REQUIEM
a 5-seconds-piece by Daniel N. [2002]
duration: 5"
[first performed: Lichthof der Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe / Germany within the scope of the Multi-Media-Happening "Minutes only", jan. 18th.2003]
In the summer 2002, we had the idea of a project. It was the question: Is it possible for a composer to express his musical identity convincingly within an extremely limited duration and with an additional instruction from us? All composers were set the task to write a piece of 5 seconds duration (maximum!) and "as cruel as possible, trash, hardcore, punk" for electrified accordion, electric bass and live electronics, with or without voice, composition, conceptual improvisation, performance, CD-playback. At the same time each of the pieces is more than just a statement, a mere musical fingerprint of the composer - each composition develops its completely individual form and is complete in its’ self.
And it works.
Daniel had always wanted to have a requiem in his work catalog, and now he has one: for amplified accordion, electric bass, Sprechstimme, live electronics, and prerecorded sound.
On 16 December 2003, Matthias R. Entreß spoke with Daniel on Deutschlandradio Berlin about the piece:
MRE: Seel’s five-second Requiem, written for INTERZONE PERCEPTIBLE, has a particular meaning for the composer. The piece presents so many intangibles that could regard it as a compendium of Seel’s idiosyncrasies, as a return to earlier things, and as a conclusion. On the one hand, there is brevity, a non-repetition of elements, and compression; on the other hand, there is parody with musical force.
DNS: I do also like noise at times. Noise, in contrast to silence, has as much ambiguity as the latter; it can have immense beauty, inasmuch as silence can portray an immense confinement and anxiety, or angst and horrors.
MRE: (…) At the moment, his compositional ideas circle (…) around a musical expression that is scarcely obtained by the so-called “new” music. In rock music, on the other hand, much is expressed through sound design (…)
DNS: (…) Things like NINE INCH NAILS, MARILYN MANSON (…), or RICHARD KERN or DAVID CRONENBERG — such people interest me a lot. Anthropological and existential problems come into question, and abysses are glimpsed that are truly uncomfortable and threatening.
[translated by Eric Flesher]