The “Rotations” for Brass Quintet are a study of synchronity/asynchronity in musical sequences: in the introductory and final sections in the form of a free combination of voices in the middle section from the point of view of a canon.

The canonical structure involves a specific musical character. Since the voices always “run after each other”, asynchronity emerges as if all on its own, unless synchronous events are planned from the outset and consequently built up and broken down again. Therein lies the attraction: to apply the structure of the canon strictly and at the same time to “outwit” it. The result is a piece in which there are no abrupt contrasts, but in which “centers of gravity” have been established, around which the music “rotates”, centers that slowly form and then are dismantled again (e.g., the rhythmic unison in m. 91, the only incidence where the structure of the canon is broken with the quartuplet – a singular possibility of intensification in this piece).

The character of the music, in which continuity plays a certain role, likewise features a minimalist touch.