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.

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ORGANO/LOGICS

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

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
Palindromic-canonic variations on what is probably the most famous Christmas carol "Silent Night" (Stille Nacht). The score was punched into a tape that could be played in different directions on a mechanical musical clock. It was first adapted for toy piano, then, in collaboration with Wolfgang Kogert, for organ.
Score and more: https://essl.at/works/listen-thing.html

Listen Thing

Listen Thing (2008/2021) version for organ

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

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.

Info

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

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)


Listen Thing (2008/2021) version for organ

Karlheinz Essl

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