Silva Nigra

The protagonists of symphonic wind music today face a certain field of tension in terms of content and formal orientation difficulties. Modernists, who see their work in the experimental development of the tradition of the 2nd Viennese School around Schönberg, try to connect wind music to currents of contemporary music and have to experience that the audience accepts their music as little as the listeners of so-called classical concerts are willing to love extreme modernity. Other composers try to achieve a certain broad effect by playing in the "mainstream" of rock and pop music and try to make it comfortable for the wind orchestra. Adaptations of music by John Williams or Henry Mancini are also popular.

A fourth way is the connection to thematic, harmonic and tonal structures as found in Richard Strauss or Gustav Mahler and the transfer of such compositional principles to the modern wind orchestra. Composers who follow this path must not be regarded a priori as imitators of tradition, since precisely this musical style epoch is underrepresented in symphonic wind literature and the tonal and interpretative possibilities of late romantic or impressionistic works have not yet been properly recognized.

In his work "Silva Nigra" Markus Götz ties in with the latter traditions. In every beat of his work you can feel that he is not only an expert in the handling of wind music parameters, but also a brilliant teacher who knows exactly how amateurs or young people can be introduced to music at all and what intensity of expression they are capable of. The work was commissioned by the Trachtenkapelle St. Märgen in the Black Forest.

The composer writes about his work: "Impressions from the area around St. Märgen are to be commented musically in the form of a musical picture sheet".

Above a floating, whirring pelvic vertebra sounds at the beginning a sweet-melancholic-looking call motif in the French horn, which, soon canonically commented by the trumpet, becomes the main theme of the entire composition. The whole work is based on this Black Forest motif as a large form of variation. It undergoes many modifications and reinterpretations. Götz uses elements of the folk song and the psalm moderating Gregorian chant to illustrate the various scenes. Dancing parts contrast with passages in an expressive religious style. The sound depicts natural sounds, in which the famous Black Forest cuckoo must not be missing. However, everything remains stuck in a strict form without drifting into the sentimental or into mere onomatopoeia. Above the entire work there is always the peace of the much-vaunted Black Forest, which finds special mention in a short passage in which the musicians praise him singing. This work in the degree of difficulty of the upper school not only expresses a landscape-bound colouring, but can also contribute to an enrichment of every wind concert.