Locations: Gyldenlakvej 1 &amp; The Black Diamond, Copenhagen.

Half-life is a collection of 40 40-second vignettes for violin, contrabass and soundtrack (comprising mainly of field recordings).
The recorded sounds provide a matrix - a canvas against which the instrumentalists place their sounds: Sometimes drawing precise lines or making tracings in order to bring out specific aspects of the field recordings, sometimes painting over those recordings with broad gestural strokes that emphasise their physicality; sometimes reinforcing a mood or resonance hinted at in the recordings, sometimes throwing in contrasting (musical) material.
In most cases loudspeakers are used in a performance situation as a means of amplifying the voice or musical instruments. In this case however the roles are somewhat reversed. The instrumentalists have the task of mediating the recorded sound into the performance space: Amplifying resonances, drawing attention to specific details, providing a physical presence even when they are not playing.


half-life 6

Locations: Irma, Illum, Pilestræde 13 & Gyldenlakvej 1, Copenhagen.

Half-life is a collection of 40 40-second vignettes for violin, contrabass and soundtrack (comprising mainly of field recordings).

The recorded sounds provide a matrix - a canvas against which the instrumentalists place their sounds: Sometimes drawing precise lines or making tracings in order to bring out specific aspects of the field recordings, sometimes painting over those recordings with broad gestural strokes that emphasise their physicality; sometimes reinforcing a mood or resonance hinted at in the recordings, sometimes throwing in contrasting (musical) material.

In most cases loudspeakers are used in a performance situation as a means of amplifying the voice or musical instruments. In this case however the roles are somewhat reversed. The instrumentalists have the task of mediating the recorded sound into the performance space: Amplifying resonances, drawing attention to specific details, providing a physical presence even when they are not playing. 

half-life 5

Location: Gråbrødretorv 16, Copenhagen K

Half-life is a collection of 40 40-second vignettes for violin, contrabass and soundtrack (comprising mainly of field recordings).

The recorded sounds provide a matrix - a canvas against which the instrumentalists place their sounds: Sometimes drawing precise lines or making tracings in order to bring out specific aspects of the field recordings, sometimes painting over those recordings with broad gestural strokes that emphasise their physicality; sometimes reinforcing a mood or resonance hinted at in the recordings, sometimes throwing in contrasting (musical) material.

In most cases loudspeakers are used in a performance situation as a means of amplifying the voice or musical instruments. In this case however the roles are somewhat reversed. The instrumentalists have the task of mediating the recorded sound into the performance space: Amplifying resonances, drawing attention to specific details, providing a physical presence even when they are not playing. 

half-life 4

Location: Gyldenlakvej 1, Copenhagen, Denmark

Half-life is a collection of 40 40-second vignettes for violin, contrabass and soundtrack (comprising mainly of field recordings).
The recorded sounds provide a matrix - a canvas against which the instrumentalists place their sounds: Sometimes drawing precise lines or making tracings in order to bring out specific aspects of the field recordings, sometimes painting over those recordings with broad gestural strokes that emphasise their physicality; sometimes reinforcing a mood or resonance hinted at in the recordings, sometimes throwing in contrasting (musical) material.
In most cases loudspeakers are used in a performance situation as a means of amplifying the voice or musical instruments. In this case however the roles are somewhat reversed. The instrumentalists have the task of mediating the recorded sound into the performance space: Amplifying resonances, drawing attention to specific details, providing a physical presence even when they are not playing. 


half-life 3

Locations: Gyldenlakvej 1 &amp; Huset, Magstræde, Copenhagen, Denmark

Half-life is a collection of 40 40-second vignettes for violin, contrabass and soundtrack (comprising mainly of field recordings).
The recorded sounds provide a matrix - a canvas against which the instrumentalists place their sounds: Sometimes drawing precise lines or making tracings in order to bring out specific aspects of the field recordings, sometimes painting over those recordings with broad gestural strokes that emphasise their physicality; sometimes reinforcing a mood or resonance hinted at in the recordings, sometimes throwing in contrasting (musical) material.
In most cases loudspeakers are used in a performance situation as a means of amplifying the voice or musical instruments. In this case however the roles are somewhat reversed. The instrumentalists have the task of mediating the recorded sound into the performance space: Amplifying resonances, drawing attention to specific details, providing a physical presence even when they are not playing. 



half-life 2

Location: Gyldenlakvej 1, 2300 Copenhagen, Denmark

Half-life is a collection of 40 40-second vignettes for violin, contrabass and soundtrack (comprising mainly of field recordings).
The recorded sounds provide a matrix - a canvas against which the instrumentalists place their sounds: Sometimes drawing precise lines or making tracings in order to bring out specific aspects of the field recordings, sometimes painting over those recordings with broad gestural strokes that emphasise their physicality; sometimes reinforcing a mood or resonance hinted at in the recordings, sometimes throwing in contrasting (musical) material.
In most cases loudspeakers are used in a performance situation as a means of amplifying the voice or musical instruments. In this case however the roles are somewhat reversed. The instrumentalists have the task of mediating the recorded sound into the performance space: Amplifying resonances, drawing attention to specific details, providing a physical presence even when they are not playing.


half-life 1

Zwitscher-Maschine, a twitteropera

Follow the texts (on your smartphone) at: rdgr.me/t
or  vimeo.com/187722964

Read more about the piece at: rudigermeyer.com/music/zwitscher-maschine  


Performed at IGNM Zürich by the Mondrian Ensemble:

Ivana Pristašová, Violine 
Petra Ackermann, Viola 
Karolina Öhman, Cello
Tamriko Kordzaia, Klavier 
with
Irina Ungureanu, Sopran

http://www.ignm-zuerich.ch/page.php?0,1,1,0,72,

Zwitscher-Maschine, a twitteropera

The Lydfabet is a project begun in 2006 in collaboration with the poet Vagn Steen.
With the idea that it might be interesting to record Vagn reading some of his poems and then use the recordings as the basis for a series of  sound pieces I suggested that we use the alphabet as a means of ordering the large pile of poems available. 
In the event Vagn ended up composing a new series of short poems based on each letter of the Danish alphabet. With the scheme of a poem a day for the month of April we began a daily ritual of recording and listening to the results. It soon became clear just how different the sound of the Danish language is from its written form and Vagn often returned to the writing board and made the appropriate adjustments or re-compositions. After this intial process of writing, reading, recording and listening I began to dissect and reassemble the sound files of the final poems in order to further bring out various aspects of the sound of each letter.

The basic material was originally intended for use in semi-improvised live electronic performances. The final form recorded here is a series of 29 vignettes of 30 seconds each. A journey through the alphabet within a quarter of an hour.

Lydfabet

Antjie in Berlin, played by Jill Richards on her wonderful Steinway and recorded at her house in Melville, Johannesburg with Shaughn Macrae running the electronics.

(Note: Many of the 'ambient' sounds in the piece contain extremely low frequencies - listening with high quality headphones or a good sound system with sub-woofer recommended.)

http://www.rudigermeyer.com/works/antjie-in-berlin
...

"Antjie in Berlin" takes the audience on an aural journey based on a number of letters written by Antjie Krog while on a residency in Berlin and included in her recent book "Begging to be Black". Part sound installation, part concert performance, the composition builds on the music concealed within the spoken word, creating a space for reflection within a landscape of loudspeakers that take on a nearly sculptural aspect.

Recordings of Antjie Krog reading aloud the letters originally written to her mother, form the main point of departure for the piece. The letters themselves cover topics from simple descriptions of daily life in a foreign town to deeper reflections on global issues and moral questions. It is however the particular quality of Antjie Krog’s specifically South African voice that plays a crucial role in the composition. How much atmosphere does a voice carry with it and what kind of melodies does it contain? What kind of music could it lead to?

The speech melodies and rhythms of Antjie's distinctive readings are transformed into piano music, unfolded and commented on within a sound environment based on field recordings made in Berlin. Vocal fragments migrate from one end of the space to the other, bringing her voice close to the listeners and providing a counterpart to the piano performance - an exploration of the sense of both presence and distance that can characterize communication over long distances, of the movement between inner and outer worlds.

...

Antjie in Berlin comprises of seven sections - one for each of the letters selected from Begging to be Black, unfolded in chronological order - from her arrival in Berlin early October until a letter written late December.

The piece consists of three layers:
1. Voice recordings of Antjie Krog reading aloud letters from her book Begging to be Black.
2. A solo piano part based around the vocal readings.
3: An ambient sound ‘environment’ of field recordings made in Berlin and electronic sounds.

The piano (with lid removed) and desk for the sound technician are placed in the centre of the performance space.

The seating for the audience (for the premiere around 130 chairs) is loosely arranged around the piano using a map of Berlin as a template. (This map may also be projected from above or marked on the floor in some way.) This inclusive, somewhat looser arrangement of the seating contributes to a highly individualized listening experience in which there is no ‘ideal spot’.

For the sound distribution of the recorded letters 12 loudspeakers are placed amongst the audience (loosely arranged according to the end-points of the Berlin underground). It is intended that the loudspeakers are present as objects in their own right - almost as if they too were members of the audience.

In each corner of the performance space a stack of larger loudspeakers (including sub-woofers) is placed for distribution of the ‘ambient’ sounds.


Antjie in Berlin

"Autumn Strategy" - Part 2 of Antjie in Berlin, played by Jill Richards on her wonderful Steinway and recorded at her house in Melville, Johannesburg with Shaughn Macrae running the electronics.

(Note: Many of the 'ambient' sounds in the piece contain extremely low frequencies - listening with high quality headphones or a good sound system with sub-woofer recommended.)

http://www.rudigermeyer.com/works/antjie-in-berlin
...

"Antjie in Berlin" takes the audience on an aural journey based on a number of letters written by Antjie Krog while on a residency in Berlin and included in her recent book "Begging to be Black". Part sound installation, part concert performance, the composition builds on the music concealed within the spoken word, creating a space for reflection within a landscape of loudspeakers that take on a nearly sculptural aspect.

Recordings of Antjie Krog reading aloud the letters originally written to her mother, form the main point of departure for the piece. The letters themselves cover topics from simple descriptions of daily life in a foreign town to deeper reflections on global issues and moral questions. It is however the particular quality of Antjie Krog’s specifically South African voice that plays a crucial role in the composition. How much atmosphere does a voice carry with it and what kind of melodies does it contain? What kind of music could it lead to?

The speech melodies and rhythms of Antjie's distinctive readings are transformed into piano music, unfolded and commented on within a sound environment based on field recordings made in Berlin. Vocal fragments migrate from one end of the space to the other, bringing her voice close to the listeners and providing a counterpart to the piano performance - an exploration of the sense of both presence and distance that can characterize communication over long distances, of the movement between inner and outer worlds.

...

Antjie in Berlin comprises of seven sections - one for each of the letters selected from Begging to be Black, unfolded in chronological order - from her arrival in Berlin early October until a letter written late December.

The piece consists of three layers:
1. Voice recordings of Antjie Krog reading aloud letters from her book Begging to be Black.
2. A solo piano part based around the vocal readings.
3: An ambient sound ‘environment’ of field recordings made in Berlin and electronic sounds.

The piano (with lid removed) and desk for the sound technician are placed in the centre of the performance space.

The seating for the audience (for the premiere around 130 chairs) is loosely arranged around the piano using a map of Berlin as a template. (This map may also be projected from above or marked on the floor in some way.) This inclusive, somewhat looser arrangement of the seating contributes to a highly individualized listening experience in which there is no ‘ideal spot’.

For the sound distribution of the recorded letters 12 loudspeakers are placed amongst the audience (loosely arranged according to the end-points of the Berlin underground). It is intended that the loudspeakers are present as objects in their own right - almost as if they too were members of the audience.

In each corner of the performance space a stack of larger loudspeakers (including sub-woofers) is placed for distribution of the ‘ambient’ sounds.


Antjie in Berlin - Autumn Strategy

Interested in the play between traditional concert music and new media.

Rudiger Meyer

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