Volklinger Hütte

Goethe’s dictum that architecture is frozen music has been a powerful stimulus for composers over the centuries, but in the case of Morgan Hayes the stark features of modern industrial buildings rather than the splendours of the Gothic or Baroque styles have been an impressive influence.

In the case of his most recent work, Völklinger Hütte, the great German steel foundry of that name, in operation for over a hundred years, was the trigger for a powerful yet succinct one-movement structure for piano trio. Situated in the town of Völklingen, this extraordinary monument to German engineering prowess is now a UNESCO world heritage site. Hayes discovered it by chance, through a reference in a Lonely Planet guide while he was visiting nearby Saarbrüken for a performance of another of his compositions.

The austere beauty of the location has infused the music with sharp dynamic and timbral extremes which also suggest its awesome scale. Grinding, machine-like textures cheek by jowl with passages of reposeful silence also project the nostalgic atmosphere of the now silent plant contrasted with the bustle of its heyday, still echoing in the brutally functional geometrical forms of its corroding chimneys, cranes and blast furnaces.