Studioforum
Woche 13-18 / 24.03. - 4.05.08
Swedish Focus I, Curated by Lennart Westman & Johannes S. Sistermanns: Electroacoustic Music from Sweden with works by:
01. Lennart Westman / Lapides / 5:10
02. Iréne Sahlin / Therefore i break 1 sound / 5:18
03. Rolf Enström / Rama / 14:34
04. Per Samuelsson/ Grid Expansion / 7:35
05. Lennart Westman / Felicem Diem Natalem / 3:25
06. Ylva Skog / Crocheted Butterfly / 8:38
07. Lars Bröndum / Transmission / 12:35
08. Jens Hedman / Glitter-splinter / 8:16
09. Lennart Westman / From Home Land Trilogy: Overture / 3:14 / Twigs and Branches / 2:41 / Vigsel / 7:32
10. Akós Rózmann / Nocturne i Silver och Dans / 17:00
11. Rolf Enström / Observatoriemusik / Music for an Observatory / 16:18
Lennart Westman (1953) started his musical career as very young by playing in local pop groups. Later he studied classical guitar, harmony and counterpoint in Sweden and also spent some years in France and Spain. A growing interest for the sonic art brought him to EMS (Electroacoustic Music in Sweden) in the late 80s where he wanted to acquaint himself with electroacoustic music. Not until 1995, however, did he dedicate himself to this genre. Lennart Westman has completed the composition programme at EMS with teachers such as Lars-Gunnar Bodin and Rolf Enström. Thereafter he has studied instrumentation, orchestration and composition for professor Sven-David Sandström and composers Henrik Strindberg and Per Mårtensson. His works have been performed in Europe, the USA, Latin America and Asia. One of his pieces was selected for performance in Hong Kong during the World Music Days in 2002. Westman composes electroacoustic music, instrumental and choral music. His music is comparatively tonal and is characterized by depth and spirituality.
www.lennartwestman.st
Lapides / 2005 / 5:10
The recorded electronic sound material to "Lapides" contains of four stones from the Baltic Sea (at the island Gotland in Sweden) and singing parts in latin by the tenor Conny Thimander. All lyrics in the piece are in latin, and they originate from the German medieval mystic, poet and musician Hildegard of Bingen. They are slightly modified by the composer.
The Latin lyrics in the piece are:
Lapides ventum sonantis verbi habentes. - Stones, carrying the wind of the sounding word.
Rationalitas sum, ventum sonantis verbi habens. - I am the potent cause, carrying the wind of the sounding word.
Omne vitale de me radicatum est. - In me the life force has it source.
Integra vita sum, quae de lapidibus abscissa non est. - I am the totality of life, that hasn't been carved free of the stone.
Translation into English by Christin Zandin
Felicem Diem Natalem / 2006 / 3:25
“Happy Birthday” to the composer´s wife on her 50th anniversary. All singing parts in latin by tenor Conny Thimander.
Three pieces from Home Land Trilogy / 2007
Overture / 3:14
The opening of the composer’s Home Land Trilogy; a piece of material primarily from recordings of a church organ, an English horn and an oboe. Sound-processing and pre-mixing has been made in Wave lab and Pro Tools, and final mixing in Pro Tools at the Institute of Electroacoustic Music in Sweden – EMS.
Twigs and Branches / 2:41
2nd movement of the composer’s home land trilogy. The piece is composed of analogue recordings from twigs and branches of the composer’s native forests in Sweden. This concrete sound material has thereafter been processed, edited and mixed primarily in the Pro Tools system.
Vigsel / 7:32
3rd and final movement of the composer’s Home Land Trilogy.
Four voices from the Swedish Radio choir and electronically processed sounds of a violin, a cello and of whisperings aspens (trees), rippling spring water, creaking and cracking twigs and branches constitute the work Vigsel. The lyrics of Vigsel are from a poem of Lennart Westman himself and reflects the journey back to his earth. In Swedish the word Vigsel corresponds to the holy act of the matrimony, in this piece it alludes to the reunion (coniunctio) with the forests and waters of Westman's own childhood.
Vigsel by Lennart Westman (translation: Christin Zandin)
(Coniunctio)
O, cirri clouds
whirling, whirling, whirling veils
O, cirri clouds
let me, let me be enveloped by you
in symbiosis with the silent sound
My land approaches
my earth played as before
precisely as before, as before
Is that the curlew I hear across the bay?
Fogs caressing meadows and ditches?
Meadows and ditches
Cries across the bay
The fog caressing, meadows’ all ditches
My land approaches
my earth played as before
Spring water, spring water
to You, to You I give myself now
Anew, anew
Iréne Sahlin (1972) started off at an early age with writing poetry and singing, later shifting into composing song lyrics and music. In 1991 her musical interest developed in a more serious direction, expressed primarily in music composition, but also in collaborations with other musicians in various projects. In 2002 she started to dedicate herself to electroacoustic music and sound art, and two years later giving birth to the electro-experimental duo “Moneeo”. From thereon she has mainly focused on electroacoustic composition. Her pieces have been performed in Cuba, France, Romania, Turkey and around Sweden. She is an active composer at the institute for digital arts - IDKA. Besides Iréne’s interest in music, she is also very fond of photographing.
Therefore i break 1 sound / 2006 / 5:18
Is it bad luck to break a window, or is it just bad?! There is no glass in my windows, anymore... This piece is made from just one sound that has been broken and processed in different ways!
www.irene.se
Rolf Enström (1951, Sweden) can look back on a twenty-year-period as a composer. His list of works consists of about twentyfive works and it includes a number of very carefully crafted compositions of high artistic quality. Several of his works have become 'classics': i.e. "Directions" (1979) "Final Curses" (1981) with text by the Swedish poet Elsa Grave, "Tjidtjag & Tjidtjaggaise" (1987) which was awarded Prix Italia the same year, the ”bildspel” ”Io” ( 1996 ) together with Thomas Hellsing and the most recent piece for mixed choir and tape - ”Rama” ( 1998 ). Rolf Enström is a composer who unceasingly seeks new artistic paths and new means of expression and this is something which has led him to combine music with other art forms, primarily the visual arts and literature. Rolf Enström is a dramatic composer who prefers to work with strong contrasts; violent outbreaks and pauses/silences are important elements in his music. Although the music may often be brutal and violent, charged with dramatic seriousness, one can also catch a glimpse of Enström's characteristic humor hidden somewhere in the textural web in the form of small unexpected sounds, as well as a well developed sense for lyricism and form.
www.enström.se
Rama / 1998 / 14:34 for mixed choir and electronic sounds
Lyrics: William Shakespeare, Gunnar Ekelöf, Quotations: Arthur C. Clarke, Gentry Lee
Commissioned by the Swedish Concert Institute and The Stockholm Motet Choir
"Rama" for mixed choir and electronic sounds was commissioned by the Stockholm Motet Choir with support from the Swedish Concert Institute and was finished 1998. In the piece I have gathered inspiration from Arthur C. Clarke’s and Gentry Lee’s books in the Rama-series. ”Rendezvous with Rama”, ”Rama II”, ”Gardens of Rama and ”Rama Revealed”. The books in the Science Fiction -genre deals with the problems that arise when our civilization encounters another civilization. The reader gradually becomes aware of what the visiting ”Ramanites” intentions are. Clarke’s and Kubrick’s film ”2001” was for me a strong experience and to watch the movie at the movie theatre ”Vinterpalatset” in Stockholm - with its enormous screen and perfect 8-channel sound made the experience even stronger. The mystery that was presented and the feeling that one stood at the treshold of a new step for mankind is to be seen in the perspective that the 1960-s was very much believing in the future. During the early 1970-s I began to compose electroacoustic music and had this positive view of the future in mind in my creative work. The following years meant a certain stagnation in the genre and possibly a consolidation of the artistic means. Towards the end of the 1970-s I work with the Swedish poet Elsa Grave’s dark and pessimistic collection of poems ”Slutförbannelser ” ( ”Final Curses)”. In doing this I have travelled the long distance from an optimistic to a pessimistic veiw of the future, but my work ” Slutförbannelser” ends with faint and distant bells preceeded by the roaring chaos of annihilation. ”Rama” on the the other side is beyond optimism or pessimism and one can look upon it as a transformation of my experience when reading the books. One can also look upon it as a free standing composition where traditional tonality confronts the total freedom - in terms of scales and tone systems of electroacoustic music. The confrontation is more a meeting and is to be found on the ”klang”-level where the instrument ”mixed choir” offers unheard sounds. I myself am at the beginning of exploiting these resources. The work with the Stockholm Motet Choir was a process where I met the choir, talked about my music and my intentions with the piece. The choir on its side contributed raw material based on my experimental sketches. In this process I got a perspective of what could be done with such an ensemble and what was realitic to do under the circumstances. The piece is written for a good amateur choir and it was meant to generate feedback in terms of reinforcement of the klang and sonority of the choir. Thereby it give something back despite the relativelly modest demand on rehearsal time. The electronic part supports without taking over and contributes greatly to the basic feeling of the piece. ”Rama” was intended to be performed in the church room where sounds can ”live” a longer life than in a concert hall. The church room is also fascinating because it is meant to induce a feeling of man’s relation to the big spiritual questions / entities. When performing ”Rama” in a concert environment it is of vital importance that one tries to simulate the long reverberation in a church to give justice to the piece. The tape part was composed in my own studio, mainly with the Swedish synthesizer ”Nord Modular”
The voice material was delivered by members of the Stockholm Motet Choir. The lyrics on the tape are read by Hans Jonstoij and Sonny Jansson. The lyrics in the piece were written by Arthur C. Clarke, Gentry Lee - fragments from the books William Shakespeare - Sonnet#123
Gunnar Ekelöf - Tesbith.
Observatoriemusik / Music for an Observatory / 2003 / 16:18
Commissioned by the Stockholm Observatory and the Concerts Sweden
Per Samuelsson (1971) has been active on the music-scene since the age of 13 with a big interest for sound and production. Over the past couple of years he has been focusing on commissions as a composer, sound designer, audio engineer and musician in various experimental electronic projects. Per has been composing pieces for multichannel surround systems, music for art, video art and live performance. He is a member of FST (Society of Swedish composers), SEAMS (Society for Electroacoustic Music in Sweden), and board member of FIA (composers at IDKA.
www.persamuelsson.se
Grid Expansion / 7:35
The piece are based on the percussion pattern ”paradiddle” wich made a great impact on me as a young percussion player, and I still apply it on a daily basis. The paradiddle is a very strict and basic combination of left and right hand strokes, but yet very flexible and can be arranged in many different forms. Grid Expansion uses the paradiddle in different variations and the pattern can control anything from notes, dynamics, spectral developments, time and other parameters: first in a narrow and very controlled form which later expands in a more free form where the paradiddle itself is hard to discover.
Ilva Skog was born in 1963 in Västmanland. She trained as an assistant nurse and worked for several years in healthcare. She also played piano, and gradually developed an interest in composition. Between 1994 and 1999 she studied composition at the Royal University College of Music in Stockholm, where her teachers included Lars Ekström, Lars-Erik Rosell and Pär Lindgren.
"I suppose I’m not that respectful of tradition," she once said, almost apologetically, about her music - a confession that attracts more than it repels. Intuitively, Skog mixes and blends musical styles, drawing inspiration from an eclectic range of sources including fine art and literature. She also likes to insert odd sounds and instruments into her works - like the steelpan in "Septetten" (The Septet) or the harmonium and chamber ensemble in Sortie et entrée; she has even been known to use a siren, which she employed in "Revelj" (Reveille) for symphonic wind orchestra.
If anything can be said to repeat itself in this witches’ brew, it would be a frenzy of pulse and rhythm. It is no coincidence that she is said to stand with one leg in the art music of Igor Stravinsky and Béla Bartók, and the other in jazz and rock. At times it is also possible to discern a Latin-American colouring. She works with a wide variety of formats, including electroacoustic music. Many of her choral works have been performed around Europe and the USA. Notable amongst her early pieces are also Fyra sånger (Four songs), which won great public and critical acclaim on its original première during the Ladies Next concert series in Stockholm’s Kulturhuset in 1998.
Ylva Skog has herself taught young people composition and has been a guest lecturer for students of composition at the College of Music in Piteå. She is also a studio assistant at the centre EMS (Electroacoustic Music in Sweden) and was one of the founders of Opus 96, an association of women composers.
"A newspaper feature on women in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan is the point of departure for Skog’s Modus vivendi. Yes indeed, she’s produced absorbing orchestral music that vibrates with powerful images and processes." (on Modus vivendi, Camilla Lundberg, Expressen)
"A song suite that builds an evocative cabaret atmosphere around the naked voice, which conveys, unwavering, images from the unique perspective of a strange child." (on Fyra sånger, Martin Nyström, Dagens Nyheter)
"Ylva Skog’s Terra Firma is, in all its foam rubber softness, a suggestively padded tango." (on Terra Firma, Camilla Lundberg, Expressen)
"...a melancholy Nordic sound that has merged symbiotically with French and Latin American expressional modes." (on Ça va? Ça va!, Thomas Anderberg, Dagens Nyheter)
Tony Lundman, 2003 English translation: Neil Betteridge
www.ylvaskog.se
Crocheted Butterfly / for soprano recorder and tape (CD) / 2007 / 8:38
The first concrete sounds I recorded were from handicraft tools. In my imagination, the flute is the thread, perhaps yellow wool, that moves in pirouettes around the crochet hook. The butterfly design is common in crochet pattern instructions, e.g. in screens consisting of a crocheted piece stretched out on a frame and placed in the lower part of the window as a protection against onlookers.
The flute appears in strong contrast to the electronic part, both rhythmically and sonically. I see similarities with the thoughts of someone working with handicraft: the movements of the hands, the wool and the crochet hook also work poly-rhythmically.
Crocheted Butterfly is the result of a collaboration between Kerstin Frödin and me. The idea is to make it easy for Kerstin Frödin to perform the piece without having to deal with complicated technical equipment. The electronic part has been made at EMS in Stockholm. Crocheted Butterfly was first performed at Ny Musik in Borås 16/2 2008 by Kerstin Frödin.
“She outshone everyone with great charm and originality in her play with a yellowed crocheted butterfly in the window, fluttering around the clinking indoor sounds, elegant, delicate and with a particular spaciousness.” (…) “The audience found a new favourite”.
Rolf Haglund, Borås Tidning
Lars Bröndum is a composer, theorist and guitarist. Bröndum has a Ph.D. in composition/theory from the University of Pittsburgh (1992), a Masters in Music degree in composition/theory (1989) and a Bachelors of Music degree in guitar performance (1987) from Youngstown State University. Bröndum is currently chairman of VEMS (Composers at EMS). He is currently on the board of SEAMS and has also served as a board member at the Swedish Section of ICEM (International Confederation for Electronic Music). Dr. Bröndum writes both electroacoustic music and chambermusic. In recent years he has worked mainly with interaction between instruments and live electronics/ laptop. Dr. Bröndum performs frequently with the quartet ReSurge? and the improvisational duo ExSurge?.
www.brondum.se/muark
Transmission for piano and electronics / 2008 / 12:35
Transmission is the fourth piece in a series of works that are based around signal transmission and reception: the first two: ”Parabolae” and ”Antennae” are for chamber ensemble, number three ”RadioTrap?” is a live-electronic piece and number four ”Transmission” is for piano and electronics. Transmission is in four movements: i. triode ii. current iii. interference iv. Demodulator. The piece is a nod to the analog pieces from the past – and a wink towards the interactive digital future. Transmission has a distinct analogue sound, often featuring the Crackle Box (kraak doos) and other simple homemade synthesizers, but is controlled via a Max/MSP patch in performance.
Lisa Ullén: piano / Lars Bröndum: electronics.
All electronics recorded at the EMS studios in Stockholm and piano recorded at Element Studio in Gothenburgh.
This recording was made possible by a grant from FST (Swedish Composers Society).
Jens Hedman (1962) composes both instrumental and electro-acoustic music. Hedman’s music is frequently performed during festivals and in radio broadcasts through the world. His music has also been awarded several international prizes and awards. Hedman's piece Relief received 2004 an Euphonies d'Or at Concours Internationaux de Musique et d'Art Sonore Electroacoustiques de Bourges. Early on he began working with combinations of electroacoustic music and other art forms such as film, poetry and scenography, but lately he has devoted himself to pure tape music or its combination with live instruments. He studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm with, among others, Pär Lindgren and Bill Brunson. Jens Hedman is president of the Society for Electroacoustic Music in Sweden - SEAMS.
Glitter-splinter for piano and 5-channel tape / 2003 / 8:16
This piece was composed at our summer house by a large lake in Sweden. I was inspired by how the sound of the waves and the lights reflected in the water changed with the weather. Two other sources of inspiration were the sound of glass breaking and the world of sounds from the piano itself. The tape-part is composed in surround sound, with four speakers around the audience and one speaker at the piano. The piece is dedicated to Lawrence Axelrod who also plays the piano in this recording.
J. Hedman
Akós Rózmann (1939 – 2005) was born in 1939 in Budapest, Hungary. He gained his diploma in composition and organ at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. He moved to Sweden in 1971. At the beginning of the seventies, while pursuing postgraduate studies of composition with Ingvar Lidholm in Stockholm, he got to know the tools of electroacoustic music. In these he found the ultimate media for his creative personality. After more than thirty years of intense compositional work, he died near Stockholm in 2005.
His first large scale work, Images of the Dream and Death (1977), employs exclusively synthetic sounds, while his huge Gloria cycle with a playing time of seven hours (Triptykon, 1989-96; Gloria II-IV, 2001-04) is basically musique concrète. The strongness of Rózmann's concept is proved by its independence from the different techniques: however different they are, the two works are closely related in their acoustical and spiritual qualities. While being a composer, he didn't cease to be an organist. For two decades from 1978, he was organist at the Stockholm Cathedral. He gave eight of his electroacoustic pieces the title 'Organ piece', partly because of the extensive use of organ sounds. Tryptikon is in fact a cycle of three of such pieces, the second being Organ piece nr. 6., Nocturne in silver and dance. Framed by two dramatic 'Gloria' movements where angelic choirs intermingle with devilish cries, Nocturne in silver and dance, as a lyrical middle movement, leads into the derelict night of the tormented soul, and ends with a triumphal dance of the evil forces. A voice is heard, repeating its question of awe: 'Do you hear it? The night is weeping.'
Gergely Loch
Nocturne in silver and dance / 1991 / 17:00
See text above.
www.mp3.com/artist/akos-rozmann/summary
Elektronische Studios aus ganz Deutschland und dem Ausland werden hier portraitiert und stellen ihre aktuellen Projekte, Forschungsvorhaben und Entwicklungsarbeiten vor. Das Studio-Forum dient langfristig dem Austausch zwischen den Studios als Produktionsstätten vielfältiger elektroakustischer Musik und Klangkunst.