Glockenterror II
for one or two pianos

Siegfried Koepf 1997

Program note

Glockenterror II belongs to Koepf's combinatorial compositions. His central interest in these works is to develop algorithmic strategies of composition, based on preliminary combinatorial considerations. Combinatorics forms the horizon within which material, time and again anew, is declared to be musical material and made available for the compositional process.

One example of a basic combinatorial set of figures is the set of all possible combinations of 25 piano keys. In Glockenterror II, this very set (with 2²⁵ - 1 = 33.554.431 elements) provides the musical raw material. The main compositional work is to create appropriate computer programs to analyse, filter, sort and assemble this material.

Finally, the piece is combined with a title.