Iris ter Schiphorst
JEDER (EVERYONE) (2016/17)
On the WP of the solo contrabass clarinet concerto, Stuttgart 2017
JEDER is a tribute in sound, words and images to the soloist Theo Nabicht, who is regarded as one of the best double bass clarinet players in the world.
The contrabass clarinet, almost similar to a 'small orchestra' in terms of its range and possibilities, is still not fully explored. Theo Nabicht is a frontier runner who has dedicated himself to its complete discovery. The music is based on recordings of improvisations by the soloist, some of which have been analysed for their spectrum and then transcribed for orchestra. In this way, the orchestra becomes a kind of meta-contrabass clarinet at times. In addition, interview passages with Theo Nabicht are also included in this work, which deal with fundamental questions about music.
The work pursues a concept whose title initially seems like a paradox: while the solo concerto traditionally celebrates the exclusive mastery of an individual, the term "EVERYONE" refers to the general. This contradiction between the highly specialised nature of soloist Theo Nabicht and the semantic breadth of the title is only gradually resolved towards the end of the work.
"JEDER" is the result of a long-term process and a deep, personal relationship. In countless conversations and shared meals over the years, the soloist became far more than a performer for the composers: he became a friend and - with his consent - the subject of an artistic investigation: Instead of limiting himself to his mere virtuosity, the exceptional musician Theo Nabicht is shown in all his complexity. The focus is on his physical presence, his facial expressions, his gestures, his prosody.
The music is not limited to an accompanying function, but enters into a subtle, discursive counterpoint to the thoughts and statements of the soloist. The result is a complex dialogue between hearing and seeing, text and music, in which the orchestra not only mirrors the soloist's sentences, but also breaks them up semantically or comments on them pointedly.
In this way, the musician Theo Nabicht becomes approachable in a special way in "JEDER", while at the same time the work makes the intimate relationship between him and his extraordinary instrument tangible.