Second in a set of "atmospheric pictures" for varied combinations of solo woodwind and keyboard. As the title ("Vorspiel zu einem imaginären Film noir", or "Prelude to an Imaginary Film Noir") suggests, this duet of oboe d'amore (or cor anglais) and harmonium evokes by design the moody, shadowy essence of film noir in its heyday. Swelling chromatic harmonies undergird a melody in the oboe d'amore that creeps surreptitiously, gradually reaching a piercing denouement before dissolving into the ether. Note the dissonant and often painfully wide leaps in the melody and the prevalence of such intervals as the minor second and the tritone throughout in both instruments (not infrequently in an octatonic scalar context). The painting in the video is "The Port of Le Havre, Night Effect" by Claude Monet. Check out the work's full engraved score here.        

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