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KIRKEGAARD, JACOB - Conversion

Format: LP Label & Cat.Number: Touch TONE 47 Release Year: 2013 Note: re-interpretation of KIRKEGAARDs sound art pieces "Labyrinthitis" and "Church" through classical instruments (clarinet, trombone, violin, viola, cello & percussion) performed by the Danish ensemble SCENATET => mesmerizing contemplation drones built by sustained tones with an eerie touch, very sensitive and almost amorph... Price (incl. 19% VAT): €15.00 Warning: Currently we do not have this album in stock! More Info "In collaboration with Danish ensemble Scenatet, Jacob Kirkegaard's two pieces Labyrinthitis and Church are here interpreted by classical instruments. The intention of this transformation into an instrumental score is to explore the musical dimension and potential of the sounds that were used in creating the original works. Church (from "4 Rooms", Touch, 2006) originally consists of ambient recordings of an abandoned church inside the radioactive zone in Chernobyl. Laybrinthitis (Touch, 2008) is a canon of oto-acoustic tones generated by the artist's own ears. Like most of Kirkegaard's sound works, both pieces are characterised by a strong focus on methodology, and by the artist's wish to omit any deliberate emotional or "musical" intention. Jacob Kirkegaard is a Danish artist focusing on scientific & aesthetic aspects of resonance, time, sound & hearing. His installations, compositions & performances deal with acoustic spaces or phenomena that usually remain imperceptible. Using unorthodox methods for recording, Kirkegaard captures and contextualizes hitherto unheard sounds from within a variety of environments: a geyser, a sand dune, a nuclear power plant, an empty room, a TV tower, and even sounds from the human inner ear itself. Based in Berlin, Kirkegaard is a graduate of the Academy for Media Arts in Cologne, Germany. Since 1995, Kirkegaard has presented his works at exhibitions and at festivals and conferences throughout the world. He has released five albums (mostly on the British label Touch) and is a member of the sound art collective freq_out." [label info] www.touchmusic.org.uk "Did we review the two Kirkegaard CDs that are at the basis of this record? Yes, we did, in one case. In Vital Weekly 653 we reviewed 'Laybrinthitis', Kirkegaard's work for 'otoacoustic emissions', highpitched tones that resemble tinnitus. Since then I heard a live version of this and indeed rang for long in these ears. I think I liked the CD version better, which I found was not unlike Alvin Lucier or Phill Niblock. On this new LP it is conversed into a classical piece, as performed by the Danish ensemble Scenatet, which is a bit like what Zeitkratzer did when they commissioned pieces by the likes of Terre Thaemlitz and Merzbow. One side as 'Laybrinthitis II' and one side has 'Church' from the '4 Rooms' CD, which wasn't reviewed. That CD brought Kirkegaard recognition worldwide since it used field recordings of the radioactive zone in Chernobyl. The instruments of the ensemble consist of clarinet, percussion, trombone, violin, viola and cello. In 'Church' this results in a very dark piece of subtle movements of the percussion and ultimately the entering of a two note string piece, that sounds like a fog horn wailing in the dark. I could have bet there is electronic sounds in there, but apparently it's not. It's a fine piece, but the one I liked even better was on the other side. Here the sine wave tinnitus experience is converted into a great subtle, orchestral piece of slow cascading glissandi, working majestically along and against each other. Slowly rising, slowly dropping, and more ship horn than fog horn like, and not at night but on a slightly unstable sea at day light. Gentle yet also, somehow, somewhere, urgent music. Beautiful slow static music, which reminds me easily of the best of Arvo Part, especially 'Laybrinthitis II'. A great conversion." [FdW/Vital Weekly]