“Das Schlimmste auf der Welt ist Konsequenz”.

“Consistency is the worst thing in the world”.

Bruno Maderna

Maderna’s statement about the harmfulness of consistency might be understood as a definition of human nature and as such a manifesto of humanity. We are men and women because we used to act inconsistently.

Since I am a composer I fully appreciate this statement. I always have a plan in the beginning, when I start to write a new piece of music, and I tend to stick to this plan as long as I can. But there is always one point in the process where I have to admit to myself that the plan will not work. At this point Maderna’s statement used to come to my mind and helps me to be inconsistent and to deviate from the original plan. The result is much better music.

“Quadrivium” for 4 percussionists and 4 orchestral groups is the piece of Maderna that testifies most to his credo concerning consistency for me. I stumbled upon this piece on a record store in the 1980-s on a record with a portrait of Giuseppe Sinopoli on the cover. I had not heard of Madrena at that time, but Sinopoli seemed to guarantee highest musical standards. Hence, I bought the record and put it on my turntable at home. I was immediately captivated by the musical progression of “Quadrivium” which I could not make sense of in terms of musical form. As a consequence I listened to it again and again until finally i realized that this piece is not about form but rather about inconsistency or freedom.

As a consequence of this formal inconsistency it is an essential and intrinsic quality of “Quadrivium” that it sounds very different in different recordings. In the Spotify playlist below I have compiled two renditions of “Quadrivium” which are equally valid in my opinion. Nevertheless my favorite is still the first one I heard, Sinopoli’s. I still can’t get enough of the in sich bewegte Klangfläche [surface of sound, which is itself in motion] in the last part of the piece.