Pegasus 51

Wilfried Hiller’s great affinity with percussion instruments can be traced back to his former professional career: he studied percussion and timpani with Ludwig Porth and Hanns Hölzl at the Musikhochschule in Munich and subsequently played as percussionist in a number of orchestras. His first work to mark the beginning of his cooperation with Schott was the third volume of the Catalogue for percussionists, compiled between 1967 and 1974. This catalogue – ranging from solo works (Vol. I) to quintets (Vol. V) – is a compendium of virtuoso studies enabling percussionists to develop a comprehensive performance technique to meet the exacting standards required for contemporary music. 
The concerto for percussion Pegasus 51, composed in 1995/96 in response to a commission by Siemens AG for the centenary of its branch in Nuremberg, is characterised by the brilliance and explosive force of jazz percussion. Hiller was inspired in his choice of the title not only by the discovery of a planet within the star constellation of Pegasus as reported in 1995 but also by the classical myth of the winged horse Pegasus who struck his hoof on the mountain of Helikon which caused the spring of the Muses to burst forth.