“I finished "brown, blue, brown on blue (for Mark Rothko)" in mid-july 1999, and it picks up where "Slow Gestures / Cérémonie Désir (for Heike)" left off (actually, the two pieces can be listened to as one large work in two parts...). It is dedicated to my favorite painter, Mark Rothko, and the title is taken from one of his paintings that has accompanied me for a long time as print hanging beside my bed. I finally got a chance to see this painting in an exhibition of Rothko's works at the Musée de l'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1999 and was more deeply touched by it than i can express in words. These strong feelings have found their way into the composition i began working on immediately after my visit at the museum - it is not intended to describe the painting itself, but rather the emotions it inspired. The itinerary the work takes is, in some respect, a reversed mirror image of the development of Rothko's painting during his life: where Rothko began his characteristic style with bright colors and ended in dark grays and blacks, i am starting with dark colors implying his tragic death to end in a kind of celebration of his greatness being recognized by so many people now, and the heritage of wonderful works he has left us.” bernhard günter, October 1999