octopus cover page 14 prints
1. page score 10 prints
2. page score 5 prints
3.page score 5 prints
4. page score 8 prints
5. page score 8 prints
“Waltz forever”The piece “Wir drehen uns im Kreis” is inspired by Strauss’s method of melodic recycling and modular construction of waltzes. The composition is also constructed from several modules and can therefore be repeated and varied at will. Through the modular construction, I play with the idea of a mechanical, hypnotic, metaphysical infinity. This is based on the mechanical printing and repetition process of the graphic score templates. These are pressed onto large first lino, then wooden plates and, in homage to the “waltz,” are printed on site by “rolling” as one of the three levels of the composition. The wind octet is in motion, constantly turning around its axis and following the freshly printed score musically ad hoc. Literally, the copying of the material takes place on site and can be repeated ad infinitum. Nevertheless, 15-20 minutes are planned for the premiere.
As a tribute to the fascinating genius that is the eight-armed octopus, I am examining eight waltzes for my composition, which were composed at certain intervals in Strauss’s oeuvre: Zeitgeister (op. 25), Lava-Ströme (op. 74), Mephisto’s Höllenrufe (op. 101), Libellen-Walzer (op. 180), Cycloiden (op. 207), Motoren (op. 265), Flugschriften (op. 300), and Märchen aus dem Orient (op. 444). In order to
get closer to his “recycling method.” Using a process of reduction and “zoom-in” analysis, I would like to further manipulate, rework, and alienate the skeletonized basic elements using sampling methods and weave them into the electronic part of my composition. This part forms the second level of the piece. Like three hearts of an octopus, the string and percussion ensemble represents the third level, the third heart. However, the electronic part, freely inspired by Strauss, is the so-called main heart, which takes in the “vital oxygen” of the two hearts and holds the composition together as a fixed unit.
Spatialization & auditory gymnastics
My fascination with the various possibilities of spatialization and “moving” sound repeatedly leads me to compose pieces in which the audience and/or the ensemble move around, thereby constantly changing, recreating, and experiencing the acoustic architecture.
Formally, the piece can be seen as a spatial sound installation due to its three parallel sound levels, three sound bodies that take place simultaneously in three different locations. The wind octet moves and follows the printed score. The string and percussion ensemble is fixed in the body of Octopus. The electronics are currently planned for a stereo channel system. The performative sound installation can be viewed by listeners as an interactive game, a kind of auditory gymnastics. It invites them to be heard like a kind of dial that sensitively focuses on changes, constantly trying to readjust the sharpness in order to capture the multi-layered composition and the environment, the sound nature of the location at Karlsplatz in Vienna.
Graphic score
Graphic scores play an important role in my compositional work. As an improviser and electroacoustic composer, they allow me to think about music outside the five-line staff system and encourage not only aesthetic perception but also different ways of reading. For me, the way such scores are written and read has great potential for slowing down and engaging creatively in the composition and development of a piece.
The graphic composition gives clear and distinct tasks with regard to the sound material, but leaves room for temporality within the given time frame: the tempo at which one moves through the score, how long one lingers where, remains open or is left to the ensemble to decide. The score is thus always a question of “how communication could take place,” with oneself as well as with others. The responsibility and relationship between the individual and the collective, not “in opposition” but “in cooperation,” comes into focus here. Likewise, the question of free design, the relationship between interpretation and improvisation* within the given framework that a graphic score per se entails.
mastering – matija schellander
