Elmar Lehnen: “When I heard brassfabrik 4.0 for the first time, I was fascinated by their distinctive, brilliant, bright, fresh sound rich in overtones, their rhythmic precision, incredible virtuosity, homogeneity, and confident intonation. I was also impressed by their sound in the soft, cantabile range. Each of the four musicians plays a wonderful tone to the limits of their instruments’ range.
As a classical church musician, I was all the more delighted to be asked to write a piece for this ensemble. Naturally, I wanted to showcase everything that inspired me about brassfabrik in the piece. The result was a piece with a simple A B A’ form, in which the A section starts off very virtuosic and rhythmic and gradually flows into a calm, soft, harmonious, cantabile B section. However, the theme of the A section is not abandoned but continues as a slow melody, partly also canonically, until it flows back into the A section. The A section reminds me of the movements you see when watching an anthill, while the B section reminds me of a love scene in a film. This is how the title “Liebesleben einer Ameise” came about. I hope you enjoy playing and listening to this piece.”