In music, the subjection and domestication of Nature through civilization takes the form of the subjection of the material, of a rational ordering system for our acoustical universe, the creation and hierarchical structuring of musical parameters on the one hand and the degradation of the resonating body to a musical instrument on the other. Thomalla sabotages the objectification of our musical discourse. Time and again he starts at these two chinks in our epistemological armor. He causes our ordering systems to grind and stutter, audibly throwing sand into the gearbox. This is underscored by the physical exertion which his technically difficult chamber music, which is collected on this CD, imposes on the performers. The aim of Thomalla's composing is to lend speech to physicality itself, and to listen to it. His compositional strategies have taught him that his own language lies in the freedom to adopt foreign tongues. (Sergio Morabito)
