Harmonien , Op. 27 (1981)
(Duo for two pianos)

The title is not misleading. In fact, the path of this composition leads through harmonies as if through changing landscapes. We are exposed to the individual harmonic spaces for different lengths of time and experience them with different sensations. The names of the movements and their parts are just as important for the player as they are for the listener:
I Allegro vivace
     1) Energetic, but driven by restlessness (with the gesture of a late Schubert scherzo)
     2) Almost with ease
II Sound Pool (Adagio)
III Allegro assai
     1) With uniformly strong intensity - propulsive
     2) In contradiction.

The harmonies originate from three overtone fields, whose opposition ("dissonance") is based on the proximity of the fundamental tones: the distance between them is one semitone. I have dispensed with quarter tones and preparations in this duo for two reasons: firstly, because it would take weeks of work to produce a reliable tuning for two pianos that corresponds to the overtone harmonics and, secondly, because I was interested in the results that my work for two tempered semitone instruments would bring me with regard to the overtone fields. The selection principles for tones and proportions are based, on the one hand, on a looping technique (loop = loop, repetition) that I have been developing more and more since 1972, in which the minimalist repetition constraint is already broken up in the construction principle by superimposing several loops, and, on the other hand, on chance operations used at certain points in the construction.

The sensations in the background of HARMONIES are moved by Schubert's late A major sonata, without quoting or processing it in a corresponding way.

In the ballet LICHTKNALL (1987), the piano duo HARMONIEN forms the first part.

Erhard Grosskopf, 1982