Duration: 11 min 25 sec

One of my basic principles when writing a work for performers and electronics is to regard the electronics as a sort of extension to the instruments used in the particular work. This means that the whole sound material is derived from sounds produced with these instruments.

For the tape part of Trombone Spheres, all sorts of sounds from the trombone were digitally recorded with a PPG Waveterm B audio computer system and electronically transformed. The sounds from the tape and the sounds from the performer merge at times, hardly allowing a distinction between the two, and diverge at times, when the trombone sounds on the tape have been transformed to a range which is beyond the physical scope of the instrument. The overall form of the piece is given by different regions featuring different sorts of sounds, which determine the course of the work and characterize the particular parts.

Trombone Spheres was premiered at the Studio Konzert at the Studio Landesgirokasse in Stuttgart by Uwe Hödl on June 7th, 1991.