for amplified string trio and electromechanical devices

Repertorio Zero
Milano, Piccolo Teatro
04/11/2013

Two references are at the base of Regnum animale. The first is the Medieval tradition of bestiaria, intended as multi-faceted catalogues of miscellaneous beings, among which different relations can be defined. The variety and heterogeneity of the bestiaria i strikingly evident in early examples, that are topsy turvy lists of fantastic creatures, existing animals, stones and plants. A second reference for the work is taxonomy, that is, the systematic description of living organisms that dates back to Linnaeus’ Systema Naturae as the Rationalistic possibility of ordering the polymorphous (and many times teratomorphic) appearance of nature. One of the foundational aspects of taxonomy in the so-called “binomial nomenclature”, that provides for each organism a name specifying its place in relation to other organisms by means of the couple genus et species.
The heterogeneity of bestiaria is at the origin of both the setup and the organization devised for Regnum animale. Th former includes traditional acoustic instruments (string trio, but played with a variety of special techniques), surrounded by an amass of computer-driven, electro-mechanical devices built from discarded and scavenged every- day objects. For what concerns the organisation, indeed the general model is the catalog: Regnum animale is thus a sequence of 28 short pieces, each one dedicated to an imaginary animal. Here the sec- ond model –taxonomy– enters into play: all the pieces have the same duration, and each one has received a name following the binomial nomenclature. Hence, Regnum animale is also a systematic report about the creatures found in a terra incognita.


Mauro Lanza / Andrea Valle - "Regnum Animale" (2013)

X mas 23 third

First track of the Cacophonic Joy / Thirdorgan split CDr. 

13USD postpaid in the US. Canada and Mexico
15 USD postpaid ROW 

Cacophonic Joy - Sunday Vomit

for 8 loudspeakers and no light

The piece was written for an 8.1 surround sound system in high resolution. The audio file here is a mix-down to stereo in the format of a mp3 file.

Duration in total: 14' 22''

The Labyrinth is based on the live performance work 'Minotaurus', for voice and gesture-controlled live electronics (stimmflieger) in a quadrophonic speaker setting. The 'stimmflieger' is a wireless, digital musical instrument consisting of two Wii controllers and a software patch developed together with Daniel Schorno at STEIM, the studio for electro-instrumental music in Amsterdam. For further informations on the instrument see the article 'Voice and Live-Electronics using Remotes as Gestural Controllers', retrievable at
https://econtact.ca/10_4/nowitz_voicelive.html 

As a result of the first prize of the ECPNM competiton for works composed and performed with live electronics at Gothenburg during the ISCM World New Music Days in 2009, Alex Nowitz was invited by EMS, the Elektronmusikstudion Stockholm, to work with an eight-channel system. Started in May 2010, continued for a couple of days in April 2012 and finished on 6 June  2013 in studio 2, the piece 'Labyrinth' emerged.

Composition and sound poetry: Alex Nowitz
Poem 'Minotaurus': Sonja Kloevekorn
Translations of the poem: Ilka Seifert

Countertenor, voices and stimmflieger: Alex Nowitz
Bass- and doublebass clarinets: Theo Nabicht

Voices from Berlin, Wiesbaden(Germany) and Gothenburg (Sweden)reciting the poem "Minotaurus"
Arabic: father of Fatma Bektas
English: Alex Nowitz
Finnish: Tomi Mäkelä
French: Anne Jardin
German: Alex Nowitz, Ilka Seifert
Greek: Xenia Kourkoumeli
Hebrew: Ophira Zakai
Italian: Brigitte Reineke
Portuguese: Maria Teresa Corceiro (Wiesbaden)
Spanish/catalan: Bibets Ramos
Swedish: Anna Svensdotter (Gothenburg)
Turkish: Fatma Bektas

Premiere: 14 September 2013 at the fabrik Potsdam during new music festival 'intersonanzen' 2013

Acknowledgements: 
Daniel Schorno, Frank Baldé (both STEIM, Amsterdam), Sonja Kloevekorn (Berlin), Ilka Seifert (Berlin), Theo Nabicht (Berlin), Mats Lindström (EMS, Stockholm) and Henk Heuvelmans (Gaudeamus, Utrecht).

Labyrinth

City University London, Simon Howard Memorial Concert, 24.03.2015

Contrejours-Alistair Zaldua

well down

Mahreç is the name of master Armenian jewelry designer Hraç Arslanyan's workshop and school in the Cağaloğlu district in Istanbul's old town. The piece is based on recordings of two jewelry designer women, Kıymet Daştan and Gözde Erdoğan.

Mahreç

L'Inferno Seconda

Live at Soundscapes, Schaumbad Graz (excerpt) - 2018-10-10

filmed and recorded in Ljubljana in March 2019 by Tomaz Grom

X mas 23 third

Mrs Anaïs

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