IMPRESSUM
© 2024 Christian Biegai
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Works

  • Mensch Maschine System (2019)

    for EWI quartet. drum machine and DJ (premieres on May 11th, 2019)

    To create a digital sound with a human breath, seems to me the best musical metaphor for a symbiosis of “Man” and “Maschine”. The EWI seems to be the perfect instrument to create a composition for wind players on the trail of Kraftwerk’s masterpiece “Die Mensch Maschine”. The world has been changing rapidly and I hope I was able to catch the spirit of the Kraftwerk and create something new that inspires to go ahead in the quest of the symbiosis of humans and machines.

  • Quintett (2019)

    for saxophone quartet (SATB) and piano (premieres July 3rd, 2019)

    Repetition is one of the key musical elements of “Quintett.” I was intrigued by repetitive patterns, modifying them and adding voices in a modal harmonic context. The piece was written when I was pulled out of my daily routine by a life changing event. I had a feeling that the repetitiveness of one note, very much symbolized the state I was in: neither here nor there, in a situation where one knows that life will never be the same, not sure if it is better to look forward or to stay in the past. In this piece I wanted to achieve exactly that state of mind. The piece breaks out of the repetitiveness in the final movement, where it moves forward into a waltz-like, decisive finale.

  • TV Nation (2014)

    for soprano saxophone, piano und tape

    TV Nation is written for soprano saxophone and piano, accompanied by tape. The prerecorded tape consists of
    random segments of audio material collected from American TV channels, with additional sampled drum and double bass sounds. “Every now and then I catch myself zapping through TV channels.I do hold a certain degree of fascination with the act of channel surfing, despite my annoyance with myself for the amount of time that I waste while doing it. I suspect that our unconscious forms a subtext of all the mixed up information that we are getting, even though we are not even aware that we are absorbing it, because of how quickly we change from program to program. Nevertheless, I wander off with my thoughts, catching spoken fragments or short bits of music that keep repeating in my head, half mesmerized, while I actually think about something completely different. This piece reflects the inner monologue of a mind under the influence of a TV remote control.”

  • Quartett (2013) 

    for saxophone quartet (S, A, T/S, B)

    Writing a saxophone quartet for clair-obscur has been on my mind for a long time. As a composer I mainly work for TV and film and the opportunity to write for my former quartet was very tempting and liberating, because this time I didn’t have to care about what’s happening in the film. It wasn’t a big surprise for me that, while composing the piece, suddenly there were my very own film scenes in my head.

    Buy score and parts here

  • Zapping (2011)

    for 2 soprano saxophones und tape

    The piece reflects the inner monologue, once involved with a TV remote control. Certain noise bits are getting processed, while others just became an abstract sound scenery. In our “Zapping”, we get driven by an anxious beat, consisting of switch noises and are fading out with the sounds of the German dubbed “The Avengers”. The main note of the piece is the sounding B, the tune of the broadcasting note of Channel 34 in Berlin.