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“Das mollsche Gesetz” (English: Moll’s Law) was established in the summer of 2004 as an improvisational research project. Two significant laws have been applied to the work:

1) No piece lasts longer than 60 seconds

2) Each piece is followed by a break of the same length (as the piece itself …)

These simple yet radical rules change to a profound extent the way that music is created, but also how it is perceived by the audience. On stage the format requires the greatest possible degree of clarity and precision as well as quick decision making. In the auditorium it requires focusing on the moment (the perceived present lasts 30 seconds) and increases the likelihood of becoming unnerved, thus resulting in a sharpening of the senses. The breaks invite the audience to shift its focus from finite to infinite and they serve as resonance space in time.

 

Following the headline „Catalogue of Improvisation“,  Das mollsche Gesetz arranged a 6-part concert series in 2007. The basic idea was to give the audience the possibility to experience six quite diverse approaches towards improvisation in music. Thanks to the constant aesthetic factor represented by "Das mollsche Gesetz", the individual approaches of the guests are provided with a clear framework which makes them comparable with insight. Additionally, for each concert the basic parameters of improvisation, such as time structure for sound and silence, choice of material etc, are negotiated anew with the guest of the evening. The guests represent very diverse genres of current musical activities: experimental minimal-techno (Institut für Feinmotorik), New York Downtown-Avantgarde (Elliott Sharp), contemporary music (Tilbury, De Alvear, Mitterer), media arts (Negron/Orozco) and avant-garde Scandinavian vocal experiments (Endresen). This variety is complemented by "Das mollsche Gesetz" with its clear conceptual framework. The audience experiences the creation of music at its origin. By revealing the most important parameters, "Das mollsche Gesetz" creates an additional intellectual excitement to follow the course of the sounds.

Integral part of the “Catalogue” is a documentation which consists of a lavishly designed catalogue with CD.

All concerts were accompanied by the internationally renowned photographer Philip Lethen and the music journalist Raoul Mörchen, who contributed photos and essays for the catalogue. All concerts were meticulously recorded; the highlights are published on this CD.