außen, von tief innen
2015

for
flute (fl/ bassfl.), clarinet (clar/ contrabass-clar) and violoncello

Beatrix Wagner about "außen, von tief innen" [English approximation: outside, from deep within]:

In various texts and conversations, composer Gerald Eckert has repeatedly referred to the significance of "edges" - viewed as "residual sound surfaces" or dispersing "fields of states" associated with events. Accordingly, his primary focus often lies not on a centrally triggered event or a focal point of action, but rather on what that event sets in motion and how the resulting consequences are subsequently developed. He directs his gaze toward the aftermath of an impulse. This can manifest as a resulting resonance in the broadest sense of the term, such as a spatial distribution, a migration of sound through space, a transition between events or instruments, a modulation, or a transformation. Yet, the characteristics of the triggering impulse invariably persist within this resonant sonic traces, extending right up to the threshold of "still there" or "already gone". Gerald Eckert examines all of this as if through a magnifying glass; metaphorically speaking, he zooms in extremely close to observe the phenomena with microscopic precision".
Jörg Meyer writes of this procedural aspect in Gerald Eckert’s music: "Thus, through an increase in complexity that transcends the extremes of various parameters, a sense of densification emerges precisely within the thinning-out of texture, the space is reshaped and restructured by the sound. Conversely, structures appear to dissolve as they become fragile and -above all - momentary. This brings to mind comparisons with modern particle physics according to which particles and their properties (parameters) are primarily characterized through the duration of their (apparent) existence in the "space-time" of possibility/possibilities."
This procedure perhaps most obviously comes to light in this composition where the title already provides a suitable indication: "außen, von tief innen". The piece captivates the listener with a consistently subtle, quiet sonic structure that enables the very differentiation the composer seeks to achieve. This differentiation arises from the intricate rendering of multiphonics in the bass flute and contrabass clarinet, as well as from the nuanced tonal shaping of the cello. Together, these three layers generate a spectrum of expression that, as it unfolds, repeatedly evokes the impression of an additional electroacoustic dimension—even though all the sound spectra are produced entirely by acoustic instruments.
The delicacy of the individual and independent moments does not make it easy to recognize a larger-scale formal context. Perhaps this is however not at all relevant in "außen, von tief innen" as the energetic moments are indeed nourished by individual instants and their specific sonic "materiality", ranging from states and processes of an almost transcendent nature to qualities that feel distinctly physical...