Instrumentation: for violin, tam-tam, Tibetan singing bowls and cymbals

This piece was written within several days and is one of my personal favourites. Since the instruments needed are very specific, no one except myself can perform it – I often use it for my solo recitals. It was premiered by myself at the vernissage of Brigitte Uttar Kornetzky in Altstätten. Although it is called Immediation, it is a great opening piece.

Duration: 3' 30"
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Instrumentation: for piccolo flute, violin, violoncello, piano and percussion

These were the first pieces I wrote when I returned from New York to Basel. Presto and Tacet were premiered at the catholic church of Altstätten, where my friend Brigitte U. Kornetzky had an exhibition. She urged me to write these pieces and "Tacet" is dedicated to her.

Duration: 10' 00"
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Instrumentation: for violin and violoncello

This duo for violin and violoncello is with its light- hearted, jazzy refrains very close to the music of Dave Brubeck, but in its middle sections it very often drifts off into more experimental realms.

Duration: 8' 00"
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Instrumentation: for 2 speakers, 2 percussionists, 2 shawms, violin, viola, violoncello and piano

This piece is probably the craziest thing I have done so far. It is dedicated to the two "Thomas's" that were involved in its creation: Thomas Brunnschweiler, who wrote the anagram that forms the basis of the piece, and Thomas Demenga who actually asked me to perform it at the International Music Festival of Davos. The first performance was in the old great room of the "Schatzalp" hotel near Davos and the players were: Samuel Wettstein, piano; Matthias Würsch and Daniel Stalder, percussion; Stéphanie Meyer, violoncello, Raphael Sachs, viola; Helena Winkelman, violin; Ann Allen and Isacco Colombo, shawms; Christoph Dangel and Lucas Roessner, speakers. They were all absolutely great, putting together an unbelievably hard piece in a very short time.

Duration: 33' 00"
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Instrumentation: for violin, tamtam, and two zymbals

"Golem" is a very dark piece - it has been written immediately after attacks on New York on September 11th 2001. Nevertheless there are very few dissonances since the Tamtam and Zymbals won't resonate with them. It is dedicated to my father with whom I usually play it.

Duration: 8' 00"
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Instrumentation: for violin and piano

"Gravitation I" is dedicated to Hansheinz Schneeberger. "Gravitation II I wrote a year later. It is a very extreme piece with its high technical and musical demands.

Duration: 13' 00"
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Instrumentation: for violin and piano

This piece was written for Isabelle Ladewig, a friend and colleague of mine. The name of this piece originates from her falling from a mountain just before she should have come to Paris to play string quartet with me. It was premiered by her and Jan Schultz in Dec. 2001 in Winterthur.

Duration: 9' 00"
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Instrumentation: for violin and viola

Die Ewigkeiten
Der von unbeschriebenen Blättern abgelesene Brief

Duration: 5' 00"
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Instrumentation: for violin solo

This piece is dedicated to Chiara Banchini. It is actually written for a Baroque violin, but it can also be performed on a modern instrument. The original template contained a recurring bass, which remains in wide sections of this piece - this harmonic anchor only dissolves into a virtuosic flageolet passage in the middle section.

Duration: 6' 00"
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Instrumentation: for violin, tamtam, Tibetan sounding bowls (4) and a little bell

"Ligaturae" is a quiet meditation on a succession of I, IV, V ,I (played by Tibetanian bowls) It is dedicated to my mother Regula Winkelman.

Duration: 7' 00"
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Instrumentation: for orchestra, hapsichord and altus

Duration: 7' 00"
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Instrumentation: for violin and piano

A work commissioned by the Harvard Musical Association, Boston. Performed in Boston and New York (Weill recital hall). Recorded by Radio WBGH Boston. A very difficult piece for both performers. It is based on a game of Tarot Cards - so the creative process had - at least in character and structure an aleatoric element.

Duration: 15' 00"
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Instrumentation: for clarinet, violin, viola, cello, bass and Hackbrett

This work was written for the camerata variabile basle and first performed in october 2006 at the Gare du Nord, Basle. It is based on Franz Hohler's story "s'totemügerli", which is a nightmarish tale finding place in the mountains. It is told my made - up words, where the meaning can only be guessed. So also the music uses a lot of Swiss folk music materials twisted, quoted and abused in many different forms. It is a fun piece but very hard to play well.

Duration: 15' 00"
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Instrumentation: for ensemble (celesta, harpsichord (amplified), old synthesizer (amplified), percussion/timpani, piccolo/alto flute/bass flute, eb-clarinet/bass clarinet/contrabass clarinet, trombone and alphorn/horn)

This piece is about the phoenix myth and the planet constellations of the first of July.

Duration: 45' 00"
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Instrumentation: for violin solo and effect apparatus

This work is the first piece of a series of works that have yet to be written - in the end it will be a kind of cyclus for different instruments in different formations - all based on Dantes Divina Commedia. It is a project that will take years to complete.

Duration: 10' 00"
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Instrumentation: for bass-baritone, string trio and guitar

These short pieces are dedicated to the great Swiss singer Kurt Widmer. They are very thoughtfully crafted miniatures, my most intense attempt to make philosophical thought communicate through musical structures.

Duration: 14' 00"
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Instrumentation: for vocal ensemble (solo countertenor, 9 male voices, 9 female voices) and three instruments (harp, percussion and contrabass clarinet)

Texts: Dante Alighieri

My first sacred work. This piece is based on the 33rd song of paradise (Divina Commedia) by Dante Alighieri. It is a very demanding work for the choir as it is very spectral and contains microtonal passages.

Duration: 45' 00"
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Instrumentation: for piano solo

This spectralist piano work was written for french pianist Dana Ciocarlie.

Duration: 12' 00"
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Instrumentation: for orchestra

This is my first orchestral work, a commission by the Basel Sinfonietta. It is based on an experiment with associative lines of thought. It is a very demanding work for the orchestra. The basic harmonic concept is mainly spectral.

Duration: 16' 00"
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Instrumentation: for trombone and piano

"Stasera" is the title of a peom by Giuseppe Ungaretti.

Duration: 16' 00"
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Instrumentation: for organ and dancers

Duration: 9' 00"
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Instrumentation: for 2 Violinists in tails

A piece which demands quite some acting skills of the players - one has to act dying (falling with the fiddle while playing needs some practicing) the other needs to shoot his opponent. Quite dramatic and incredibly funny. It is dedicated to my old friend and mentor Hansheinz Schneeberger with whom I also play it.

Duration: 10' 00"
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Instrumentation: for alto flute/piccolo and string quartet

A huge quintet based on a wonderful Poem by Rumi (13th century, Persia). The melodic material is derived from three Indian raags (Puriya Danashri, Marwa and Iman Kalyan). Spectralism is once again of great importance - as is polymetrics.

Duration: 30' 00"
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Instrumentation: for 12 hunting horns and one french horn

It is a commission by the festival of the forests, close to Paris. It could not be performed, because of its rhythmical difficulties and the fact that most of the players there don't read music. One year later it was played by professional natural horn players and it was great fun.

Duration: 4' 30"
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Instrumentation: for soprano saxophone and bass clarinet

This piece is a musical joke and a very personal wedding present to Karin Dornbusch (clarinet) and Sascha Armbruster (saxophone). The piece musically portrays individual characteristics of these two musicians and some of the things couples love doing together like: conversation, touch, copulation, sleep, fights... the succession of these activities can be freely determined by the players while performing.

Duration: 7' 00"
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Instrumentation: for soprano and piano

Texts: Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger

This lied is based on a poem by Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger. It is dedicated to my composition teacher Roland Moser.

Duration: 7' 00"
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Instrumentation: for recorder(s), bass viol and harpsichord

This piece is dedicated to the American writer and poet Eloise Segal who was a dear friend during my stay in New York at a student. The piece is very much in reference to a short and important conversation we had, shortly before her death.

Duration: 15' 00"
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Instrumentation: for harp in overtone-tuning, clarinet(s), flute(s)

It is based on six Poems by Giuseppe Ungaretti, a poet very close to my heart whose poetry I know already for a long time. These six miniatures are very particular - and I like their strange sound - resulting from the overtone tuning of the harp - very much. They are as emotinal as they are alien(ating). They are all dedicated to personalities which have been of great importance for my musical development: György und Marta Kurtag, Claudio Abbado, Klaus Unger, Edwin Villiger, Hansheinz Schneeberger, Georg Friedrich Haas.

Duration: 16' 00"
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Instrumentation: for violin, cello and piano

This trio is based on the three mythological women, Klotho, Lachesis, Atropos. Klotho spins the thread of life, Lachesis measures it and Atropos cuts it off - so they are the three agents of destiny. It is a complex and very challenging trio.

Duration: 25' 00"
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This string trio is based on the first canto of the "Purgatorio" by Dante Alighieri's "Divina Commedia". It therewith is part of my (life) long project to put possibly much of Dantes divina commedia into music - always using different groups/instruments/settings - according to the poem.

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Chamber opera / music theatre

Instrumentation: for bass-baritone and actress, piccolo/flute, clarinet/bass clarinet, percussion, bandoneon, piano (scordatura) synthesizers, double bass, violin and live electronics (Max)

Duration: 45' 00"
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Chamber opera

Instrumentation: for mezzo-soprano, bass-baritone and an ensemble of 7 musicians: bandoneon, sythesizer, clarinet/s, flute/s, double bass, violin and percussion (set, mallets, timp)

Based on a piece by Rafael Spregelburd, Buenos Aires.

Duration: 90' 00"
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Instrumentation: for dulcimer, clarinet, violin, viola, double bass

Two short works for an ensemble of folk musicians (with some experience in contemporary music). "Chill't Horn" is very slow with a lot of harmonics - a scordatura of the string instruments is needed. "Quodli Beat" makes fun of Techno music. It is based on different folk dances from my home town of Schaffhausen. Both pieces need pickups. Reverb apparatus is needed for "Chill't Horn" and simple amplification for "Quodli Beat".

Duration: 12' 00"
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Instrumentation: for marimbaphone, pf, s/a sax, acn, e-gtr, perc

This piece features parts of an old waltz from St.Gallen and houses, in addition to trees, birds, a pavillon, overgrown pathways and other things, a forest monster...therefore not for the fainthearted...

Duration: 16' 00"
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Instrumentation: for string quartet

String Quartet in 4 Movements.
First movement: all four strings in unison.
Second movement: only two voice counterpoint in a devilishly fast SCHERZO.
Third movement: on Mandelstam poems (fragments) is throughout 4-voice counterpoint and polymetrics.
The fourth Movement is almost entirely set in 8 voices- often in parallel motion.
It is very very demanding for the performers - technically and in synchronisation.

Duration: 26' 00"
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Instrumentation: for horn, violin and piano

Duration: 11' 00"
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Instrumentation: for two solo celli and chamber orchestra (strings only, but min. 5.4.3.3.1)

Duration: 11' 00"
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Instrumentation: for harp in overtone tuning, clarinet, flute and string quartet

Texts: Johanna Arp, Irène Gayraud, Friederike Mayröcker, Tal Nitzan

Four poems of four poetesses - Johanna Arp, Irène Gayraud, Friederike Mayröcker and Tal Nitzan were the basis of four short, fragile and haunting pieces. The compositions use the texts as a living element during the performance. Ideally the poetesses read them while the pieces are played.

Duration: 20' 00"
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Double Concerto

Instrumentation: for alphorn, trumpet, büchel and cow horns

Can be extended by 40 minutes: A prologue to the actual performance of this piece exists as a graphical score and allows the participation of children. This extension uses similar materials to the double concertos and some of the orchestra members and soloists also take part in it.

Duration: 20' 00"
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Instrumentation: for chamber orchestra (strings only - min. 6.5.4.3.1)

A very fun and virtuosic piece about three hungry animals. It is based on a graphic sketch which I drew in 10 minutes for a string trio of friends in Amsterdam who asked their audience for graphic scores and then would sightread/improvise them on the spot.

Duration: 15' 00"
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Instrumentation: for string trio, sheng (Chinese mouth organ), daegum (Korean bamboo flute) and changgu (Korean drum)

Duration: 11' 00"
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Instrumentation: for vocal ensemble (8 female voices) and instruments (dulcimer, vn, vc, db, cornett, perc)

Texts: Traditionelle Texte aus Lettland und der Schweiz

Duration: 38' 00"
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Instrumentation: for four-handed piano

Duration: 14' 00"
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