Audio recording of the installation "Why Frets? - Tombstone", recorded on September 15, 2023 at the Warsaw Autumn Festival.

Why Frets? - Tombstone (Warsaw Autumn 2023) by Marko Ciciliani

Karlheinz Essl and Gerhard Eckel use structured improvisation in combination with striking and original hybrid notations in ‘Con una certa espressione parlante’ (1985) for a pianist and a tape machine operator. The pianist performs with a range of extended techniques inside the instrument and on the keys (also using props such as mallets and a bottle). At times, the pianist works from traditionally-notated pitches and rhythms, shown in the top part of the score, while also synchronising with live-recorded material. The electronic performer is required to record and play back parts of the pianists live performance, as notated in the bottom section. This imaginative notational approach comes with a set of detailed instructions in order to decode the symbols. (Xenia Pestova)

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Diese Komposition entstand im Sommer 1985 als erstes musikalisches Produkt einer fruchtbaren Zusammenarbeit zwischen Karlheinz Essl und Gerhard Eckel. Die erste grundlegene Idee war es, das Tonbandgerät wie ein Instrument einzusetzen und auch solistisch in den Vordergrund treten zu lassen. Zu diesem Zweck mußte es entsprechend modifiziert werden; außerdem war die Entwicklung und Kultivierung gewisser "instrumentaler" Spieltechniken von Nöten. Durch diese grundsätzliche Gleichberechtigung beider Instrumente - vergleichbar etwa einer klassischen Violinsonate - ist ein Musizieren der beiden Spieler im traditionellen Sinne wieder möglich geworden.
Im Gegensatz zu den unzähligen Kompositionen für Tonband und Soloinstrument - wobei das Tonband im Studio vorgefertigt und bei der Aufführung einfach nur abgespielt wird - treten hier beide Spieler in einen kammermusikalischen Dialog, reagieren permanent aufeinander.

Die Wiedergabe des Tonbandgerätes erfolgt über einen auf den Resonanzboden des Klavieres strahlenden Lautsprecher. Das bewirkt die Verschmelzung der beiden Klangquellen. Außerdem werden dabei Resonanzphänomene erzielt, die kompositorisch eingesetzt wurden

Der Titel Con una certa espressione parlante (deutsch: Mit einem gewissen sprechenden Ausdruck) ist Beethovens Bagatelle op 33 / Nr. 6 entnommen und spielt auf die sprachlichen Ausdrucksmittel an, die in der Komposition verwendet wurden. Dabei wird unter "Sprache" nicht nur Wortgebilde mit konkreter Aussage verstanden, sondern im Sinne der modernen Semiotik (Umberto Eco) ganz allgemein ein System von Zeichen. So kann Musik - ohne konkrete Inhalte zu transportieren - als etwas Sprachähnliches aufgefaßt werden. Diese Eigenschaft wurde ihr mindestens seit dem Frühbarock zugeschrieben. (Karlheinz Essl)

Score and more: http://www.essl.at/works/con-una.html


Info

Con una certa espressione parlante (1985) - for piano and tape recorder

i experimented with OpenAI's Text-To-Speech-Playground. i entered nonsensical phrases that contained a lot of repeating charachters and vowels. this are some results. it sounds really crazy and sometimes completely unexpected. the track names reflect the prompt.

Aeiou1

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

Improvised piece using the Make Noise 0-coast , Triple Expresso expression pedal interface, micro cassette recorder, reverb and delay pedals, Alimba resonator, and Sniff-EM electromagnetic pickup. Recorded live in one take.

Encounter with The Krell

Binaural production - listen with headphones!

Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes recorded in Krems, Horn and Gars/Kamp between August 31st and September 1st, 2024. Dedicated to my friend Gerhard Eckel:

    1) At the Taffa creek near Horn
    2) Gerhard Eckel and Jack Hauser performing under a resonant bridge
    3) A train ride along the river Kamp
    4) Sound from MONOCOLOR's audio-visual installation SCREEN—SPACE at the NÖ Landesgalerie Krems        

Released: Sep 2nd, 2024
https://essl.at/works/HEAD.html

H.E.A.D.

G.U.R.X.

G.U.R.X. (Gerhard's Unique Resonating Xylophone) - BINAURAL

Binaural production - listen with headphones!
In tempore belli...

Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes recorded in Mantua, Italy between September 10-14, 2024:
    1) A walk through the historical center of Mantua
    2) A gelataria with the best ice cream in town
    3) Inside the Basilica di Sant'Andrea
    4) A rehearsal of the ensemble "nova ars cantandi" in the Basilica Palatina di Santa Barbara, singing "Dona Nobis Pacem" from an unknown mass by Antonio Nola (1642-1715).
Released: Sep 23rd, 2024
Info: https://essl.at/works/HEAD.html

M.A.N.T.

M.A.N.T. (Most Answers Never Translate) - BINAURAL

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

First encounter between the organist Jeremy Joseph and the composer Karlheinz Essl on his 0-COAST modular synth on 2 December 2024. We met in St. Ursula, a beautiful baroque church in Vienna which houses three fine organs, one of which - a sublime 7-rank Italian instrument from the 18th century - is used on this track. There were no preconceived musical ideas or any kind of preparatory sketches for the improvisation. It is simply an atmospheric late-night ‘jam session’ recorded in the darkness of the sanctuary. It captures us getting to know each other, finding one another and it illustrates the process of musical consolidation through improvisation.
https://essl.at/div/becoming-one.html

Becoming One (2024) - free improvisation for organ and synthesizer

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

by Marko Ciciliani
(excerpt)
no-input mixer solo

81 Matters in elemental Oder

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)


Con una certa espressione parlante (1985) - for piano and tape recorder

Karlheinz Essl

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