E-Brunch – Festival 33,7
Stefan Prins (*BE, 1979)
Inhibition Space #3 (2022) for saxophone, percussion and live-electronics -15’ World Premiere
Commissioned by United Instruments of Lucilin for the project 33,7 – Esch2022 European Capital of Culture, with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation
The Sixth Mass Extinction, which we are currently experiencing on Earth, is driven by human-induced feedback loops. One is between human activity and its ecological consequences. Another is within the ecosystem itself, where crossing a tipping point has set into motion an uncontrollable series of events that exponentially feed back into each other. In the series of
compositions called Inhibition Space, instruments are augmented electronically with tiny microphones, its amplified sounds fed into loudspeaker placed just besides them, or transducers placed upon them. This creates a similar situation of (acoustic) feedback, which the musicians can manipulate at best, but never fully control. Opening a key of the instrument even slightly, might have dramatic sonic consequences in this fragile equilibirium. With the help of a digital system however, they can find ways to alter their musical behaviour, habits and reflexes sufficiently, to create a symbiosis
between the human agent and its sonic environment.
Patrick Muller (*LU, 1978)
dérivée (2021) for saxophone, viola and electronics – 12’
The performance DÉRIVÉE blurs the borders between acoustic and digital sound generation, between poetry reading and music concert. The pieces are thematically based on poems by Anna Leader, Nico Helminger and Tom Nisse – poems that inspire the musicians’ improvisation. The computer is used as a musical sound processing tool, only processing in realtime – no prepared sounds, no playback, no automation.
Roby Steinmetzer (*LU, 1960)
Miroir d’eau (2012) for viola and electronics – 6’
Miroir d’eau is a very impressionistic music, inspired by the lights of Istanbul reflected in the waters of the Bosphorus.
The viola is processed electronically in real time by passing the different components of the spectrum through an echo effect, where the delay time, number and amplitude of repetitions are set differently for each component. The auditory effect produced in this way is somewhat comparable to the reflection of an image on water. The repetitive play of the waves translates into a visual movement of dissolution and crystallization, the image distorting itself according to the oscillations and vibrations of the water surface.
Patrick Muller (*LU, 1978)
dérivée (2021) for percussion, viola and electronics – 12’
Jug Markovic (*RS, 1987)
rusty rose (2021) for flute, cello, percussion and electronics – 7’
The electronics in rusty rose are based on the manipulation of two audio files: a recording of Danilo Kiš’s poem Đubrište recited by vocal artist Thea Soti and barely recognizable particles of the madrigal Lamento della Ninfa by Claudio Monteverdi. The two files and their stretched bits merge into each other with different cross-synthesis techniques and mutate in the frequency domain. The acoustic instrumental part is devoid of any grand soloistic gestures and its idea is to never take precedence and full attention over the electronics, but to merge into it subtly and intimately, as well as to imperceptibly underline the timbre and melancholic harmony of the rusty rose.
Igor C Silva (*PT, 1989)
Numb (2015) for baritone sax and electronics – 7’
We’re staring too long at screens, scratching our retinas and distorting perception.
With: Danielle Hennicot (viola), Ingrid Schoenlaub (violoncello), Sophie Deshayes (flute), Olivier Sliepen (saxophone), Guy Frisch (percussion), Patrick Muller (live electronics), Roby Steinmetzer (live electronics), Carla Lucarelli (voice)
