“In my music, I am looking for the traces of beauty and depth of expression that radiate from the tone constellations. This is nothing new, but always a wonderful challenge. An aesthetic of prohibitions is as alien to me as an indiscriminate deployment of stylistic means. Every composition has its determination and derives from this its contours, the sequence of harmonic colours, the nature of the melodic and formal configuration. The so-called material is set in motion by the initial idea, the inspiration, ultimately flowing into the interplay of its own momentum and control: this is the most exciting stage of the composer’s work. When the material is consistent and the ear, as the highest authority, has made its judgement on the sequence of sounds, then, perhaps, the magic of an art that can speak emerges, where memory and imagination are fused into a work.” — Thomas Daniel Schlee