For Nikolaus Brass, the “concrete confrontation with the existential fragility of human existence, with new beginnings and happiness, but also pain, infirmity and death” acted “like a compass in the search for expression.” He refers to his music as characterised by “flowing time processes, questions of order and disturbance, the scanning of the acoustic outer surface for what it harbours as an echo, as well as aspects of human existence,” within a “permanent circle of losing and finding again.” This musica viva CD features three of his compositions, created between 2012 and 2023.

Nikolaus Brass studied medicine and composition in Munich and Berlin, and with Helmut Lachenmann in Hanover. He took part in the Darmstadt Summer Course from 1980 to 1986. His works have been regularly performed at festivals since 1981. In addition to his profession as a medical doctor, which he practised for many years, he has composed numerous works, including several commissioned by the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (as part of the musica viva series), the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Donaueschingen Music Days and the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik. In 2009, Brass was awarded the Music Prize of the City of Munich. He has been a member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts since 2014.

Brass’s composition In der Farbe von Erde (“In the colour of earth”) - music for viola, 44 strings and two percussionists was first performed on 17 February 2023, with Tabea Zimmermann (viola) and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vimbayi Kaziboni. The work was commissioned by musica viva of Bayerischer Rundfunk. The title of the composition refers to a short text by the French-speaking Swiss poet Philippe Jaccottet (1925-2021).