the music. It is an essential part of music itself. Without silence there is no music.
- Satie Gymnopedie No.1
- Morton Feldman – pianopiece (1952)
- Wolfgang Rihm – Auf einem anderen Blatt
- Vasks – White scenery for piano
- Arvo Pärt – für Alina
- Bach – Sinfonia No.5
- Philip Glass – Etude No.5
- John Cage – 4’33
- Ravel – Prelude
- Ravel/Samazeuilh – Adagio from the pianoconcerto in G
