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News
A Collapse in Cologne 22.02.2010
A radio feature from Peter Meisenberg about the collapse of the Historical Archive of Cologne. Directed by Martin Zylka, music written by me. broadcasts:
24.02. / 22:05 Uhr / SWR2
27.02. / 13:05 Uhr / Bayern 2
28.02. / 09:05 Uhr / Nordwestradio
28.02. / 11:05 Uhr / WDR5
28.02. / 18:05 Uhr / hr2 Kultur
As download from 28. Feb. on available for a week here.
>> more Sounds: Radio – Art – New Music 12.02.2010
At Berlins n.b.k. the exhibition “ Sounds: Radio – Art – New Music” starts today. 5 radio art pieces of the project “ rádio d-cz” are at the center of the exhibition. On listening stations in the showroom one can hear over hundred additional pieces of German broadcasters, one is my composition “ windscapes“. Ehrensenf is sick of winter and says it's enough to listen to some ice 03.02.2010
German online video show Ehrensenf has enough of winter. In its latest edition it links to the ice recording posts on my silent listening blog and claims to feel more comfortable listening to the sounds than skating through the cold outside... "Das Haus" voted radio play of the month 05.01.2010
The German Akademie der Darstellenden Künste voted the WDR-production " Das Haus (House of Leaves)" the best radio play of December 2009. The jury wrote: "The three directors and composers developed an acoustic aesthetic for everything that is tempting and threatening. As long as the ear can reach it is whimpering and rumbling in an endless loop of horror. A radio play for the remote control? Yes, but not only. The experimental play reflects in one and the other way existential challenges. The listener becomes an adventurer searching for lost pieces of a central theme." Field Notes 02.01.2010
The second issue of gruenrekorders field notes is titled “ Listening, Documenting” and features a longer essay by my own called “Listening is Making Sense”. There are other texts by Gabi Schaffner, Stefan Militzer, Yannick Dauby, Lin Chi-Wei and an interview with Walter Tilgner. English and German versions of the PDF magazine can be downloaded here. >> more Das Haus, von Mark Z. Danielewski 10.12.2009
A radio experiment: the German adaption of the postmodern novel "House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski is broadcasted in three different versions on three channels of German public radio WDR at the same time. The audience can switch between the narrative layers of the novel and follow the entwined corridors and pathways to secret rooms of the house in a way that reflects the complex structure of the book. >> more Steven Mithen – The Singing Neanderthals 17.10.2009
„The basic problem of studying the origins of language is, to understate matters, language leaves few fossils.“ – Edmund Blair Bolles.
In „The Singing Neanderthals“ Steven Mithen, professor of Archaeology at the University in Reading, summarizes his views of the co-evolution of music and language in the history of our species. Drawing evidence from many areas such as anthropology, psychology, neuroscience and musicology, he asserts that music is not only a byproduct of language with no evolutionary value in itself as stated by Steven Pinker for instance. >> more Classic goes Clubbing 10.09.2009
Just returned from a lovely evening of comtemporary music played by a string quartet and a percussionist on various acoustic and electronic gadgets at C3-Festival at Berlins notorious club Berghain. There seems to be a "trend", by some called "neo-classic" or "modern classical/electronic music", that follows the intercourse of classically trained musicians and composers with club culture and electronically produced music. My friend Me Raabenstein recently released a compilation of such endeavours under the name " XVI Reflections on Classical Music" together with Universal Classics, who established the "Yellow Lounge" already in 2001 and brought together stars of the classical music scene and well-known DJs. >> more Phonographic Pottery 02.12.2009
The first podcast I heard from radiolab, a programme at New York based public radio station WNYC, was called staying alive. When it comes to the point where a scientist claims that he can play back voices from thousand years ago captured in the grooves of ancient pottery with a stylus like an old grammophone-type recording, I had to burst out laughing. This story about "paleoacoustics" is of course a hoax that looks back on a decade-long history of appearances in different pseudo-scientific papers and science-fiction novels (more about this "urban myth" on this webpage). The podcast closes with a visit at a CPR class where they deal with the problem to hit the right lifesaving rhythm. I keep the ending for myself to not spoil the episode.
The thing with all the radiolab podcasts is that they find an inspiring tone of curiousity and humour to deal with the big questions of life, death, the human experience and everything that blurs the boundaries between science and philosophy. This can turn out extremely funny like this podcast about sperm ( why so many sperm?) or can get serious and reflective like in these 11 meditations on how, when and even if we die ( after life). All is congenially accompanied by a superb sound design that illuminates the ideas and thoughts followed. The after life episode even inspired filmmaker Will Hoffman to produce this beautiful and uplifting video about moments. >> more Tagesringe Remixed 26.08.2009
Constantin Popp made this beautiful "remix" of my piece " Tagesringe", basically he played around with some granular features and boosted the noisy parts of the piano track without the field recordings of the original composition. >> more Silent Film and Foley Artists 14.08.2009
Did you know that the lack of sound in silent film was not a question of technological limitations but an aesthetic decision? If you don't, check the guys at You Look Nice Today who produced a nice video to honor the early foley artists who embraced the "purity of silence"... Venice Vaporetti 13.07.2009
To get to the Art Biennale of Venice the way to go is usually by a waterbus, the so called vaporetto. The Vaporetto station at Biennale is particularly noisy as one section of this sound recording mix can bear witness. The swimming stations are connected to the waterfront with metal bridges that swing up and down with the waves coming in, causing high screaking sounds. >> more Chronostasis wins Silver World Medal at New York Festivals Awards 07.07.2009
My recent sound piece „ chronostasis“ has received a Silver World Medal in the category „Best Sound“ and a finalist certificate in the category „Best Editing“ at the prestigious New York Festivals Award for Radio Programming & Promotion. The composition was commissioned by Westdeutscher Rundfunk for Studio Akustische Kunst presented by Markus Heuger. For 52 years the New York Festivals Radio Programming and Promotions Awards has recognized The World's Best Work in radio broadcasting judged for their production values, organization, creativity and use of the medium. The full list of winners can be viewed in this pdf.  Play |
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Premiere of "The Waste Land" 06.07.2009
Ismael Ivo’s latest dance choreography „The Waste Land“ was premiered in Venice on 20th June 2009. The first two performances were a great success and the Biennale scheduled two extra performances on 29th and 30th June. The choreography lasts for about an hour and is devided in two halfs marked by the compositions of mine and Igor Stravinskys „Sacre du Printemps“. During the first half the dancers turn their backs to the audience and move separated from each other in tight borders of squares described by the light. The bodies appear to be twitching, lonely parts of flesh exposed to archaic natural forces, symbolized by the ice and fire sounds of mine. After half an hour the dancers step in front of the stage and for the first time the audience can see their faces. In this moment the first notes of Stravinskys „Sacre“ come in to great effect representing the beginning of civilization and the rise of culture that finally formed out of a long evolutionary process as characterized in the first half of the choreography. Ismael then wisely avoids to illustrate each musical nuance of Stravinskys legendary piece, the audience is given the chance to re-experience the physical strength and power of the composition after half an hour of concrete sounds and so do the dancers who linger on the rim of the stage with closed eyes like newborn babies, the gummed up eyes trying to get attuned to the bright light. From this point on the choreography speeds up and becomes more and more complex, typical conflicts of human relationships are suggested, pairs and groups build, break up and re-build in new configurations. The peak of the piece is an oil fountain that bathes the dancers in black muddy liquid in which the bodies celebrate their last animistic feast. >> more Hang Samples Download 29.10.2009
I'm currently working on a TV film score with a story line dealing with illegal african immigrants in Germany. To give the african characters a certain "ethno" tone, the director and me decided to work with this big "wok" thing that he saw lying around here, which is in fact a hang or better know as the hang drum. >> more New Homepage online - Tagesringe for free Download! 02.06.2009
My new homepage is finally online! Thanks a lot to Jens and Sebastian for their fantastic design! To celebrate the new page I have made my piece "Tagesringe" available as a free download. You can read more about the composition here. Sound Composition for Dance Choreography by Ismael Ivo at Venice Biennale 10.06.2009
Ismael Ivo invited me to work on a sound composition for his new choreography " The Waste Land" that will be premièred on 20th June 2009 at Venice Biennale. On Friday and Saturday I spent time with Ismael, his very friendly staff and the dancers at their rehearsals at Teatro Piccolo Arsenale to develop a sound composition for the first half of the dance piece. The second half will be Stravinsky's Sacre Du Printemps and it is Ismael's idea to relate to new forms of slavery and the exploitation of natural resources which earth responds in unpredictable ways. This vulnerable and shrinking planet will be represented through my sound recordings of volcanos, glaciers and breaking ice, that are composed according to the movements of the dancers. In fact, the composition will turn out to be a very condensed version of my radioart piece " fire and frost pattern". Stravinsky's Sacre, then, stands for the human reaction: the physical body in a ceremony of survival and confrontation. I'm looking forward to hear how the confrontation of my sound piece with Stravinsky's classic turns out, but I imagine it will be very effective to wait for more than half an hour for the first "real" musical tone and that this might give the Sacre even more strenght. |
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