Written in 2016 for performance at Sansusi festival (commissioned by Armands Siliņš). www.sansusi.lv
Recorded by Quadra, sound engineer Tālis Timrots

String Quartet, II movement

String Quartet, I movement

Mirage of The Void. Performed by string orchestra Sinfonia Concertante, conductor Kārlis Kundrāts.

Mirage of The Void

Performed by Sinfonietta Riga String Quartet

The Block Buster (2020/2021)

The piece was created for an exhibition by the artists' collective No More Shame (https://www.facebook.com/vairakkaunanav/) held at Artist Cafe Fukuoka (https://artistcafe.jp), Japan, in April 2024.

The piece consists of two parts, the first being 6 minutes and 4 seconds long and the second 3 minutes and 44 seconds. The structure of the composition comprises 16 overtones, each of which is divided into various lengths. For example, the first overtone (the lowest one) is divided into 13 parts, with the longest one being 52 seconds and the shortest one 4 seconds. In the second part, the shortest sound is 6.2222222222224 seconds long, while the longest is 49.777777777776 seconds, and there are 8 such sounds in total. The next overtone is divided into 14 parts in the first part and into 9 parts in the second part, respectively. The durations keep getting shorter and shorter. By the 16th overtone, it is divided into 28 parts in the first part and 23 parts in the second part.

The result is a sound field that becomes denser as time progresses in the first part and reaches a culmination when all sounds occur simultaneously, then dissolves again in the second part.

If you want to know more, feel free to ask.

Untitled (2024)

8-BIT CONCERTO for chamber orchestra and 8-bit electronics. Performed by Sinfonietta Rīga, conductor Normunds Šnē.

8-BIT CONCERTO

Mūzika no teātra izrādes "Maija un Paija", režisors Reinis Suhanovs. Dzied Elīna Vāne (Maijas loma)

Par tālumu

Mūzika no teātra izrādes "Maija un Paija" (2015), režisors Reinis Suhanovs. Dzied Inga Apine (Laimas loma)

Laimas dziesma

Oskars Herliņš: composition, programming

As mentioned before, this piece uses ternary (or more specifically A-B-A1) form. The harmonic structure of the A section consists of the following chord progression: Cm9, Gm7/c, Bflatm9, Fm7/Bflat, Aflatm9, Eflat7/Aflat, Gm9 (all 9th chords are with the 7th omitted, except for the Gm9). Up until bar 13 only the first four of these chords are used; from bar 25 to bar 31 the first six of these chords are used, and then from bar 13 to bar 16 all eight chords are used. From bar 7 there is an arpeggiated movement of 16th notes, though from the beginning of the piece to the 7th bar these 16th notes are introduced little by little, first using longer note values and then dividing them, one by one, into smaller ones until smooth 16th note-arpeggiation is reached. The main time signature of the piece is 30/8, though from bar 32 to bar 50 the time signature changes every bar with the subtraction of one 16th of a bar (29/16, 28/16... and so on). From bar 50 to bar 82 the time signature is 11/16, but from bar 82 the main time signature (30/8) is re-established. Section B’s chord progression consists of the following: Csharpm11-Csharpm13-Bm11-Bm13-Am11-Am13-Aflatm11-Aflatm13. At first these chords are spread out, partly into arpeggiated form, partly into chordal form, but gradually they become entirely chordal, and the chords become closer to each other (the rests between them become shorter and shorter). A1 is a variation of section A; the lead melody of the A section is moved into the background this time and is also varied to fit the new lead melody, which fills low and mid frequencies. The piece fades out in a similar fashion to that, in which it faded in – whereas section A was developed through addition, section A1 is, as is the reverse of this, developed through subtraction (8 chords, then 6 chords (chords are removed from the beginning of the chord “loop,”) then 4 chords etc.) The arpeggiated movement (which also began the piece) fades out with the gradual increase of the number of rests as well as with the augmentation of note values. Regarding the title, Gondvāna was the name of one of the ancient continents, before they formed into the continents we know nowadays.

3. Gondvana

Performed by "Quadra" at New Music Festival ARENA 2019

Oskars Herlins

Popular tracks