2CD – Col Legno

This is the third release from an interesting research project at the Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology at Zurich University of the Arts (ICST). For this project, various electroacoustic works created from the mid-80s up to the present day have been selected. The basic idea is to analyze how songs that were created through analogue processes can be ‘translated’ into digital without losing their original quality, while taking into account the original intentions of the composers. The selection starts with ‘Flute Control’ by Thomas Kessler, a composition developed between 1984 and 1986, which tries to connect the instrument and the computer through musical interactions, one of the first examples of a live chamber setting in which software is decisive in delivering an optimal performance. We move on to the nineties with the second work, ‘Nuits, Adieux’, with Kaija Saariaho incorporating electronic elements – developed at IRCAM with the support of Jean-Baptiste Barrière – into an ensemble of soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor and base. We then jump to 2016 with Horacio Vaggione and his ‘Shifting Mirrors’, a composition developed in close collaboration with the saxophonist Pedro Bittencourt. The score maintains a precise tonal structure along with carefully designed sounds and file execution techniques. ‘Pressure-divided’ from 2015, sees Hans Tutschku dealing with an 8-channel speaker system that surrounds the audience, while Georg Friedrich Haas’ ‘Ein Schattenspiel’ from 2004 focuses on sequential shifts of harmonic structures and microtonal variations. We then return to 1995 with ‘Sottovoce’ by José Manuel López López, based on pre-composed vocal sequences that generate material which are then processed electronically. For ‘… of Silence’ by Marco Stroppa, we move to 2007, which features an audio setup that includes a multiple source speaker responding to the saxophonist through a series electronic actions developed using Max/MSP. ‘Differenz / Widerholung 6a’ by Bernhard Lang dates back to 2002 and was written for an ensemble including flute, tenor sax and piano. This substantial collection closes with ‘Instrumente und ElektroAkustisch Ortsbezogene Verdichtung (Das Blaue vom Himmel)’, composed by Peter Ablinger in the mid-nineties and which explores the internal acoustics of the cello and the external acoustics of a short field-recording. While the collection is certainly not exhaustive, it offers an adventurous excursion that fans of the genre will greatly appreciate.

 

Various Artists – Les Éspaces Electroacoustiques III