Klangforum Wien traverses archipelagic soundscapes in which divergent thought and listening transcend the strict boundaries between instrumental and electronic music. What happens when memories, thoughts, poetry, and installation are inscribed into musical structures – forming unexpected, hybrid connections?
Gerhard Stäbler's acoustic travel memories echo between the hydraulic sounds and ‘frighteningly pure thirds’ of a garbage truck that once woke him from his sleep in San Francisco. Mixed with the linguistic rhythms of beat poet Allen Ginsberg, these sounds inspired the intermedia composer to write a piece full of wit and drama, dedicated to none other than the garbage collectors of San Francisco.
In Laure M. Hiendl's new work, the subtle changes of a musical core hover between the polarity of stillness and movement. Fascinated by the way sculpture, installation, and music resonate with one another, the Vienna-based composer and curator creates spatial impressions solely through sonic structures, while at the same time blurring the boundaries between digital and physical spaces and techniques. Like a sound sculpture, the work welcomes different perspectives, inviting the listener to view it from the outside or to be moved by the changes in its texture.
Luxa M. Schüttler expands the archipelagic thinking of the Martinican philosopher and writer Édouard Glissant to moments of alienation from oneself. Hybrid sound networks branch out, moving between electronic and pop music elements and acoustic instrumental sounds that give rise to delicate structures, unexpected rhythms, and atmospheric gestures. Schüttler combines sonic particles from a wide variety of musical genres with poems by Kamau Brathwaite from Barbados, from whom the title of the composition, ‘i wd leave leaf & dance’, is also borrowed.
Photo: (c) Tina Herzl