Headphones on! Binaural piece CHRONOVARIATIONS weaves together the haunting allure of the tenor saxophone with the limitless possibilities of electronic manipulation, superimposing avantgarde gestures onto minimalist ambient soundscapes. The record is rooted in notions of sonic resonance, temporality, and emergence, with the title of the work, CHRONOVARIATIONS, deriving from the concept of time and its transformation; timelessness, loss of temporal perception, and the decay of memory. The constantly-evolving chain of variations manipulates the perception of temporal reference points and envelops the listener.

"CHRONOVARIATIONS is a bold five-part composition that employs tenor saxophone, computer, resonating metal objects, and a space with a magnificent acoustic. The work challenges the conventional notions of form and structure, and utilises multiple dimensions of sound processing and augmentation. It calls for heightened engagement and active participation from the listener and, indeed, patience, but it’s a hugely rewarding and totally engulfing listening experience—these are musicians who are sculpting sound with virtuosic precision. CHRONOVARIATIONS feels like a conversation with time itself; where the past, present, and future collide and coexist."

-Artistic Producer Hugh Sheehan

CHRONOVARIATIONS   –   full album

This single is a sneak peek from the upcoming binaural album CHRONOVARIATIONS. The album embodies a constantly-evolving chain of variations, and this track dives into the heart of section II, seamlessly transitioning into section III. Headphones on! Let the sound surround you.

Excerpt on II & III (from CHRONOVARIATIONS)

Study on Overtones / Improvisation at Ställbergs Gruva was recorded during the May-June 2024 Ung Nordisk Musik composer residency at Ställbergs Gruva, an abandoned iron ore mine. Hartikainen was selected as Finland's representative composer for this residency, which held a theme of "Specificity+." Through site-specific explorations within the Örebro region, questions were asked about the location’s specificity: what significance does it have, to whom does it belong, and what is its relationship to change and transformation?

The recording took place in the old elevator machinery hall of the mine, which originally operated the first elevator that transported miners as deep as 500 meters, where they then switched to another elevator to descend further. The acoustics of the hall were extraordinary; the overtones resonated with astonishing brightness, inviting an exploration of harmonic resonances. With the hall's long reverb and natural support, even a solo saxophone could create walls of sound. Hartikainen's mastery of saxophone overtones made the improvisation sound polyphonic, creating a rich tapestry of sound that filled the space with complex, interwoven layers of melody and harmony, which eventually unraveled into a single note.

Heli Hartikainen (Finland) – tenor saxophone, recording Kaj Mäki-Ullakko (Finland) – mixing, mastering

Study On Overtones / Improvisation At Ställbergs Gruva

Antiphonia is an imaginary, unwritten choir piece, inspired by an idea of polychoral singing. Only this time, it is a choir of overlapping saxophones, and the melody simultaneously starts at 60 bpm and 63 bpm. The layers of saxophones weave and tumble through each other, creating a sea of sound, wooshing over the cumulatively overlapping material, sinking into the sound itself, and weaving continuously shifting harmonies.

Composition, tenor and soprano saxophones, mixing: Heli Hartikainen
mastering: Alexander Stuster
concept, cover: Miro-Benjamin Lindström
Untempo Postcards #4

Released by Untempo Postcards 2025

Antiphonia

In their solo concert in Hiljaisuus Festival 2025, Hartikainen presents new music built around a specially customized sampler software. This active and polyphonic live sampler, controlled by Hartikainen’s tenor saxophone, responds in real time to various performance parameters, such as pitch and volume. A degree of randomness is integral to the sampler’s design, allowing Hartikainen’s improvisation and algorithmic aleatoricism – the human and the machine-organism – to merge organically.

Live at Hiljaisuus Festival 6.6.2025

In these live recordings from Roihuvuoren Rio in Helsinki, Finland, September 2025, Hartikainen presents new music built around a specially customized sampler software. This active and polyphonic live sampler, controlled by Hartikainen’s tenor saxophone, responds in real time to various performance parameters, such as pitch and volume. A degree of randomness is integral to the sampler’s design, allowing Hartikainen’s improvisation and algorithmic aleatoricism – the human and the machine-organism – to merge organically.

Aporia

Interbody II

Tide

Interbody I

Heli Hartikainen (Finland) is an award-winning saxophonist, composer, and sound artist whose music merges experimental sonic textures with hypnotic, evolving soundscapes. As a saxophonist, Hartikainen is a passionate instrumentalist who, in each performance, continually pushes the limits of their instrument, themself, and the possibilities of sound technology ever further.

"Interbody" examines time from the perspective of the human body: geological, atmospheric, corporeal, and technological time as embodied experience. At its core is the tenor saxophone, extended through a custom-built live sampler that responds in real time to pitch and volume, creating a polyphonic counterpart to the performer. A degree of randomness is built into the system, merging improvisation and algorithmic processes—the human and the machine-organism—and keeping the performer on their toes.

00:25 Interbody
08:14 Tide
17:08 Pneuma
22:50 Aporia
27:00 Mosaic
31:50 Nadir


Tenor saxophone, compositions, samples: Heli Hartikainen
Live sound: Kimmo Antikainen / G Livelab Helsinki 31.10.2025

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Heli Hartikainen - Interbody / Live at G Livelab Helsinki

Award-winning avantgarde saxophonist, composer and sound artist from Helsinki, Finland

Heli Hartikainen

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