for b.cl.,perc,pn,vln.

Performed by Kwartludium ensemble

Erosion (2020) for ensemble

Chronos (2021) for ensemble

for ensemble.

by the Riot Ensemble
Klangspuren in Schwaz 2022

pic. by Jasper Johns, “In Memory of My Feelings—Frank O’Hara, 1961

This piece is inspired and to some extent based on Jasper Johns' painting "In Memory of My Feelings—Frank O’Hara”, which I discovered in detail in the New York Times online column “Close Read”. 
In 1964, John Cage disclosed that he’d seen a note in one of Johns’s sketchbooks: “A dead man. Take a skull. Cover it with paint. Rub it against the canvas. Skull against a canvas.”
Skull against a canvas. Painting as mortality.

The symbols that once functioned as deadpan “things the mind already knows” could now become carriers of grief.
Each object rupturing the picture plane now felt like a memento mori.
Not black or white but grey; not an empty grey, but one freighted with colour and life.

He is hardening himself by forgetting one lover above all, whom he misses so much it feels like a mortal illness. Or not quite forgetting. Transforming, more like.  The central elements of his painting are rusty fork and spoon. They hang and snuggle together at the painting’s equator line. The fork represents fragility for me. 

This piece is for me artistic research as a therapy. This painting and my piece are about grief, mortality and working with memory. It's written in a very tragic and difficult time for me. I was trying to overcome pain and grief, which erased the ability to feel, the only feeling left was numbness. I was retracing John’s steps, which is creating the complex texture, erasing it, trying to remember and documenting the fragile remains of memory and feelings.

Rusty fork, hang on (2022) [use headphones]

[use headphones]
Commissioned by Ensemble Proton Bern. (Protonwerk No. 12)
Live recording of premiere 25.04.2023 - Dampfzentrale Bern.
Youtube video:  https://youtu.be/md_2U3WzAwE?si=rLwFSh6p6_V3BXLQ

"Crossing the Water" is a multifaceted exploration of the dichotomy between various
aspects of our lives, including the analogue and digital, material and immaterial, professional musicians and the audience, as well as the interplay between darkness and light. 

The title of the piece is inspired by Sylvia Plath's poetry, which juxtaposes the darkness of the human spirit with moments of illumination.
As in Plath's complex and evocative poem that explores themes of danger, death, and renewal through the imagery of water, the piece "Crossing the Water" incorporates recycled materials as instruments to emphasize the importance of recycling, environmental protection and conscious consumption. This element of the work serves to underscore the urgent need for sustainable practices in all aspects of our lives.

Crossing The Water (2023) for ensemble with smartphones and the audience with trash objects

Commissioned by Ensemble Collegium Novum Zurich.
Live recording of the premiere 6.06.2024 in Tonhalle Zürich.

Collegium Novum Zürich:
Susanne Peters, Bass Flute
Matthias Arter, Lupophone
Ernesto Molinari, Bass Clarinet
Miguel Ángel Pérez Domingo, Contraforte
Alexander Smith, Percussion
Manon Pierrehumbert, Harp
Stefan Wirth, Piano
Mateusz Szczepkowski, Violin
Fabio Marano Viola
Imke Frank, Violoncello
Johannes Nied, Kontrabass
Conductor - Peter Rundel

Program note:
Crossing the Ocean is a multifaceted exploration of the dichotomy between various aspects of our lives, including the analogue and digital, material and immaterial, as well as the interplay between darkness and light. This piece is an enlargement of my piece “Crossing the Water”, where the title is inspired by Sylvia Plath's poetry, which juxtaposes the darkness of the human spirit with moments of illumination.

As in Plath's complex and evocative poem that explores themes of danger, death, and renewal through the imagery of water, the piece "Crossing the Ocean" incorporates recycled materials as instruments to emphasize the importance of recycling, environmental protection and conscious consumption. This element of the work underscores the urgent need for sustainable practices in all aspects of our lives.

Crossing the Ocean (2024) for ensemble with smartphones [use headphones]

for violin solo, electronics, lights and LED installation.
Malin Grass - violin

Full video: 
https://youtu.be/tE08PsV2wxE

Slime Mold [2025] for violin, electronics and LED-light Installation

Ensemble Nostri Temporis:
Andrii Pavlov - vln
Zoltan Almashi - vc
Nazar Stets - cb

Contrasts Festival, 20.10.2018, Lviv Philharmonic.

Marta Haladzhun

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