flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, violin and cello

The title means “Gallery of Rags” and refers to a possible work composed of used music from the street or anywhere else, even concert halls. But this used music is presented as if it could have some value—presented in a gallery, it is planned so as to at least suggest that we look, have fun, and maybe buy, and as with street music—to interest people so that they may leave a dime.

For the time being let us put the dime aside and concentrate on the effect of trying to “inte-rest” people: In Lumpengalerie there are a lot of hints to already heard music, though deliberately I never go into direct quotations. But by these means we could create links to the vast background of composed or improvised music, concert or pop, maybe even ethnomusic, not only from Europe or the West, but from anywhere, even from non-existing islands.

The score gives the players a certain freedom to deviate from the written text and throw in spontaneous inventions. This is especially true for the very dense piano and percussion parts. So there may be a lot of surprises even for the “composer” listening to “his” piece, which in this case is more the players’ piece.

Manfred Stahnke