This page lists works by Martin Lotz, including instrumentation, duration and brief notes. Where available, you will find score excerpts, audio, and video links. Full performance materials—score and parts—can be provided as PDF on request for programming, rehearsal planning, and performance preparation.
The catalogue includes contemporary orchestral music and chamber works, including concertos with a strong solo profile. For practical use, materials are supplied with clear structural markers and performance notes where needed (e.g., rehearsal letters, percussion setup, instrumentation details).
Quicklinks
Op 10 – Katharsis – Violin Concerto
Op 9 – Vers le silence – Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
Live performance of composition “Sinfonietta for Stringquintett – Disput”
Op 7 – String Concerto for Cello and Violin
Op 6 – update – Sinfoniette for string quintett – “Disput“
Op 10 Violinconcerto “Katharsis”
Composed in 2025/26, Katharsis is a concerto for solo violin and chamber orchestra with a duration of approximately 25 minutes. The work unfolds in three connected parts, forming a continuous dramatic arc:
I. Respirando / Andante (bars 1–182)
II. Dissolvendosi / Largo (bars 183–302)
III. Introverso / Larghetto (bars 303–414)
The concerto is built on a consciously restrained tempo framework. Its tension does not arise from external brilliance or rapid motion, but from breathing temporal processes, subtle shifts in density, and finely graded dynamic development.
The solo violin acts both as an exposed lyrical voice and as a structural force within the orchestral fabric. At times it emerges clearly from transparent textures; at others it is integrated into layered sonorities that evolve gradually across extended spans.
The orchestration favors clarity over mass. Wind, brass, strings, and percussion interact in controlled constellations, allowing harmonic fields and timbral layers to unfold organically. Rather than presenting thematic material in declarative gestures, the music grows through transformation and internal concentration.
Katharsis explores a dramaturgy of grounding, dissolution, and inward reflection. The concerto’s expressive trajectory moves from stability toward increasing introspection, culminating not in spectacle but in a concentrated, distilled resolution.
Duration: approx. 25 minutes
Instrumentation:
Flute, Oboe, Clarinet
Horn, Trumpet, Trombone
Solo Violin
Violin I/II, Viola, Cello I/II, Double Bass
Gran Cassa (optional Cymbal, Triangle)
Score (Excerpt):
Op 9 Vers le silence – Concerto for Piano and Orchstra
Vers le silence is a concerto for piano and orchestra that explores free tonality across an approximately 16-minute span. Rather than following a classical concerto form, the work unfolds as a continuous dramaturgical arc—beginning in introverted stillness, gradually intensifying with rhythmic and harmonic impulses, and finally dissolving into a delicate sonic silence.
The piano serves as an introspective voice, weaving through modular figures, fragile textures, and subtle dynamic shifts. The orchestra, a chamber-like ensemble of winds, brass, and strings, acts as a responsive and sometimes echoing counterpart. Together, they create a sonic landscape marked by restraint, organic development, and a focus on nuance over gesture.
The instrumentation is designed for flexibility, featuring flute, oboe, clarinet (B♭), trumpet (B♭), horn (F), trombone, solo piano, and strings (1–2 violins, violas, cellos, and double bass).
Musical Language & Structure
The concerto is grounded in free tonality, occasionally gravitating around tonal centers such as C minor and A minor, but always retaining openness and modal ambiguity. The form comprises seven continuous sections, each with its own character—ranging from floating sound fields to rhythmic spirals and reflective, quasi-cadenza moments.
Throughout the piece, the emphasis lies on:
- Sensitivity in tone production
- Fluid, natural phrasing
- Dynamic balance and organic transitions
- Avoidance of overt virtuosity in favor of expressive clarity
A Personal Approach
As a composer working outside traditional academic frameworks, I have developed my compositional voice autodidactically over many years. Vers le silence reflects this journey—a personal search for sound that is both contemporary and deeply human, open to interpretation and new listening experiences.
Looking Ahead
I am currently seeking collaborators—pianists, orchestras, and festivals—interested in bringing this concerto to life through its first live performance. The score is available on request, and an audio simulation (created digitally) offers an initial impression of the work’s character.
For inquiries, the full score, or further information, please feel free to get in touch.
Scores
Audio rendering
Op 8 – Piano Trio
My Piano Trio (op. 8) – created in 2023 – is a chamber music work for piano, violin, and violoncello, with a total duration of approximately 14 minutes. In this piece, I explore the intimate and dynamic relationships within the trio format, utilizing free tonality to create a rich and flexible harmonic landscape. As a contemporary music composer focused on piano and chamber works, I explore free tonality and structural clarity through orchestral and intimate formats.
The trio is divided into three movements, each offering its own distinct mood and character:
The first movement opens with a spirited and rhythmic drive, where the instruments exchange energetic motifs and build a vibrant, conversational texture. My intention here was to establish a sense of motion and interplay right from the start, highlighting the individuality of each instrument while keeping a tight ensemble dialogue.
The second movement presents a contrasting lyrical and contemplative atmosphere. I focus on delicate interplay and expressive melodic lines, allowing the music to unfold more slowly and introspectively. This section emphasizes subtle nuance and balance between the piano and strings, drawing the listener into a more personal sound world.
The final movement reintroduces momentum and rhythmic vitality, weaving together playful and dramatic elements. The music builds to an exciting conclusion, bringing the trio’s themes and energies together in a satisfying culmination.
With this trio, I aimed to balance technical challenge with emotional expressiveness, creating a piece that offers depth and variety for performers and listeners alike. The use of free tonality provides the freedom to explore shifting moods and textures while maintaining coherence and flow throughout the work.
Scores
(will be updated)
Audio Rendering
Performance of Op 6 “Sinfonietta for Stringquintett – Disput”
I am happy to announce that my work “Sinfonietta for string quintet – Disput” was premiered at the festival “International Piano Competition & Festival MozArte 2022“ on September 09, 2022.
Many thanks to the organizers of the “International Piano Competition & Festival MozArte 2022” and to the “Festival Strings”, the players of the concert.
“Sinfonietta for string quintet – Disput”, September 9th 2022, Mozarte Festival 2022, Aachen:
Visit the Mozarte 2022 homepage.
The piece “Sinfonietta for string quintet” with 2 violins, viola, cello and bass was written before the impression of two significant global crises. While there were at least signals of an end to one crisis in the spring of 2022, another was looming. The emotional reaction to this is expressed, among other things, by the division of the piece into two parts and the slow tempo between “grave” / “lento” and maximum “andantino”.
The work begins with an ascending slow chord progression in which dynamics gradually gain space and cello and violin enter soloistically. Harmonic focal points are found in the middle of the piece, where hope is initially expressed, but subsequently pessimism sets in, representing a strong harmonic break.
To gain expressiveness, the composition makes use of extended, shifted, and augmented chords, among other things, as well as chromatic alternations. Harmony is of great importance, and the work exhibits a high harmonic density. At the same time, the character of this – in contrast to the meter – is rather unstable, gliding, little consolidated, constantly in motion. New things happen frequently. Stability and continuity are expressed by the mostly used time signature 4/4, which is temporarily interrupted by 5/4 and 7/4 measures.
The piece ends with a ritardando finale that brings the solo players together and spreads a rather hopeful mood.
Martin Lotz – Contemporary Music Composer | Piano & Chamber Works
Op 7 – Concerto Élégiaque – String Concerto for Violin & Cello
The ccontemporary classical music composition “Concerto Élégiaque – String Concerto for Violin Cello” was written in the early summer of 2022 with the aim of creating an approximately 10-minute work for violin and cello and accompanying string orchestra.
The piece is a three-part, highly polyphonic work melodically based primarily on 2 themes. These are distributed roughly serially over sections 1 and 2, but are both repeated in a strongly modulated manner in section 3 (through transpositions, melodically and rhythmically sometimes strongly modified recurrences). Thereby the melodic density is relatively high in all 3 parts, but especially high in the second part.
Part 1 expresses the “light” and “positive” moods leggero, energico, soave as well as a clear major-minor tonality (and sometimes chords without thirds), while in the second part the rather “heavy” moods tranquillo, doloroso and serioso are used as well as frequently suspended, diminished or raised chords.
Part 3 is clearly characterized by the “buffo” tuning due to its very strong modulations. Here the dynamic range is also particularly high (pp – ff) and the generally quiet tempo of the work is at its highest (maximum larghetto). Likewise, in part 3 the standard 4/4 meter is most often replaced by 5/4 and 6/4 meters.
If interested, sheet music (score and all players) is available upon request here.
Scores
Audio Rendering
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Op 6 – Sinfonietta for string quintett – Disput
The piece “Sinfonietta for string quintet”, a contemporary music composition with 2 violins, viola, cello and bass was written before the impression of two significant global crises. While there were at least signals of an end to one crisis in the spring of 2022, another was looming. The emotional reaction to this is expressed, among other things, by the division of the piece into two parts and the slow tempo between “grave” / “lento” and maximum “andantino”.
The work begins with an ascending slow chord progression in which dynamics gradually gain space and cello and violin enter soloistically. Harmonic focal points are found in the middle of the piece, where hope is initially expressed, but subsequently pessimism sets in, representing a strong harmonic break.
To gain expressiveness, the composition makes use of extended, shifted, and augmented chords, among other things, as well as chromatic alternations. Harmony is of great importance, and the work exhibits a high harmonic density. At the same time, the character of this – in contrast to the meter – is rather unstable, gliding, little consolidated, constantly in motion. New things happen frequently. Stability and continuity are expressed by the mostly used time signature 4/4, which is temporarily interrupted by 5/4 and 7/4 measures.
The piece ends with a ritardando finale that brings the solo players together and spreads a rather hopeful mood.
For more information and music sheet please contact me.
Audio rendering
xxxxx
Martin Lotz – Contemporary Music Composer | piano and chamber music scores
Martin Lotz | contemporary music composition