Convergent Boundaries: Giiwas, Kopački Rit, Etna (2022) features original field recordings from Crater Lake (Oregon, USA), Kopački Rit Nature Park (Osijek, Croatia), and Mt. Etna (Sicily, Italy). In this piece, natural sounds from these three locations converge, much like the forces that brought them into existence. The percussion music expresses the human dimension of my own experiences at each of these natural wonders through a patchwork of shifting landscapes. 

The title “Convergent Boundaries” refers to the travelogues of Adam Virzi, my brother. In the summer of 2021, Adam and I traveled across the Pacific Northwest through California, Oregon, and Washington. We visited the major peaks at 7 National Parks and Forests on the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a string of volcanoes along the Pacific Rim of Fire that extends into Canada, including Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. Adam’s travelogue details the natural history of these places alongside the more human moments we experienced. Adam’s first chapter, “Convergent Boundaries,” describes the geologic forces that gave rise to the Cascade Volcanic Arc.

Crater Lake is an ancient volcanic caldera that filled with rain and snowmelt to become the deepest lake in the USA, at nearly 2,000 feet deep and 6 miles in diameter. The Klamath people, who observed the creation of Crater Lake 7,700 years ago, tell that the collapse of Mt. Mazama and formation of the caldera was the outcome of a tremendous battle between spirit gods. After the battle, medicine men gave thanks for the victory in a sacred song. The lake was called Giiwas (a most sacred place), known as a place of power.” 

Kopački Rit is the largest nature preserve in Croatia and one of the largest wetlands in Europe – a place where the meandering rivers of Drava and Danube meet, forming a unique ecological habitat for hundreds of wildlife species. In June 2022, I explored the canals of Kopački Rit’s Special Zoological Reserve on a small boat, accompanied by a park ranger with expert knowledge of the landscape and wildlife.

L’Etna [Mt. Etna] is the volcano on the Italian island of Sicily, my ancestral homeland. Mt. Etna is located at the convergent boundary of the Eurasian and African tectonic plates and dominates the Sicilian landscape at over 11,000 feet tall with a base circumference of 87 miles. It is clear that the active volcano, which rises directly out of the Mediterranean Sea, is a singular force on the island – or that perhaps it is the island and everything surrounding it is merely a consequence of its frequent eruptions. 

Commissioned by the Novalis Music and Art Festival
Premiered by Line Upon Line Percussion - Osijek, Croatia (Oct. 2022)

"Convergent Boundaries" for Percussion Trio and Electronics (2022) | Line Upon Line

Riverdaughter (2023) is based on the character Goldberry, the “River-daughter,” from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Part One: The Fellowship of the Ring. In Chapter 6, “The Old Forest,” Tolkien introduces Goldberry, an enigmatic being thought to be the spirit of the river Withywindle. When the Hobbits first encounter Goldberry, Tolkien describes her voice:

“Then another clear voice, as young and ancient as Spring, like the song of a glad water flowing down into the night from a bright morning in the hills, came falling like silver to meet them.”

Riverdaughter is an imagined realization of Goldberry’s voice, inspired in part by the sounds of water heard throughout my travels in the wilderness of California. The music is composed using naturally occurring acoustic phenomena, including sympathetic resonances on the cello. The electronics are performed live using field recordings of water sounds from the Yuba River in Northern California. The music video for this piece was also filmed on location at the Yuba River. The Yuba is itself an idyllic natural setting inhabited by people living in harmony with the natural world, perhaps a close real-world equivalent to Tolkien’s Withywindle.

Music Video: https://youtu.be/frD5ajDUQXQ?si=MtoTJnBlvYJTlhkz

"Riverdaughter" for Solo Cello and Electronics (2023) | Molly Aronson

Recorded on November 14th, 2018 – Woodside, California

This week our guest is Davor Branimir Vincze, a Croatian composer living in Palo Alto, California. Davor has participated in a number of top festivals and residencies such as Impuls, MATA, Manifeste, and Royaumont. Similarly, his works have been premiered by several leading ensembles today including Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Modern, Talea, and Ensemble Recherche.

Davor began his university education in composition at Graz and Stuttgart, and later studied at IRCAM in Paris. He has worked closely with Stefano Gervasoni, Georg Friedrich Haas, Klaus Lang, Mauro Lanza, and Marco Stroppa - all major figures in the field. Currently, Davor is completing his doctorate in composition at Stanford with Brian Ferneyhough.

Laibach Concerto: https://soundcloud.com/davor-branimir-vincze/laibach-concerto
Inflection Point: https://soundcloud.com/davor-branimir-vincze/inflectionpoint-em

http://www.db-vincze.com/
https://soundcloud.com/davor-branimir-vincze

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX4v1_HIlkU

Episode I: Davor Branimir Vincze

Composer OverTime is a series of interviews featuring discussions and works by innovative composers across the world today. Andrew Watts and Nick Virzi are both composers based at Stanford University, and will be facilitating these chats each week – sometimes with Bay Area guests and sometimes on location across the US and internationally. During each episode we will hear a new perspective on the contemporary music landscape, find out about the composer’s creative process and musical background, as well as listen to some of their recent work.

Episode I: Davor Branimir Vincze

Composer OverTime Podcast

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