pneuma (2020)

pnuema for solo contrabass Paetzold recorder
Dedicated to Sylvia Hinz.
World Premiere recording by Sylvia Hinz. Online live concert. 13th February 2021. I realitätsverschwinden solo
pnuema is full of cross-references, development and variants of its material held together by a fabric of rhythmic units permeating the work as a whole. It was conceived and should be performed as a stream of consciousness; a single seldom interrupted flow of ideas constantly in a state of flux and regeneration; detailed, colourful and frequently explosive.

Pneuma, ‘air in motion, breath, wind’, is equivalent in the material monism of Anaximenes to aer (ἀήρ, ‘air’) as the element from which all else originated. This usage is the earliest extant occurrence of the term in philosophy. A quotation from Anaximenes observes that ‘just as our soul (psyche), being air (aer), holds us together, so do breath (pneuma) and air (aer) encompass the whole world.’ In this early usage, aer and pneuma are synonymous.
Wikapaedia
Duration: circa 12 minutes.
