B&B
In ancient times, the term ictus was closely linked to music. The Latin word for stroke or beat originally pointed to many meanings that were based on an idea of pulsation and energy, or also of sound and rhythm.
In 2001 I wrote a solo piece for percussion with the title ictus in which I occupied myself exclusively with the development of rhythmic cells and consciously dispensed with instruments with defined pitches.
It is not a common musical material that connects ictus II with this earlier work. The parallels first of all have to do merely with the presence of percussion instruments (also the piano can naturally be considered as such), but also with the predominantly energetic character and certain similarities in the gestures and the use of motoric elements.
In ictus II, which was conceived for the meanwhile "classical" Bartók formation of two pianos and two percussionists, a large number of percussion instruments with defined pitches are used. Steel drum, vibraphone, xylophone, glockenspiel, and timpani have a function here that goes beyond the "percussive" and interact in multifarious ways with the pianos.
The music is characterized by short musical sequences, quick contrasts, and sudden interjections, as frequently also occur in some of my other works.
An overview shows a division into three sections.
At the beginning, the steel drum dominates the musical events with simple melodic lines that are based on fifths and tritones and in a sense take into account the special arrangement of the pitches in the circle of fifths on this instrument.
The middle section is distinguished by stamping ostinatos from out of which a virtuoso timpani solo develops. An ecstatic climax is followed by an abrupt collapse, whereupon the steel drum introduces an abbreviated and varied reprise of the opening section. A fast-paced stretta concludes the piece.
The rhythm in ictus II is of great density and speed, and leads to a continuously virtuoso and sometimes also extreme style, which in principle is a frequently recurring constant in my works. Therefore it also appeared attractive to me to ironically call to mind the present-day common use of the term ictus as the designation for an apoplectic stroke, whereby here it is meant rather as an "attack" of energy and vitality, à bout de souffle ...
Bernd Richard Deutsch