Umculo Wamanzi

For Recorder Orchestra
Instrumentation / Parts: 1 Sopranino, 2 Sopran, 2 Alto, 2 Tenor, 2 Bass, 2 Great Bass, 2 Contra Bass, 1 Sub Great Bass.

Imagine you are travelling on a boat down a large African river, watching the landscape passing by, and then you observe a hilarious wedding ceremony. Next, move into the evening light, view the sunset and finally arrive in the village where they are waiting for you and you receive an enthusiastic welcome. This is what this piece is roughly about. Umculo wamanzi is Xhosa and it means Water music. I hope you can hear the waves going on and on until the very horizon. I wish to thank Gisela Colberg for commissioning this piece and for giving me the idea to write about water, which served as my inspiration. By the way: The slurs in bar 37 et seqq., 119 et seqq., 134 et seqq. and 205 et seqq. describe the phrasing, not the articulation. The tones without pitch in the bars 87, 89 and 96 are percussive sounds or beats, produced at or with the recorder - please use your imagination.
I have always been a big fan of freedom of interpretation. So I would like to encourage you to experiment with different tempi and articulations throughout the whole piece.
I wish that everyone may have as much fun playing the pieces as I had composing them.