Crystals of the moment

With Crystals of the Moment, Enjott Schneider has created a poetic piano work that emerged from an encounter with Liszt’s “Grand Sonata” and the artistic inspiration of pianist Tomoko Sawallisch. At the center are musical moments of concentrated silence and meditative intensity: drawing from the pianist’s favorite passages, Schneider develops paraphrasing miniatures that unfold their own beauty, detached from the flow of time. Inspired by Zen and Buddhist thought, these quiet moments are met by antithetical twelve-tone fields as a tension-filled counterpoint. The seven short movements can be performed as a cycle or as a selection and open up a wide range of programmatic possibilities. A fascinating work for pianists interested in contemporary repertoire and sonic reflection.