Released by col legno (2023)https://essl.at/records/organologics.html
The album contains the entire organ works by Karlheinz Essl, composed between 1986 and 2021 and recorded by Wolfgang Kogert on the Kuhn organ of the Hofburg Chapel in Vienna. It is the result of a long-term friendship and collaboration, but above all a teamwork that is entirely dedicated to the fascination of this instrument. While Karlheinz Essl draws on well-known songs in his compositions and is inspired by elements from early music to the avant- garde, Wolfgang Kogert interprets the pieces sensitively and with virtuosity. The mezzo-soprano Anna Clare Hauf can be heard as a guest musician. The title “ORGANO/LOGICS” suggests treating the album as a kind of study that opens new approaches to the “queen of instruments” on a compositional and technical level.

Stream and Download

ORGANO/LOGICS

Recorded live on June 10th, 2023 at Studio kHz. Performed on a Doepfer DARK ENERGY modular synth and a small analog mixer. No edits, no overdubs.
This piece is somehow inspired by the legendary industrial noise band Throbbing Gristle. It focuses on the layering of slowly shifting pulses and the chaotic patterns that emerge from this process.
More information: https://www.essl.at/works/trobbing-crystal.html

Info

Throbbing Crystals

Sequitur is a series of 14 compositions for various solo instruments and live-electronics written for outstanding soloists. Somehow it can be seen as a reference to Luciano Berio's famous Sequenze cycle of solo pieces which focus on specific playing techniques of the respective instrument including orchestral instrument. Essl's Sequitur cycle includes pieces for orchestral instruments like flute and violin, but also for voice, electric guitar, toy piano or kalimba.

All Sequitur composition use a software written in MaxMSP which creates an electronic accompaniment from the instrument’s live input; the player is confronted with his own playing, and this creates a situation like moving in a house of mirrors where the identities becomes blurred.

The Sequitur software generates a complex canon on the fly, the temporal structure and density of which being controlled by random operations. This yields different results every time the piece is performed. Although following a precisely notated score, there is always a good portion of surprise for the musician which emphasizes his awareness and attentiveness.

Sequitur

Music for toy instruments and electronics by Karlheinz Essl, performed by Isabel Ettenauer. 10th Anniversary Extended Release (col legno 2023)
https://www.essl.at/records/whatever.html

Whatever Shall Be

Binaural production - listen with headphones!

Based on a joint performance by Jack Hauser and Karlheinz Essl in the room installation "Wohnung Miryam van Doren" in Horn (Austria) on April 13th, 2022.

Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, recorded on April 13th, 2022 in Horn (Austria). Released: 14 Apr 2022

1) exploration #1 of Wohnung Miryam van Doren with Jack Hauser
2) exploration #2 of Wohnung Miryam van Doren with Jack Hauser
3) the church square in Horn
4) nature with birds at the river Kamp

Part of the work-in-progress H.E.A.D.
https://essl.at/works/HEAD.html

H.E.A.D.

H.O.R.N.

H.O.R.N. (Home of Revolutionary Numbers) - BINAURAL

Performed by Wolfgang Kogert at Hofmusikkapelle Vienna. Part of the album ORGANO/LOGICS (col legno 2023).
The expansion of the note f ("Fa") into a wide octave sound is transformed into a sensual sound process.
https://www.essl.at/records/organologics.html

Prendere il Fa

Prendere il Fa (2021) for organ

Performed by Wolfgang Kogert on the organ of the Hofburgkapelle in Vienna, Austria and singer Anne Clare Hauf. Released on the album ORGANO/LOGICS (col legno 2023). Part of the album ORGANO/LOGICS (col legno 2023)
https://essl.at/records/organologics.html
A graphic score created for a performative collaboration with Harald Naegeli, the “Sprayer of Zurich”, is interpreted as an expressive duo for voice and organ. An imaginative exploration of the playing techniques offered by the mechanical organ and the potential of the human voice beyond the bel canto.
Score and more: https://essl.at/works/partikel.html

Partikel-Bewegungen

Partikel-Bewegungen (1991/2016) for organ and voice

Performed by Wolfgang Kogert on the organ of the Hofburgkapelle in Vienna, Austria. Released on the album ORGANO/LOGICS (col legno 2023) https://essl.at/records/organologics.html
The piece draws its strength from the interaction between constantly changing chord structures, whose harmonic components are made more or less audible by slowly pulling out the stops.
Score and more: http://essl.at/works/unbestimmt.html

unbestimmt

unbestimmt (2020) for organ

Performed by Wolfgang Kogert on the organ of the Hofburgkapelle in Vienna, Austria. Released on the album ORGANO/LOGICS (col legno 2023) https://essl.at/records/organologics.html
The transformation of a piece for electric guitar and mezzosoprano that throws together quotes from Purcell’s operas “Oedipus” and “King Arthur” into a trio sonata of baroque appearance featuring a throbbing bass. An image of sound spanning a period of 300 years, telling a story of grief and comfort.
Score and more: https://essl.at/works/purcell-puzzle.html

Puzzle of Purcell

Puzzle Of Purcell (2017/2020) version for organ

Recorded live on June 10th, 2023 at Studio kHz. Performed on a Doepfer DARK ENERGY modular synth and a small analog mixer. No edits, no overdubs.
This piece is somehow inspired by the legendary industrial noise band Throbbing Gristle. It focuses on the layering of slowly shifting pulses and the chaotic patterns that emerge from this process.
More information: https://www.essl.at/works/trobbing-crystals.html

Throbbing Crystal 1st move

Throbbing Crystal, 1st move (2023) - synthesizer live performance

Throbbing Crystal 2nd move

Throbbing Crystal, 2nd move (2023)- synthesizer live performance

Throbbing Crystal 3rd Move

Infoi

Throbbing Crystal, 3rd move (2023) - synthesizer live performance

Throbbing Crystal 4th Move

Throbbing Crystal, 4th move (2023)- synthesizer live performance

Binaural production - listen with headphones!
Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes recorded at my home near Vienna, Austria from 2018 to 2023:
1) cooking in the kitchen, 2) evening in the garden, 3) thunderstorm at night, 4) wind in the morning.
https://essl.at/works/HEAD.html

H.O.M.E.

H.O.M.E. (Hills Open My Eyes) - BINAURAL

Sequitur XIV was written for the Hamburg-based pianist and performer Jennifer Hymer and sets the thumb piano in focus. This instrument, named ‘Mbira’ in Africa, was discovered in the middle of the 20th Century from the British ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey, who developed out of it a standardized western instrument named ‘kalimba’, and let it be produced industrially. In contrast to the African original, this western new construction is tuned diatonically.

First I tried to approach the instrument like a child in that I pushed away all knowledge about the high art of Mbira-practice to the side. What did I see before me? A trapezoidal shaped wooden box with metal blades of differing lengths that were fastened over a sound hole in the middle. After I examined the sound possibilities of the kalimba’s body through rubbing, scratching and knocking, I attached a contact microphone to its surface and sent the sounds through the same computer program that I had developed for the other “Sequitur” compositions. Suddenly everything became enchanted: the canonic layering of my knocking and scraping noises compressed themselves into a polyrhythmic layering and I felt myself being transported to the south of Africa where the African musicians play this instrument in ensemble and thereby produce a highly complex polyphony which the Viennese musicologist Gerhard Kubik described as “inherent patterns.”

Only later I dedicated myself to the metal tines and through the help of live electronic manipulation found means and ways to dig out an ongoing diatonic. After many months of free experimenting, I was finally able to write a concisely written score for Jennifer Hymer, which turned my summing-ups of this instrument into a sound journey.

https://www.essl.at/works/sequitur/sequitur-14.html

Sequitur XIV

Sequitur XIV (2009) for kalimba and live-electronics

On September 15, 1945, Anton Webern was shot by an American occupation soldier in alleged self-defense in Mittersill, where he had taken refuge from the approaching Red Army. Thus ended the life of one of the most influential composers of the modern era in an inconceivable and tragic way.

60 years later - on September 15, 2005 - two commemorative events for Anton Webern will take place within the framework of the 10th Composers' Forum Mittersill: for an event in public space, Karlheinz Essl has created the algorithmic sound installation WebernUhrWerk for computer-controlled Carillon. For the subsequent commemorative concert in St. Anna's Church, he wrote WebernSpielWerk for Toy Piano, which is a kind of projection of the Carillon music onto a toy piano. The pervasive character of the carillon, which filled the whole place in the afternoon, is reduced to the "poor" sound world of a toy piano, whose sound produced by struck metal rods resembles that of a bell - but is much more restrained and intimate.

This composition was written in the last days of August 2005 and is dedicated to Isabel Ettenauer, who premiered this work on September 15, 2005. It consists of four movements:

I. espressivo – mit einem gewissen sprechenden Ausdruck
II. molto rubato
III. Gemessenen Schritts (wie Totenglocken)
IV. sehr frei – molto intenso

https://www.essl.at/works/webernspielwerk.html

WebernSpielWerk

WebernSpielWerk (2005) for toy piano and ringmodulator

Concert version of Pandora’s Secret, a sound performance that Karlheinz wrote for Isabel Ettenauer's "Circus Lebasi", a music circus for the festival Linz09, when Linz was the European capital of culture. Scored for punch-tape-controlled music box and live electronics.
https://www.essl.at/works/pandoras-secret.html

Pandora's Revelation

Pandora's Revelation (2009) for music box and live-electronics

A granular de/reconstruction of two late madrigals by Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613), who murdered his wife and her lover "in flagranti". Soundtrack for a live performance with the actor Markus Hering, premiered at the Basilika Sonntagberg on October 28, 2023. Commissioned by the festival Klangraum Waidhofen.
https://essl.at/works/gesualdo-fragmente.html

Gesualdo-Fragmente

Gesualdo-Fragmente (2023) electronic sound performance

Free improvised live performance on a MakeNoise 0-COAST modular synth, two function generators (MATH) and a ring modulator (Doepfer A114). Recorded at Studio kHz on 4 January, 2024. No MIDI, no sequencer, no overdubs, no edits.
Part of the work-in-progress "Coastlines" (2020 ff.):
https://essl.at/works/coastlines.html

Coastlines

Coastline #56

Coastline #56 (Functional Fun) - modular synth performance

Composer Karlheinz Essl on his recent experiences and experiments with analog modular synthesizers and no-input mixer after decades of digital music making. Published in January 2024 on the platform SoundingFuture.
https://www.soundingfuture.com/en/article/digital-analog

Sounding Future

Read

From Digital to Analog (2024) - Podcast

Free improvisation on a Make Noise 0-coast analog synth, patched as a generative non-linear system. No edits, no overdubs, no MIDI, no sequencer, no arpeggiator - only manual control in real time!
Recorded live at Studio kHz on 7 Mar 2024 in preparation to my solo performance at Alte Schmiede the next day.

Coastline #62

Coastline #62 (Desert Storm) - modular synth performance

Free improvisation on a MakeNoise 0-COAST modular synthesizer controlled by a Doepfer A-174-4 joystick. Performed live at Studio kHz on May 9th, 2024. No edits, no overdubs, no MIDI, no sequencer, no arpeggiator - just manual control in real time!
https://www.essl.at/works/coastlines.html

Coastline 67a

Coastline #67a (Joystick Fun) - modular synth performance

Binaural production - listen with headphones!
Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes recorded at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw) on 24 May 2024 before and during a concert of Luigi Nono's last compositions:
1) setup in the library
2) sound check
3) excerpts from "Lontananza" for violin and tape feat. Youngseo Kim and Karlheinz Essl
4) excerpts from "Hay que caminar soñando" for two violins feat. Youngseo Kim and Reina Yoshioka

N.O.N.O.

N.O.N.O. (Never Obstruct Nearby Obstacles) - BINAURAL

Binaural production - listen with headphones!
Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes recorded at the Volkskundemuseum Vienna (the former Schönborn Palace) on June 4, 2024 during the Vienna Festival project "Haus der Republik":
    1) in the garden
    2) Cider bar in the courtyard
    3) Walking through the exhibition
    4) People walking up the main staircase
 Released: June 5th, 2024
Info: https://essl.at/works/HEAD.html

F.E.S.T.

F.E.S.T. (Full Empty Space Theatre) - BINAURAL

Sound performance with a MakeNoise MATH function generator controlling the VCO and VCF of a Doepfer DARK ENERGY synthesizer. Performed live at Studio kHz on July 25th, 2024. Have a look at at the video: https://youtu.be/M-QavH4j5xk

Doing MATH

Doing MATH Nr. 4

Doing MATH Nr. 4 (2024) for function generator and modular synth

Generative sound environment for an art installation by Beat Zoder, written in MaxMSP. 6-channel live performance with Max9 at Studio kHz on 12 Dec 2024. Binaural rendering with REAPER and dearVR. Listen with headphones! https://essl.at/works/hirsch-roehren.html

In 2006, Swiss artist Beat Zoderer and Austrian composer Karlheinz Essl were commissioned to create a collaborative work for the music festival Stanser Musiktage. In an abandoned repository situated in the heart of the Swiss alps, both artists were setting up a room installation made of sewer pipes. Those plastic parts of different lengths were equipped with funnel speakers driven by a customized computer program written in MaxMSP by Karlheinz Essl. Utilizing realtime composition algorithms which the composers develops since 1985, his software created an ever-changing sonic environment which never repeated itself.

Seen from outside, the structure resembled a giant jackstraw heap which invited the public to explore the space. Sounds that were projected from the loudspeakers through the pipes commuted through the air, creating a mysterious atmosphere as if some hidden creatures were talking to each other in an incomprehensible, yet compelling language.

Von Hirschen und Röhren

Von Hirschen und Röhren (2024) - BINAURAL

Free improvisation on a MakeNoise 0-COAST modular synthesizer in three parts: Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar. Performed live at Studio kHz on Dec 20th, 2024. No overdubs, no edits.
https://essl.at/works/coastlines.html

Coastline #75

Coastline #75 (Three Wise Men) - modular synth performance

Binaural production - listen with headphones!
Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes recorded in Brno, Czech Republic on Feb 6th, 2025:
1) A walk through Brno's main station
2) Garbage collection in the morning
3) Soundcheck on the stage of Divadlo na Orli with Karlheinz playing the toy piano
4) Listening to cars and trams from above
Info: https://essl.at/works/HEAD.html


B.R.N.O. (Booming Rebels Need Objection) - BINAURAL

Im Gespräch mit der trans-Art Künstlerin Astrid Rieder spricht Karlheinz Essl über die Zeit, „Zufall und Notwendigkeit“ (Jacques Monod), über die Dialektik von Gemütlichkeit und Unbequemlichkeit in der kollektiven Performance und die Improvisation als Rettung. Nach langjähriger Erfahrung mit digitalen Werkzeugen experimentiert Karlheinz Essl seit einiger Zeit mit einem hochempfindlichen analogen modularen Synthesizer namens 0-COAST, den er in Interaktion mit der Zeichnerin und trans-Art Performerin Astrid Rieder allein aus den Schwingungen des Geräts zum Klingen bringt.
Hier die Transkription dieses Interviews: https://essl.at/bibliogr/essl-rieder_3.html

Improvisation als Rettung (Podcast)

Karlheinz Essl's last piece for toy piano. Performed live by himself during his farewell concert on May 5th, 2025 at the Klangtheater of the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien. https://www.essl.at/works/ bricolage.html  https://www.essl.at/concerts/2025.html#mdw 

Bricolage (2024) for toy piano, screwdriver and live-electronics

Binaural production - listen with headphones!
Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes recorded at the Conservatorio di Milano on May 27th, 2025:
1) Inside the conservatory yard
2) Walking through the conservatory
3) In the cafeteria of the conservatory
4) On the roof terrace of Babila Hostel, next to the conservatory
Info: https://essl.at/works/HEAD.html

C.O.N.S. (Come On, Nice Stud!) - BINAURAL

Binaural production - listen with headphones! A generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, which were recorded in Pécs, Hungary, between 27 and 28 June 2025:
1) A performance on a broken electronic organ in Toplje Church.
2) Walking through Pécs city centre at noon.
3) A restaurant with a nice view of Pécs at night.
4) A bottle return machine at a supermarket in Pécs.

P.E.C.S.

P.E.C.S. (Precious Energy Creates Sound) - BINAURAL

Free improvisation on a MakeNoise 0-COAST modular synthesizer, patched as a chaotic feedback system. Recorded during rehearsals for the MAPPER conference on live electronics at the Klangtheater of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw) on 2 July 2025.

Coastline #79

Coastline #79 (THE MAPPER) - modular synth performance

A computer program that automatically composes dodecaphonic Carillon music based on the twelve-tone row of Anton Webern's last composition - commemorating his sudden and unexpected death on 15 Sep 1945 as he was accidentally shot dead by an American GI. The program simulates a Carillon which plays a short musical phrase every 15 minutes which never repeats itself.
More information and download link: http://www.essl.at/works/webernuhrwerk/download.html

WebernUhrWerk

WebernUhrWerk: Demo

I spent the last weeks in Apulia, a beautiful landscape in Southern Italy, charged with history and stories. The symbol of this region is the Pumo - a traditional ceramic figurine which depicts a stylized flower bud. This gave the title of a new piece for my H.E.A.D. cycle: a immersive sound portrait of this landscape. When listening, you will visit a street market in Ostuni, witness a procession with a marching band in Cisternino, hearing the organ of the Basilica of Lecce and some school girls in the historic center of Grottaglie. Put on your headphones and dive in!

A generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, which were recorded in Apulia (Italy), in September and October 2025.
1) A procession of a marching band in Cisternino.
2) Schoolgirls in the historic centre of Grottaglie.
3) An organ rehearsal in Lecce's Basilica.
4) A street market in Ostuni.

P.U.M.O. (Power Up My Organ) - BINAURAL

Binaural production - listen with headphones!
Mixed impressions of Dortmund, an industrial town in the German Ruhr area where a ten-hour concert took place at the Petrikirche. While Wolfgang Kogert was rehearsing my organ piece, 'Partikel-Bewegung', the city was celebrating Halloween.

A generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, which were recorded in Dortmund (Germany) on 31 Oct and 1 Nov 2025.
Released: 7 Nov 2025

1) Wolfgang Kogert rehearses my organ piece, "Partikel-Bewegungen," at Saint Petri Church.
2) The minutes before Mass starts at the Probstei Church with the evening bells.
3) A Christmas market in the town center.
4) Midnight in the pedestrian zone on Halloween Eve


D.O.R.T. (Demanding Organist Requires Tension) - BINAURAL

Binaural production - listen with headphones for full immersion!

I embarked on a dreamlike journey through Cologne when I visited the Museum Ludwig that presented collaborative works by John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly and Robert Rauschenberg. An interactive installation by the latter encouraged visitors to engage in unusual activities such as clapping, shouting, singing and whistling. Occasionally, you would also hear the gentle voice of John Cage. Afterwards, I immersed myself in the cathedral, which resonated with the sounds of its visitors.

A generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, which were recorded in Cologne (Germany) on 2 Nov 2025.
Released: 10 Nov 2025

1) The gallery rooms at the Museum Ludwig, which feature videos of John Cage and Merce Cunningham.
2) An interactive installation by Robert Rauschenberg that responds to visitors' sounds.
3) Inside Cologne Cathedral.
4) The cathedral's crypt.

K.Ö.L.N. (Karneval Öffnet Lustige Narren) - BINAURAL

Karlheinz Essl's first piece for toy piano, composed 2005 for Isabel Ettenauer, became a signature piece for this instrument.

The primary aim of this piece is an attempt to break up the restricted sound world of the toy piano - not by superficial means of additional sound processing, but by the sound of the instrument itself. This is achieved by a sound file which is played back by a small loudspeaker which is hidden inside the toy piano; this creates a perfect blend between the sounds of the instrument and the sounds from the loudspeaker. 

Info and score: http://www.essl.at/works/kalimba.html

Whatever Shall be

Kalimba

Kalimba (2005) - for toy piano and playback

Recorded by Anton Lukoszevieze (cello) and Karlheinz Essl (live-electronics) at the University of East Anglia (Norwich, UK)on 18 Sep 2008.

The Sequitur cycle consists of 14 different compositions for various solo instruments and live-electronics. It can be seen as a reference to Berio’s famous “Sequenze” cycle of solo pieces which focus on specific playing techniques of the respective instrument.

All Sequitur composition use a software written in MaxMSP which creates an electronic accompaniment from the instrument’s live input; the player is confronted with his own playing, and this creates a situation like moving in a house of mirrors where the identities becomes blurred.

The software generates a complex canon on the fly, the temporal structure and density of which being controlled by random operations. This yields different results every time the piece is performed. Although following a precisely notated score, there is always a good portion of surprise for the musician which emphasizes his awareness and attentiveness.

Info: http://www.essl.at/works/sequitur/sequitur-4.html

Sequitur IV (2008) - for cello and live-electronics

Recorded by Isabel Ettenauer for the CD "whatever shall be - music for toy instruments and electronics" (edition eirelav, 2013)

Having written several pieces for the toy piano before, I dedicated Sequitur V to this interesting instrument which — in fact — has not much in common with the piano as we know it. Its sound resembles chimes or maybe parts of a gamelan orchestra and therefore is not connected to the great history of classical piano music from Bach to Stockhausen; a fact that makes this instrument more accessible for me. Although the toy piano is tiny in every respect, the sound that it produces in Sequitur V becomes incredibly rich thanks to amplification and realtime sound processing.

Info: http://www.essl.at/works/sequitur/sequitur-5.html

Sequitur V

Sequitur V (2005) - for toy piano and live-electronics

Recorded live with Barbara Lüneburg (electric violon and live-electronics) on 30 Oct 2010 in Vienna.

Sequitur is a series of 14 compositions for various solo instruments and live-electronics written for outstanding soloists. Somehow it can be seen as a reference to Luciano Berio's famous Sequenze cycle of solo pieces which focus on specific playing techniques of the respective instrument. Essl's Sequitur cycle includes pieces for orchestral instruments like flute and violin, but also for voice, electric guitar, toy piano or kalimba.

All Sequitur composition use a software written in MaxMSP which creates an electronic accompaniment from the instrument’s live input; the player is confronted with his own playing, and this creates a situation like moving in a house of mirrors where the identities becomes blurred.

Info: http://www.essl.at/works/sequitur/sequitur-3.html

Sequitur III (2008) - for electric violin and live-electronics

Recorded live on 23 Apr 2008 at the Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg with Georg Riedl (clarinet) and Karlheinz Essl (live-electronics).

Sequitur is a series of 14 compositions for various solo instruments and live-electronics written for outstanding soloists. Somehow it can be seen as a reference to Luciano Berio's famous Sequenze cycle of solo pieces which focus on specific playing techniques of the respective instrument. Essl's Sequitur cycle includes pieces for orchestral instruments like flute and violin, but also for voice, electric guitar, toy piano or kalimba.

All Sequitur composition use a software written in MaxMSP which creates an electronic accompaniment from the instrument&rsquo;s live input; the player is confronted with his own playing, and this creates a situation like moving in a house of mirrors where the identities becomes blurred.

The Sequitur software generates a complex canon on the fly, the temporal structure and density of which being controlled by random operations. This yields different results every time the piece is performed. Although following a precisely notated score, there is always a good portion of surprise for the musician which emphasizes his awareness and attentiveness.

Info: http://www.essl.at/works/sequitur/sequitur-2.html

Sequitur II (2008) - for clarinet and live-electronics

Parsifal-Kristall transforms the salvation choir from Wagner’s sacred festival drama by utilizing a new technique for his “art of transition”. The music of the finale, which dissolves all the dramatic tensions and conciliates all the contrasts of Wagner’s music drama, now runs backwards, beginning with the last crescendo and leading into clusters of interleaving layers of the musical material, as if Wagner’s promise of blessedness should again be questioned.

Essl stretches the reversed sound segments of Wagner's original once, twice, four times and eight times. Like loops, these musical layers are interwoven into a texture. The composer controls the algorithmic mixture of the material creating individual combinations. In spite of his complex deconstruction, Essl saves the aura of Wagner’s homophonic music. In a process of condensation and equalization, the blurred transitions develop a musical dramaturgy of their own. This soundscape recalls Mahler’s polyphony, which let music of different origins sound together, and it also recalls György Ligeti’s technique of structural blurring in pieces like Lux aeterna.

In Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival, the Holy Grail is a stone that had fallen from heaven. Essl imagines it as a crystal, and its kaleidoscopic light refractions open ever-changing views on new horizons. Beyond the urge of a formal order of succession, every instant becomes a moment of fulfillment. (Susanne Vill)

Download

Parsifal-Kristall (excerpt)

Karlheinz Essl's legendary realtime composition, performed by the composer himself at the NIME 2106 Conference in Brisbane, Australia on a Yamaha Disklavier.

Lexikon-Sonate is an interactive realtime composition environment for musical composition and live performances. It takes advantage of composition algorithms that has been developed by Karlheinz Essl since 1985. With this algorithmic music generator on can easily create fascinating and complex musical structures on the fly. Furthermore, Lexikon-Sonate is an infinite music installation that can run on a computer for years without repeating itself. Finally, Lexikon-Sonate can be used as an instrument for live performance of electronic music.

Download the software: http://www.essl.at/software.html


Lexikon-Sonate

Lexikon-Sonate (2016) live at NIME Conference 2016

Radio live performance by Karlheinz Essl at ORF Kunstradio, Vienna on 25 Feb 2001, preceded by an interview with Susanna Niedermayr.
http://www.essl.at/works/replay.html

REplay PLAYer is Karlheinz Essl’s contribution to the Kunstradio Series RE-PLAY UPDATE. Karlheinz Essl approached the exemplary selection of sound material presented in in the exhibition "RE-PLAY Beginning of International Media Art in Austria” with reference to their compositional usability. A special characteristic of the software developed for the project REplay PLAYer is that the supplied sound examples will be sampled, fragmented, and newly arranged according to a given score during the live-performance. Karlheinz Essl performance his piece with m@ze°2, a real-time composition and improvisation tool, that is likewise computer-based and that the artist himself developed in 1996.

With his project REplay PLAYer, Karlheinz Essl is following his vision once again of a Music "that is composed, as if from itself (auto-poetic), in the moment of its sounding." The sound material presented in the exhibition will be freed from ist object-ness and newly defined through the performance, which is concieved as an open process.

The REplay PLAYer is not a finished work of art, but a meta-composition, from which endless images of sound can be originated. The software written for this project can be downloaded from http://www.essl.at/works/replay.html

REplay PLAYer

REplay PLAYer Kunstradio

REplay PLAYer (2001)- sound performance @ ORF KUNSTRADIO

First reading of Karlheinz Essl's Sequitur I piece with Karlheinz on electronics.

Sequitur-I by Karlheinz Essl

fLOW is an audio computer program running on Apple Macintosh machines. It generates an ever-changing and never repeating soundscape in real time that fills the space with flooding sounds that resemble - metaphorically - the timbres of water, fire, earth, and air. This ambient soundscape generator adjusts itself through various parameters and controllers that are represented in real time on your screen.

Download software: http://www.essl.at/software.html

fLOW

fLOW_2018

fLOW - generative sound scape generator

Binaural recording - listen with headphones!

Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, recorded on April 27th, 2019 in Hamburg, Germany: 
1) Elbe shore vis-à-vis   Landungsbrücken
2) public park "Planten un Bloemen"
3) Radisson Blu hotel with a self-playing Yamaha Disklavier
4) walking through the Kunstgewerbemuseum with harpsichordist Goska Isphording rehearsing.

Part of the work-in-progress H.E.A.D.
http://www.essl.at/works/HEAD.html

E.L.B.E.

E.L.B.E. (Erotic Love Brings Empathy) - BINAURAL

Recorded live at INTONAZIONE festival on 20 Sep 2019 at Eremo Santa Caterina in Rio nell'Elba, performed by Rafał Zalech (viola & live-electronics)during a dance performance of Andrea Nagl. Mixed and produced by Karlheinz Essl.

Sequitur is a series of compositions for various solo instruments and live-electronics which I started in 2008. Somehow it can be seen as a reference to Berio’s famous “Sequenze” cycle of solo pieces which focus on specific playing techniques of the respective instrument.

All Sequitur compositions use a software written in MaxMSP which creates an electronic accompaniment from the instrument’s live input; the player is confronted with his own playing, and this creates a situation like moving in a house of mirrors where the identities become blurred. Each piece can be performed by the player alone who just has to press a key on the computer keyboard whenever this is indicated in the score. The software generates a complex canon on the fly, the temporal structure and density of which being controlled by random operations. This yields different results every time the piece is performed. Although following a precisely notated score, there is always a good portion of surprise for the musician which emphasizes his awareness and attentiveness.

More information: http://www.essl.at/works/sequitur.html

Sequitur IIIb

Sequitur IIIb (2008/2018)for viola and live-electronics

Extreme time stretch of the well-known Christmas carol "Silent Night", playing forwards and backwards in exactly 24'12". Created on 21 Dec 2019 with Karlheinz Essl's granular sound file shredder REplay PLAYer. http://www.essl.at/works/replay.html

Silent Night 24:12

Performed by Wolfgang Kogert on the organ of the Hofburgkapelle in Vienna, Austria. Released on the album ORGANO/LOGICS (col legno 2023) https://essl.at/records/organologics.html
"vingt secondes" is Karlheinz Essl's shortest composition. It lasts only 20 seconds - the guideline for washing one's hands during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was written during the lockdown in the Easter holidays of 2020. Originally written for melodica, this version was performed on the organ of the Hofburgkapelle Vienna by Wolfgang Kogert. Compositionally, the piece expresses a harmonic spread from a single note to three octaves at the end.
More information and free score download: http://www.essl.at/works/vingt-secondes.html

vingt secondes for organ

vingt secondes (2020) for organ

Born 1960 in Vienna. Austrian composer, improviser and performer. He studied composition with Friedrich Cerha and musicology in Vienna. Besides writing experimental instrumental music, he performs on his own electronic instrument m@ze°2, develops software environments for computer-aided composition and creates generative sound and video environments. Since 2007 professor of composition for electro-acoustic and experimental music at the University of Music in Vienna.

Karlheinz Essl performs on a laptop computer that he has transformed into a live electronic musical instrument. The result is exciting and musical. You just won't hear these sounds anywhere else. He performs solo and in duets and trios, responding with sensitivity to fellow musicians, producing fascinating sound transformations, creating spontaneous surprises, and moving quickly from loops to cacophony to tiny clips of vocal sounds to all kinds of textures and ideas. He does all this with his m@ze°2(Modular Algorithmic Zound Environment) performance software. (Joel Chadabe, CDeMusic, Januar 2002)


Karlheinz Essl

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks