Bipolar Disorder

Year: 2009

Instrumentation: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet in Bb, Bassoon, Horn in F, Trumpet in C, Harp, Piano, Percussion, 2 Violins, Viola, Cello, Contrabass

First performance by Tokyo Sinfonietta - 01.07.2011, Tokyo Bunka-kaikan, Tokyo (Japan)

Recording:

Note:
"The essential feature of Bipolar Disorder is a clinical course that is characterized by the occurrence of one or more Manic Episodes or Mixed Episodes. Often individuals have also had one or more Major Depressive Episodes. […]"
(Bipolar Disorder Diagnostic Features, DSM-IV, p. 350)

The piece tries to follow the stream of consciousness of a man who suffers from Bipolar Disorder.
During the piece, there is a recurring process of accumulation of obsessive thoughts (which are built musically by the same motif) succeeded by the distortion and destruction of the established textures. This is a process of realization in very extreme ways of the same musical material.
This process is analogous to the devastating influence of an obsessive thought on such a sick man and leads to extreme different directions and polarities.
The piece deals musically with different kinds of dense textures – some built of fast melodic lines, some of long sustained sounds and some from noises and extended instrumental techniques.