De Anima

De Anima was my first work for string orchestra, written for a Hungarian composers’ competition organised by the Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra. The following programme note accompanied the submission:

“The moment I’ve read about this competition’s theme (which required the piece to have a link to the term ‘soul’), I was full of inspiration. However, it weren’t sounds or melodies which were dancing around in my mind, but the following questions: What is it? Where is it? Does the soul even exist? These questions interest me already for years, and the moment I feel I’m getting close to some answers, new problems arise. The actual composition process started when I’ve encountered Aristotle’s work ‘De Anima.’ He’s looking at the soul from different viewpoints and this is what I’ve tried to do as well with my composition. A simple theme, three notes are the soul of my piece. As I work and transform this theme, or as I change its color or character, it somehow always returns to its most innocent form”