New Music By Karlheinz Essl

Performed by Karlheinz Siessl (euphonium) and Karlheinz Essl (live-electronics) at festival Klangspuren (2012). Some years ago I received an e-mail by a tuba player named Karlheinz Siessl who found it funny that our names are so similar: they only differ in the syllable "si". He suggested a collaboration and asked me to write a piece for his instrument. Shortly thereafter I invited him into my studio where we improvised together in order to become acquainted with each other. The result was so enjoyable and promising that I agreed to compose a piece for him. Pondering over the piece, I suddenly found its title – Si! – which means "yes" in Italian and Spanish. By coincidence, this is also the solmization syllable for the note B, the fundamental tone of the tenor tuba I was using. Observing the syllable "si" from various perspectives I decided to emphasize the positive message of this word. A piece of literature came into my mind where the word "yes" is used in a highly musical way: the very end of James Joyce