Back again…
After a long and well needed summer brake, and a remake of my studio, I am now slowly returning to work. I have had lots of time to think, and spent some time reading. The harp piece is now at a point where, when it comes to the harp part, I merely need time to sit down and write it out. Hopefully I will get a chance to do some recordings with the harpist to be used in the electronics within the next few days.
In parallel with that a new project has emerged that I am feeling very excited about. As part of a larger project by my friend and PhD collegue Stefan Östersjö I was asked to do a soundscape that will accompany an installation centered around the myth of Orpheus. The material used for the soundscape would be a piece by German composer Rolf Riehm
As I started working on it, and discussed it with Stefan (who has also written a very interesting paper on Riehms piece), it occurred to me that a valid method with which I could aproach the process would be to categorize each and every sound in Toccata Orpheus with respect to the physical motion required by Stefan to produce the sounds. One top level group could be “sounds produced with arms crossed”. Sub-level groups could be “plucked with nail” or “tapped with palm” etc. The processing applied to the samples would add even more dimensions to the space. The process of composing the soundscape would then be a sort of virtual choreography; adding different movements together to form patterns.
It may or it may not result in good music, this remains to be heard, but I find the method as such thrilling and inspiring.