Gz is an abbreviation of the German word Gestaltzerfall, or “shape decomposition,” a psychological phenomenon where one experiences a temporary loss of the ability to recognize certain letters, particularly often experienced in Japanese Kanji, the characters that originally come from China. The works in my Gz series—all scored for two instruments—explore the plausible affects of the psychological phenomenon: uncertainty, doubt, impermanence, loss, and the will to break away from them through an attempt at recovering the memory.

Commissioned by Duo Jeux d’Anches (Marko Sevarlic, Nikola Kerkez), what is now the first part of the piece was originally written in 2017. When German composer, colleague and friend Stefan Beyer decided to program the work for concert, Mittel und Zwecke in Berlin in January 2023. I decided to add two sections—essentially codas—in which I reflected on the structure of the first part of the work a half decade later, after few of the original sketches for the piece remained in my possession. In a way, not only the sound of the work, but also the compositional process retraced the ethos of Gestaltzerfall.

I thank Stefan Beyer for his encouragement to give this work back to life, as well as Christine Paté and Anna-Katharina Schau for their musicianship to allow this work to see its premiere.