Betrachtung (2011)
solo piano
Betrachtung (Contemplations) is a portrait of Franz Kafka. Each movement makes use of a short fragment found within Kafka’s short story collection of the same name. These seemingly unrelated fragments come together to tell an overarching, yet hidden story that combines the four movements into a seamless statement.
I. “Finally, it begins to rain even in the opacified sky."
from 'Food for Thought for Mr. Reiter'
II. "I cried without sound..."
from 'The Trip to the Mountains'
III. "You see the persuasiveness of the air after a thunderstorm!"
from 'The Way Home'
IV. "For it is night, and we cannot ensure that the full moon raises in the street in front of us..."
from 'The Runners'
14 minutes
Written for Cassandra Kaczor and first performed in the Dalton Center Recital Hall at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan on April 5, 2012 as part of the New Sounds Festival 2012. Betrachug was also featured in avant-garde theater director Robert Wilson's first radio drama Monsters of Grace II.