PANDORA’S PROMISE for alto saxophone, cello and piano consists of three movements, all of which begin in more or less the same manner: insistent repetitions of the note G (an important main note for the entire piece) and tightly woven melodic embellishment figures create an opening situation, which focuses the attention of the listener, like a signal, on what is to come. The opening of Pandora’s box, so to say, results in the destruction of man’s paradisiacal situation. But the many very different consequences can also be looked upon as opportunities. Not only do work, hardship, sickness, etc., play a role, there is also hope – the last of the qualities to come to mankind out of Pandora’s box. However, it remains to be seen whether hope for us is a blessing or, as Nietzsche saw it, a curse.
A musical peculiarity in this panopticom appears in approximately the middle of the piece (in the second movement): the music changes cautiously to clear references to the fugato of the fourth movement of Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio, Op. 17, a throwback to earlier times, out of the conviction that although much has changed enormously, important human conditions remain the same.
Finally, the choice of title makes reference to the documentary film of the same name by the American author Robert Stone, who paints a completely different picture of atomic energy, than is usual in this country. For me a hope, to give this energy source value in a global context, based on the objective analysis of facts.
Martin Schlumpf
