Sur terre, en l'air. 3 pieces, op. 64, for Viola and Piano

During the rehearsals for Schlussgesang for viola and orchestra performed at the 1997 Aldeburgh Festival, I conceived of the title of this present composition, with its internal rhyme, as an appropriate way of describing Tabea, the viola player. Later in the summer I composed an Andante, with a contrasting faster section which is the first of these three pieces. Immediately afterwards, I added a second, a scherzo-like piece, and for a finale made a transcription of the fifth movement of Schlussgesang, written in memory of my teacher Olivier Messiaen and titled Kein Gedanke, nur ruhiger Schlaf no thought, only quiet sleep, the words taken from a fragment written down in a notebook by Franz Kafka.

Duet

• Ewald · Directory «Musik für Bratsche», CH, 2013

• Schott, 1999