De-Control

Young Musicians Award 2024 - scores

In the performance of a solo piece, the musical narrative develops in an extremely intimate setting, as there are no musical partners to communicate with and every nuance is fully exposed. In this sense, I consider the main elements of dialogue to be the performer him/herself, his/her relationship to the instrument and the written material, and the surrounding space (including the audience). On this basis, the creative process of De-Control was influenced by a sense of the delicate and interdependent dynamics that might evolve between these elements. The way the piece is conceived (with its sometimes improbable musical gestures, their different characters and the impact of silence, which may rather be considered as breathing) suggests an attitude that does not intend to create the musical impulses actively, but rather to let them emerge as a consequence of spatial and temporal perception. As a result, De-Control attempts to form a gradual, transitional, ephemeral act that is conducted by both the performer and the surrounding conditions.

Pianist and composer Samuel Gapp is committed to a wide range of musical, artistic and educational activities in the field of contemporary music. His work focuses on the areas and intersections of improvisation, composition, interdisciplinarity and music education and moves between different musical traditions, including jazz, experimental and through-composed music. He works mainly between Germany and Portugal, where he is currently based. Gapp studied jazz piano and composition at the “Hochschule für Musik und Tanz” in Cologne, Germany and the ”Escola Superior de Música” in Lisbon, Portugal.