For Wols (It's all over): Piano Solo

Name: For Wols (It's all over): Piano Solo
Brand: Alfred Music
SKU: 98-EP14796
Price: 15.95 USD
Availability: InStock

Four Pieces for Piano

By Bernd Franke

Level: Intermediate

Item: 98-EP14796

$15.95

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“For Wols” was written in 1991 at the suggestion of the Cologne pianist Michael Graubner and commissioned by the Düsseldorf Tonhalle.

The premiere took place in Düsseldorf in 1993, and in 1994 “For Wols” was produced by Hessian Radio. “For Wols” was produced by Hessischer Rundfunk in 1994.

The dedication and subtitle of these four pieces for piano refer to the restless and tragic life as well as various works of the great German abstract painter Wols, who was born Wolfgang Schulze in Berlin in 1913, grew up in Dresden and died prematurely, aged just 38, completely impoverished in Paris.

Manfred H. Wenninger, excerpt from a portrait programme on Hessischer Rundfunk in 1996:

“‘For Wols (It's all over)’ is an endgame. But it doesn't lead to a decision like in chess or football game; ‘endgame’ would be better understood here in Beckett's sense, as an ‘old endgame that has always been lost’. Development takes place here, if at all, only in the smallest, often stuttering dimensions, tending to freeze into a point without development.

In the end, the ultimate opposition: two opposing voices in widely splayed positions. In an apparent contradiction of seeming static and violent outburst, the two inspiring starting points to which the title alludes are found: the paintings of the painter Wolfgang Schulze, whose abstract works Franke describes as partly filigree-silent, partly violently expressive; as well as Franke's thoughts and feelings during the Gulf War.”

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Series: Edition Peters

Publisher: Edition Peters

ISBN10: 0-577-02533-3

ISBN13: 979-0-577-02533-9

SKU: 98-EP14796

More about this title

About the Composer: Bernd Franke

Bernd Franke is a German composer and pianist whose work emerges from the post-war avant-garde tradition. He has developed a compositional language that balances abstract formal rigor with expressive intensity, often drawing on extra-musical sources for thematic depth.

Franke's catalogue reflects a deep engagement with modernist aesthetics and the visual arts. His commissions from major European institutions, including the Düsseldorf Tonhalle, demonstrate his standing within contemporary classical music circles.

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Why we love this

This piece demands that pianists reckon with silence, restraint, and the tension between stillness and eruption. Rather than ask for technical virtuosity, Franke asks for interpretive maturity and the discipline to let microtonal shifts and sparse textures carry meaning. Programming it creates a contemplative moment that reshapes how audiences listen to everything that follows.

What to expect

The four pieces evoke a landscape of loss and fragmentation rendered in musical shorthand. Filigree textures and sudden violent gestures mirror the restless energy of abstract expressionism, while extended silences and repetitive figures suggest exhaustion and stasis. The overall arc feels less like narrative development than like fragments of thought that refuse to cohere.

Who it's for

Intermediate pianists ready to move beyond technical display toward interpretive depth will find genuine challenge here. This work suits pianists drawn to contemporary classical music, minimalism, or expressionist aesthetics who can engage with abstract forms and unconventional sound worlds.

How to get the most out of it

Attend to the spacing between pitches and the resonance they create. Each note exists in relation to the surrounding silence, so allow the pedal to work as an active compositional voice.
Resist the impulse to rush through sparse passages. The 'stuttering dimensions' Wenninger describes require patience and a clear sense of structural inevitability rather than emotional pushing.
Study the dynamic and textural contrasts as structural anchors. The violent outbursts emerge from and return to filigree passages; treat them as essential shifts rather than departures.

How to use it

Position this as a centerpiece in a contemporary or solo recital where it can anchor a program exploring abstraction and modernism. It also works powerfully in chamber or mixed-media contexts that engage with visual art; the explicit dedication to Wols invites collaboration with exhibitions or critical discussions of artistic struggle.