The first version of this composition was made in 1985 to a request by my a friend philosopher, as part of a Friedrich Nietzsche performance shown in the Szkéné Theatre in Budapest. One year later in 1986 during my tablā studies with Lāszlō Hortobāgyi, I began to see the work (then still much shorter) differently, it gained new dimensions, and a more complex form, and new qualities. With my friend Lāszlō Hortobāgyi, a composer and sitārist, and while I was thinking and composing with him, the original musical material was expanded to include material written for these two typically Indian instruments (the sitār and tablā), necessitating a far more complex formal structure for the work. The final version developed into the formally ‘regular’ rāga familiar from northern India (Hindustān), with all its formal sections: Ālāp – Vilambit – Madhya – Drut. The boundaries between the formal sections are demarcated by strokes on the tam-tam and bells. In this case the Ālāp (intro) is a rubato material (in free time) for solo piano, inspired by a Nietzschean text. The slow Vilambit begins with an ostinato for piano and bass guitar. Unusually, we do not hear a traditional theme here; the main role is taken by the motifs of the voice and cello. The voice sings the syllables of Indian absolute solfege (sa-ri-ga-ma-pa-da-ni). The Madhya, in moderate time, features the sitar with the raga theme. The sitār theme, based on the traditional melodic world of the Rāga Darbāri, is heard in the performance style known as Gāyaki Ang, after which the tabla enters with the Tintāla series of beats (theka). Over the ostinato in the bass of the piano, the sitar and tabla follow the customary Theme – Interlude – Theme – Interlude etc. form of the rāga. When the improvisatory interlude passages close, we hear the concluding three-section Tihāi formula. The fast Drut section begins after a ‘conversation’ between the sitār, tablā, and bass guitar (sawāb- jawāl) , and then the entire ensemble enters (tutti). The cello and voice motifs return, and a new sitar theme appears (as so often in Drut), the tempo gradually quickens, and finally we come to the end of the work with a 3x3x3 enormous Chakradār-tihāi.
