Ensemble Adapter
16 September 2016
Rotation / Adoptions 2016
ExRotaprint, Berlin-Wedding

Ensemble Adapter:
Kristjana Helgadóttir, alto flute
Ingólfur Vilhjálmsson, bass clarinet (& paper)
Gunnhildur Einarsdóttir, harp (& electric fan)
Matthias Engler, percussion (Marimba, 2 cymb., G.C.)

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Studies on Empathy

Commissioned by Ensemble Adapter
with funds provided by Madetoja-säätiö (Madetoja Foundation)

“…the body in the voice as it sings, the hand as it writes, the limb as it performs…” (Roland Barthes, “Le grain de la voix”)*

Studies on Empathy (2016) takes materiality as the medium of musical expression, i.e. the information that the sound carries of its own immediate production: how much force, resistance, friction, sensitivity… I experience this kind of listening as empathetic. This is an important aspect, because, as even modern neuroscience tells us, the opposite of loving your fellow man is not hating them—it is indifference.

Written in positive feelings of continuity, trust, passion and friendship, this work is my second Ensemble Adapter commission to date.

© 2016 Jarkko Hartikainen


* translation from the French original by Stephen Heath; Image Music Text, 1977








www.jarkkohartikainen.net
www.ensemble-adapter.de

Studies on Empathy (2016) for quartet

composer-improviser of Estonian origin currently based in Berlin; also appears as Zebra @ kakaduu.art 
https://tinyurl.com/masingworks

www.jarkkohartikainen.net
sheet music: core.musicfinland.fi/composers/jarkko-hartikainen

Jarkko Hartikainen is a composer striving to create works that explore what music is and could still be, researching the possibilities in sound through rigorous performer-collaboration as well as studying findings in a plethora of disciplines. Stimulating acoustic phenomena, exciting sonorities and concrete, bodily impulses through rhythm, resonance and empathy fuel his often extremely instrument-specific, concentrated writing. Currently Hartikainen is working as a commission-based freelance composer, as well as pursuing his D.Mus degree at the Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. Eriikka Maalismaa, defunensemble, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Ensemble Adapter and other such distinguished performers have recently promoted his work.