Tobias Feierabend

« Semplice »…

In my most recent works, I’ve tried to explore emotions that contemporary music often struggles to find a language for : in Candeurs for String Quartet (2025), I sought a dreamlike and childlike atmosphere, oscillating between tenderness and harshness, lullabies and restlessness. My Consolations for Saxophone and Piano (2025) build on the human gesture – both necessary and futile – through which we attempt to appease or entertain one another.

In these works, as in Spin-Off for Ensemble (2023) or Rosace for 4 Musicians (2020-21), I’ve tried to write music that feels like a journey or a narrative, wherein plenty of space is left for the listener’s emotions and intelligence.

In most of my pieces, musical reminiscences abound. Some play at the very surface of the music (Oiseaux Gris for Accordion and Piano, 2022), while others are more hidden. Some of these passages are infused with a sense of strangeness, when others indulge in more playful or even virtuosic gestures (Précipitations for solo Flute, 2025-26).

So far, « Semplice » might be the musical word that best encapsulates what I am searching for. I come back to it over and over again (…Nimmer Still …[berceuse d’après Schubert] for Piano Trio, 2026). And though I never know in advance where a composition might take me, I feel deeply that there is plenty more to experiment with while going in this direction. When form interacts with rythm, melody, and micro-intervals, there’s an infinite number of novel and colorful sound combinations to be found.

Stay (de)tuned !