Book Review: "Moments of Stillness" and "Dew Drops" - Two New Books of Lyre Music by Thomas Pedroli

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Reviewed by Cornelia Wiemers, music therapist and professor for Dalcroze rhythmics, Netherlands.

"The greatest revelation is silence" (Lao Tse)

From the front page of the book of lyre music, published in 2018, the lotus flower is glowing. The symbol of compassion and heart forces was the inspiration for Moments of Stillness, as the collection of five pieces for one or two lyres is called. The pieces enchant particularly through their purity and beauty.

The lotus flower opens and closes in harmony with the day’s rhythm. This quiet, calm, and breathing rhythm is the main character of the various pieces: "Stillness", "Eternal", "Roses", "Elves", "Far Away". The sound spreads in the room, sometimes in a more feeling way, sometimes in a more moving way, but always in a listening manner.

Thus the various pieces pose an ever new challenge of wakefulness for the player, and how to deal with space, in the end the space of stillness.

Dew Drops, the second book, published in 2019, connects in its character with the lotus flower, the symbol for inner growth and life. "Dew drops" glisten and reflect the surrounding in a concentrated form. Point and circumference are beautifully united.

These pieces, too, enchant through their simplicity and clarity in structure. Movement: "Go with the flow" - Pause: "Dew Drops" - Movement: "Bagatelle delle Mare" - Pause: "At Home" - and ending with movement, the second "Go with the flow". Thus the player moves through the versatility of the pieces, dancing and breathing. "The two lyre parts join together to make a serene and calmly flowing movement" is a playing indication and at the same time a characterization of the pieces.

The structure of the pieces is defined by symmetry and recurrence, which help the player to enter into them, to let go, and to flow with the streaming.

For me this is the kind of lyre music that takes the lyre serious as a modern instrument of our time, and that allows the lyre to sound as is intended.

I am particularly fond of the piece "Stillness". It leaves a lot of room for the sound. At the same time it demands much regarding careful sound production, letting go, and free bodily posture in order to sound. Thus the player has the opportunity to learn everything that in my view belongs to playing the lyre.

The compositions address the player in his/her responsibility to remain active and listening while playing. His/her relationship to the lyre and the (surrounding) space can be the leading thread on the journey of discoveries around these pieces.

For me it is a "lyre school" without trying to be a school.

"Outer movement stimulates inner listening movement".

This ideal of Julius Knierim becomes reality here.