09.10.2015

Sonic Ark - Lyden af Aarhus 2017

I 2017 er Aarhus som bekendt europæisk kulturhovedstad og sådan en skal naturligvis have lydkunst! Derfor blev der sidste år udskrevet en konkurrence, Lyden af Aarhus 2017. Blandt de 31 indsendte projekter fra hele verden har en fagjury udvalgt schweizeren Andres Bosshard med projektet Sonic Ark. Seismograf/DMT talte med Bosshard umiddelbart efter offentliggørelsen.

”Sonic Ark er et dramaturgisk koncept, der består at en række installationer, som flytter sig igennem det offentlige rum, og som helt bogstaveligt tager udgangspunkt i lyden af Aarhus”, fortæller Bosshard.

”Lydmæssigt sover Aarhus, men den er en sovende skønhed og jeg kan høre et stort potentiale i byens lyde, som bare trænger til at blive vækket. Jeg er ikke pessimist i forhold til byens støjende miljø. Med mine værker er jeg mere interesseret i at give bedre betingelser for kvaliteten i lytningen, for derigennem at kunne arbejde mod et bedre lydmiljø. Og her har Aarhus meget at byde på. Jeg har allerede været her to gange og gennem det næste år vil jeg i tæt samarbejde med byens borgere undersøge og lytte til forskellige steder i byen for at indsamle de lyde, som kommer til at indgå i værkerne. For eksempel arbejder et af værkerne med en kombination af mikroskopiske plantelyde, lyden af det århusianske sprog og den makroskopiske arkitektur i Botanisk Have. Her er borgerne vigtige det talte århusianske sprog er helt centralt.”

Der er klare lydøkologiske undertoner i projektet, men Bosshard mener ikke, at verden er ved at blive oversvømmet af dårlig lyd. Derimod mener han, at kan vi blive bedre til at lytte til de lyde, der allerede er her, og projekttitlens bibelske reference skal derfor heller ikke tages helt bogstaveligt.

”Jeg ser nærmere Arken som en metafor for at kunne lære at sætte pris på at sejle rundt, flyde ind og ud af eller drive gennem byens akustiske landskab. Det handler ikke så meget om, at vi skal beskyttes mod støjen, men jeg kunne godt tænke mig at folk kommer til at kende byen bedre, får lyst til at udforske dens lyde og måske endda kan lære at spille på den som et instrument,” forklarer han.

I sit arbejde sammenligner han også sig selv med en sømand, der er afhængig af vind og bølger for at kunne få skibet til at sejle – en tilgang der præger hans måde at interagere med lydmiljøet på.

”Hele byens lydbillede er på en måde med i værket og især lyden af menneskene i byen. På den måde handler det økologiske ikke kun om natur, men også om det sociale, om interaktion og kommunikation. Gennem øret kan vi opnå en betydelig større livskvalitet, og jeg håber at folk i Aarhus efter 2017 vil ’tro’ mere på deres egen lyd. Jeg er mest interesseret i at ændre bevidstheden om og stoltheden over hvilken lydkvalitet Aarhus har som by. Og jeg tror ikke der skal så meget til, for at vække den sovende skønhed”, slutter Andres Bosshard.

Det er Europæisk Kulturhovedstad Aarhus 2017 og de tre komponistforeninger Danske Jazz, Beat og Folkemusik Autorer (DJBFA), Dansk Komponist Forening (DKF) og Danske Populære Autorer (DPA), der har stået bag konkurrencen Lyden af Aarhus 2017. Foruden værkbestillingen, mortager Andres Bosshard en pris på 200.000 kr.

Andres Bosshard, f. 1955, bor og arbejder i Zürich i Schweiz. Han er uddannet kunstmaler, og begyndte tidligt at arbejde med eksperimenterende musik og teater. Han har udviklet roterende lydobjekter, interaktiv computermusik, programmer og lydinstallationer. Blandt andre “Sound Tower” ved Expo.02 ved Bieler-søen i Schweiz.

playlist

20.12

My name is Lars Hannibal – would you like to see my playlist?

Lars Hannibal. © Søren Solkær

»Making a playlist is not an easy task for me. Music occupies most of my waking hours. It is a condition that began to grow when I was a teenager. If I am not playing myself, or working with the music I release or compose, music is still present, reaching out to me. I have always found it difficult to experience music in boxes or genres, so I listen very broadly and take pleasure in any music I can feel and that moves me. Music is a condition of life, and expressing oneself through music is a gift – but being able to experience music with openness is perhaps an even greater gift. I have chosen a list in which the guitar plays a part.«

Lars Hannibal began – like many others of his generation – playing folk and rock guitar at the age of fifteen. But when he heard the Spanish guitar master Andrés Segovia perform the gavotte from Bach’s Partita in E major, his musical life took a new direction, and he decided to devote himself to the classical guitar.

Since the early 1970s, Lars Hannibal has also composed songs and instrumental works. Today he performs primarily as a member of the Petri/Hannibal Duo and works alongside this as managing director of the record label OUR Recordings, which he founded together with Michala Petri in 2006, as well as a consultant for Edition Borup-Jørgensen.

in briefrelease

15.12

Uncompromising Vignettes of Silence and Sighs

Hildur Guðnadóttir: »Where to From«

Deutsche Grammophon, 31.10

Simon Heggum

It seemed to come like a bolt from the blue when the Icelandic cellist and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir broke the sound barrier with an uncompromising, inward-looking sound situated between contemporary classical and experimental music – most widely recognised through her suffocating soundtracks for Chernobyl and Joker.

Yet on her Deutsche Grammophon debut Where to From, it is the personal spaces we are invited into. The instrumentation is pared right back to a chamber ensemble, voices, and extended passages of near-absolute silence. The result is often achingly beautiful – and deeply affecting.

The work unfolds in small vignettes, rarely lasting more than a couple of minutes, before vocals are introduced in the album’s second half – most notably in »Make Space« and the exquisite a cappella hymn »I Hold Close«. The equally beautiful »Melody of Not Knowing« explores the cello’s darkest registers, striking blue midnight tones in the echo of the heart, especially as it glides into »All Along«, where voice and strings merge.

Where to From is a powerfully mood-saturated work that moves effortlessly between chamber music and neoclassicism, finding its uncompromising character in the quietest, most intimate sighs between human and instrument. It is neither too little nor too much – always precisely measured. And for that very reason, Guðnadóttir remains such a compelling musical presence.

English translation: Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek

in briefrelease

09.12

Minimalism for Patient Ears

Lukas Lauermann: »Varve«

col legno, 24.10

Marta Bo

Varve – from the Danish varv – refers to the annual layers of sediment, a quiet geological archive of time’s passage. Lukas Lauermann’s album carries this meaning into its very sonic core. Here, organ and vocal samples taken from worn cassette tapes meet an inquisitive, almost ascetic cello that moves like fine strokes across a flickering, dust-filled soundscape.

The cello is restrained but never passive. It slips in and out of the cassette’s white noise, of fragmented voices and the organ’s gentle currents of air, until all elements ultimately merge into a single, organic texture. Lauermann himself describes the music as a depiction of irregularities, and it is precisely in these small shifts that Varve finds its quiet strength. The album’s idea of sonic sedimentation becomes an image of our longing to reconnect with nature’s tempo. The compositional motifs seem repetitive, yet they never repeat themselves entirely; they build layer upon layer, like organic growth. As a listener, one becomes witness to microscopic changes slowly unfolding – a process that can bring about an almost meditative state.

Varve is an album for those who prefer listening experiences at an unhurried pace; for those who find Hans Zimmer too grandiose and would rather follow the patient growth of grass than an orchestra’s emotional climaxes.

playlist

05.12

My name is Gintė Preisaitė – would you like to see my playlist?

Gintė Preisaitė

»Music for me is the purest transformation of any energy hiding inside. Through the sound it can become anything we need. It is a form of a bond and connection, it's subtle and it is direct at the same time. For me it was always the biggest exploration machine I could learn about myself, people and environments.«

Gintė Preisaitė is a Lithuanian artist based in Copenhagen who works across piano, electronics, composition and improvisation. Classically trained, she has moved steadily toward electronics, noise, free improvisation and jazz, performing in numerous constellations in recent years.

Working with prepared acoustic instruments, electronics and tape, she bridges her classical background with contemporary sonic experimentation. Through shifting timbres, textures, collaged melodies and percussive figures, she seeks to push acoustic and electronic sound into a space that feels both personal and deeply connected.

Last year she released the EP Spring Mass under the name Baraboro, followed this September by Kaiko, her trio release with Amalie Dahl and Jan Philipp Treen. She is currently developing a new project under her own name for release next year. Gintė performs widely as both a solo artist and a member of various ensembles in Copenhagen and abroad.

in brieflive

05.12

Anna von Hausswolff: The Path to the Organ’s Modern Resurrection

Klara Lewis, Anna von Hausswolff

Vega, 04.12

Martin Funder

The organ, one of Christianity’s most powerful liturgical markers, runs like a red thread through Swedish artist Anna von Hausswolff’s work. But on her latest album Iconoclasts, the long, piercing drones are toned down in favour of a sharper, driving energy. It was an energy that came through strongly at Hausswolff’s concert in Vega last night, where she was, as usual, joined by a large band. The evening opened with Swedish noise musician Klara Lewis, whose mumbling cassette-loop textures set a brutally atmospheric tone from the start.

Hausswolff’s band was this time expanded with saxophone and percussion, both central on Iconoclasts and both contributing to the slight eurodance tinge that colours several tracks. Unfortunately, the saxophone was at times swallowed by the dense soundscape. Fortunately, Hausswolff’s radiant voice cut through clearly. So did the small organetto – a kind of bellows-driven organ with long pipes. It stood like a totem at the centre of the stage and was almost embraced by Hausswolff whenever she played it. A piece like »The Whole Woman« (a waltzing duet with Iggy Pop on the album) became, in concert, a touching love ode, carried by the organ’s gentle breath as its pulse.

In recent years, a number of musicians have used the organ’s distinctive resonances to wrest it free from the weight of Christian liturgy, giving the instrument an almost iconoclastic status. Despite a slightly muddy sound mix, Hausswolff’s concert was a clear example of this contrast – still deeply rooted in ecclesiastical connotations, yet now an accomplice in large-scale modern productions and a central instrument on major stages.

English translation: Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek