Church bells, Indian bells, alpine bells, carillons – a rich family, full of meanings and traditions. As a child, I was impressed by a chapel of thanksgiving near my hometown of Waldkirchen. The thanking person got lost in the forest and found the safe place because he was able to follow the sound of the church bell. My parents lived right next to the church for a few years, and there was a lot of bell ringing back then. I myself helped with the ringing: pulling on the rope – how quickly does the first stop come – hanging on the rope to brake – how quickly do you stop the bell – and the wonderful vastness of the sound, the height of the radiation, the dangerous belfry, and the ringing as Harassment! At home it was always said: “Goethe hated church bells!” Our bells were the result of a bell expert in terms of tuning and quality. It was the later Passau Cathedral choir conductor, in whose choir I sang for several years!

And now the “tube bells”!

They are difficult, these tubes that only vary in length and are therefore not always well equipped for their pitch. But they retain the bell flair, despite their bulkiness. It is precisely their mystifying closedness that is attractive: the relationship between the means of attack, the point of attack and the sound result cannot always be precisely predicted, and even at the highest volumes one has the impression that the tubes are not producing everything. But they modulate each other excellently. The player with his striking tools is always confronted with an idiosyncratic, diverse self.

You can often experience tubular bells with larger ensembles. I was told that there was no SOLO for tubular bells yet.

Well laissez vibrer is one! I hope it was successful!!!

(Nicolaus A. Huber, 2021)