Program Notes:

Tetris — for double wind quintet, was written during the fall of 2009 in New York City. The city, with its fast pace of life, neurotic flow, continuous stream of people, traffic, and information, serves as the inspiration for this piece. Watching from the sidelines, the fast-moving people appeared to me like robots controlled by an above force, mechanically moving from one place to another, fighting against the clock, against the part of the brain that says – “Relax!” and against each other. Surviving amidst a jungle of brick walls and tall buildings. It seemed to me that people could not enjoy a full basic inhale-exhale process. Good breathing consumes too much time.

People were constantly looking for ways to juggle between many things at the same time. They seemed to me like Tetris players who try to match the bricks to a certain pattern, constantly in demand to increase speed. Though to the stranger, this pace of life looks fascinating and exciting, I felt that deep inside things look a bit different, quite tragic.

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The piece consists of four connected sections: Keep moving, Gutter People, Getting busy, and Keeping busy. The first and fourth movements refer to the continuous, breathless pace of life. Restless people are the subject of the third movement, a short satire. The second movement is inspired by the thousands of people who spend all their lives in the cellar of a restaurant or shop after immigrating from far away, only to serve the ever-hurrying people above them.

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Tetris was written for the Hindemith Woodwind Quintet. It was commissioned by the Hochschule für Musik, Mainz with kind support from the Annie Eisler Lehmann Stiftung.