perf. by the National Estonian Symphony orchestra, cond. Olari Elts
concert recording / 10.9.2021

Commissioned by Musica femina München and composed for the Münchener Kammerochester, cond. Clemens Schuldt

"Hier ist alles Abstand, und dort wars Atem". R.M.Rilke. Die achte Elegie

Following the series of my aquatic pieces, “Apnea” (in latin “absence of breathing”) for string orchestra, written during the pandemic winter, reflects the importance of breathing whilst exploring the physical and emotional transformation during the immersion under the water. The macro form of the composition reminds of a very long breath-in and a gradual breath-out stretching the time in between while continuing to delay the climax and increase the tension until the limits. The orchestra is playing without any pause taking both the players and listeners through the existential odyssey.

"Apnea" for strings (2021)

DR0000 0176

Dymmelonsdag is by all right the official day of the low pass gate. Deerhorn is muffled by the Shallow Water.

Dymmelonsdag

https://www.beatport.com/release/v/4522770

MMXXXIXXXCRVXSRVC

ORAGE - TAON VII

Video here https://youtu.be/0akHuIXUIgk?si=ggg7av6axK7fU7xX
Disquiet Junto Project 0669: Phonosynthesis
The Assignment: Make music to help a forest regenerate.

A scientific research paper this month documented evidence that sound can help fungus grow. The conclusion: “Demonstrating a tangible impact on fungal activity, our findings suggest that carefully tuned acoustic parameters might be able to enhance ecological processes.”

Record music to help a forest grow. Imagine an array of solar-powered speakers is spread through a forest-in-need. Or come up with another deployment scenario of your own imagining. What sort of music would you play for the forest to encourage its regeneration?

The research paper: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0295.

Coverage in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/04/science/fungus-sounds-growth.html

The paper is the work of four people from the College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, in Australia.

Thanks to Michael Rhode for having shared with me the research coverage.

Phonosynthesis  - disquiet0669

live improvisation on the buchla music easel at Steinhalle Emmendingen, Freiburg October 5, 2024, ZeM, Freiburg.

live recording, steinhalle: Theo Bloderer
artwork: Thomas Breuer

feedback improvisations

steinhalle

co-commissioned by the SWR Symphonieorchester and the ELISION Ensemble 
dedicated to Robin Kirkham

premiered by the SWR Symphonieorchester and the ELISION Ensemble at the ECLAT Festival, February 2, 2024

conducted by Brad Lubman

For Seed I:
Peter Veale, baroque oboe
Carl Rosman, 3-key baroque clarinet in D and basson de chalumeau
James Aylward, baroque bassoon 
Alex Waite, harpsichord

For Seed II:
Christoph Grund, piano
Ursula Eisert, harp
SWR Symphonieorchester

Not intended as a concerto, Das Phonem zwischen zwei Wörtern (b) is composed in two different tunings for two interdependent pieces, which can be performed together or as two stand-alone works. Written for baroque ensemble and large orchestra, this work is the second part of a three-part cycle, which engages with a multidimensional study on timbral and harmonic spaces, intended to offer an approach for re-thinking how discrete mappings of a given tuning can be re-imagined simultaneously within continuous terms.

In this work, the piece engaging with the large orchestra was written in 443Hz and composed in relation to a 3D acoustic model that I designed based on architectural structures that are no longer standing — namely the 6th-century Basilica of St. John in Ephesus and the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. Rather than for simulation or a fixed point of observation, this approach to 3D modeling was activated to develop sonic-temporal architecture emerging from two spaces, as a way to visualize and re-imagine what lies in-between, through which embodied spaces of the pasts that have been erased become visible through corporeal reach and sound.

This cycle brings together collaborative research initiated in parallel with the study informed by the 3D modeling. Initiated in 2022, this research is based on numerous sessions conducted with Peter Veale on performing baroque oboe and modern oboe; Carl Rosman on performing 3-key baroque clarinet in D, modern clarinet in Bb as well as basson du chalumeau and modern bass clarinet; James Aylward on performing baroque bassoon and modern bassoon; and Alex Waite on performing harpsichord and piano.

Written in 415Hz, the piece composed for the “baroque ensemble” is informed by this research, and correspondingly engages with instrument design and its relation to body and space, not as means to arrange a fixed past with a fixed present, but rather to trace how coeval pasts inform contemporary performance praxes, while also unpacking the conditions surrounding how instrument design relates to embodiment and space.

Activating interrelationships of sound, space, and corporeality as a mode of unlearning, Das Phonem zwischen zwei Wörtern (b) in its simultaneity is therefore an effort to take account for what may be not rendered visible, but is nevertheless present in space, and to address traces of multiple pasts not just in relation to the conditions of what remains, but also to the conditions of erasure.

Das Phonem zwischen zwei Wörtern (b), for baroque ensemble and large orchestra

AMBIENT SOUNDSCAPES INSPIRED BY THE DREAMLIKE WRITINGS OF HP LOVECRAFT.

NECRONOMICON DREAMS: SOMNAMBULISM

Contemplative sound journey with wind & strings.

Eternali

tears stop right here

The works of Justė Janulytė claim to build a "monochrome music" collection: they explore time-space perception through large-scale multilayered textures and extremely gradual metamorphoses. Justė Janulytė's catalogue, balancing between the aesthetics of minimalism, spectralism and acoustic electronica, has become one of the most fascinating focal points in the contemporary musical world. (Universal Music Publishing Classical) 

More on www.justejanulyte.com

"Apnea" for strings (2021)

Juste Janulyte