what holds them together (2020), for portative organ. Performed by Ryszard Lubieniecki (https://soundcloud.com/ryszard-lubieniecki).

what holds them together

Cartography #8, for flute, soprano saxophone, violin, violoncello, and accordion (2018)

Performed by the Schallfeld Ensemble and conducted by Leonhard Garms at the 2nd Conference on AI Music Creativity (AIMC 2021), hosted by the Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics (IEM) of the University of Music and Performing Arts of Graz (21.07.2021).

Video of the performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VExgYZ1h6kI

Cartography #8

Cartography #3, for solo guitar (2017)

Performed by Luciano Morais.

Cartographies

Cartography #3

follow the well-worn path in the grass, for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, and piano (2021)

Performed by the Explore Ensemble at the City Summer Sounds festival. Performance Space, City, University of London, 09.06.2021.

Explore Ensemble
https://soundcloud.com/explore-ensemble
http://explore-ensemble.com/

Edited by Jonathan Higgins
https://jphiggins.co.uk/

follow the well-worn path in the grass

Cartography #11, for solo piano (2018)

Performed by Ben Smith (@bensmithkeys1991).
Recorded at the Performance Space at City, University of London (12.12.2021).

Cartography #11

okno, okno, okno (2023)

The so-called “number stations” are shortwave radio broadcasts whose only purpose is to transmit encoded messages in the form of a series of numbers, words, and other patterns of audio signals. These transmissions, which have been reported for over a century and are still in use today, are believed to carry sensitive information to intelligence officers operating in foreign countries. With the use of cryptographic techniques such as one-time pads, agencies can securely transmit messages that are virtually undecipherable by anyone other than their intended recipient. As a result, for anyone else, the patterns in these signals carry no information and are completely indistinguishable from pure randomness.

okno, okno, okno is a four-part multichannel electroacoustic work that explores such broadcasts, some of which date back from the Cold War period, while others were intercepted during the time of its composition. Composed by processing these shortwave sources through an analogue synthesiser, this piece employs algorithmic looping techniques coupled with some improvisational elements. It thus offers a window into these mysterious signals that constantly surround us and uses repetition as a method for both exploring and deconstructing them.

The fours parts are:

    • E07: “English Man” (Russian station, active)
    • G11: “Strich” (Polish station, inactive)
    • S25: Russian Man “Control” (Russian station, active)
    • S03: “Okno” (Czech station, inactive)

okno, okno, okno

and if you were a fiddler, then you were a fiddler (2024)
to Sinestéticas Collective

After an excerpt from Jon Fosse's Trilogy:

    "There's no way around it, you'll become a fiddler too, he said
    and Pa Sigvald said if that's what it was like, that he was a fiddler and should be a fiddler, then that's how it was, he was a good player already, as far as playing goes he was already an accomplished fiddler, and if you were a fiddler, then you were a fiddler, there was little and nothing to do about that, he would become a fiddler, his son as well, and that was not a surprise, because both his father, old Asle, and his grandfather, old Pa Sigvald, had been fiddlers, to be a fiddler was a family fate, even if being a fiddler was reckoned to be bad luck, yes that it was, Pa Sigvald said, but if you were a fiddler yes then you were a fiddler, if that's how it was, yes, there was nothing to do about that, not much, yes, in his opinion, said Pa Sigvald, and if he was asked where it came from, he answered that it probably came from grief, grieving over something, or just grief, and in the music the grief could lighten and become soaring and the soaring could become happiness and joy, so therefore music was needed, therefore he had to play, and some people had something left of this grief and that's why there were many who enjoyed listening to the playing, that's how it was, because the music lifted their life and gave it height, whether they were holding a wake or celebrating a wedding or people were just meeting to dance and celebrate, but why they were the only ones who were given the fate of the fiddler, yes he couldn't say why, of course not, and he had never had much knowledge or wisdom, but he'd been a good fiddler since he was just a boy, since he was Asle's age, just like Asle was a good fiddler now too, they were alike in so many things he and Asle, Pa Sigvald said, and just as he had followed his father when he was Asle's age and his granddad was playing in a wedding, now Asle was going to follow his father and get his training, and later in the summer he would come with his father when he played at an ordinary dance and he would come with his father when he played at a wake, the way he himself had come with his father, to weddings, wakes, and dances, but whether he liked it, whether he liked that his son should also become a fiddler, no that was something else altogether, and no one would ask about that anyway, a fiddler's fate is just that, a fate, but he who was without property had to manage as best as he could with the gift God had given him, that's how it was, that was life
    And tonight you'll try to be a fiddler, Pa Sigvald said"

and if you were a fiddler, then you were a fiddler

'aus Klang', for 15 instruments (2016)

This is a studio recording performed by the Ensemble Terrible, conducted by myself. Studio HAMU in Prague, Czech Republic.

* * *

aus Klang is an algorithmic composition for 15 instruments. It is a generative work which rewrites itself for every performance: its score is generated by a computer program, which rigorously follows the composer's structural ideas and rules, but also makes small choices by itself via the use of randomly generated numbers (that is, when given a choice of several possible outcomes, the computer chooses an option randomly). Thus, every little detail in this work is logical within the proposed rules and yet these details are all unforeseen, making two scores generated by the same program look alike but never be the same.

aus Klang (version A)

'Asterism', for accordion and live electronics (2016)

Performed by Ryszard Lubieniecki.

Asterism

Cartography #12, for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, and violoncello (2019)
Performed by the Ensemble Terrible at the Tschechisches Zentrum, Berlin, on the 15.05.2019.

Cartography #12

and thereafter they shape us, for solo cello (2019)
Performed by Colin Alexander at the concert 'Lala's Got a Secret: City Postgraduate Composers', part of the City Summer Sounds festival. Performance Space, City, University of London, 20.05.2019.

and thereafter they shape us

Ars Combinatoria

'Cartography #1', for piano and vibraphone(2017)

This was a workshop read-through by George Barton and Siwan Rhys as part of a composition workshop at City, University of London.


workshop read-through

Cartography #1

I'm a Brazilian composer based in London and I hold a PhD in Music from City, University of London. I work mainly with algorithmic music and my research interests include automatic generation of scores, musical repetition, perception, mapping techniques, and generative techniques in general.

Gilberto Agostinho

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