sunken

for amplified ensemble

premiered on 19.02.22

Berlin, Germany

Beltrán González conductor

KOLLEKTIV UNRUHE:

Judith Gerhardt, Oboe

Marco Malatesta, Trumpet
Rafael Mota, Trombone
Jo Wei Liu, Percussion

Michael Cohen-Weissert, Piano
Elisabeth Müller, Accordion

Moritz Kayser, Cello

Soyeon Ahn, Contrabass

Duration: 15'30''

sunken sounds,
sunken instruments,
playing in a vast, dark, underwater field.

After an exhaustive research on underwater recordings, a selection of sea-animals, human-made sounds, and meteorological factors served as an inspiration to find new instrumental possibilities. Nevertheless, these new instrumental elements continue their development in a pure musical way, transforming themselves from pure nature- imitation to autonomous musical material. The final result is a pure musical piece, with an underwater-atmosphere reminiscence. All instruments are amplified (there are no electronics), in order to expand their sound density and create a condensed soundscape.

Captura de Pantalla 2023-01-06 a la(s) 12.49.23.png

sketches

Captura de Pantalla 2023-01-06 a la(s) 12.49.34.png

sketches

Captura de Pantalla 2023-01-06 a la(s) 12.50.19.png

score

Captura de Pantalla 2023-01-06 a la(s) 12.50.39.png

score

Captura de Pantalla 2023-01-06 a la(s) 12.51.04.png

I started by doing a research on underwater recordings in order to find particular sounds, and also focusing on micro-sound. The recordings made with Hydrophones can show unheard sounds (for example from mollusks)that are far beyond our preconception. I classified the sound in three main categories:

Environmental sound (Water, Wind, Waves, Storms, etc.)
Sea-animals (Mollusks, Shellfish, Dolphins, etc.)
Human-made Sounds (Sonar, Ships, Snowmotorbike, Engines, etc.)

These are the main resources I used:

https://clearseas.org/en/underwater-noise/

https://dosits.org/galleries/audio-gallery/anthropogenic-sounds/ship/?vimeography_gallery=84&vimeography_video=227206866

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6Nbqwm48yM

https://robertina.net

Here one nice example of Mantis Shrimp:

these recordings served as inspiration for the development of instrumental techniques. After an exhaustive work with performers we arrived to certain sonorities that fit into the sounding world we were aiming. Here some examples:

Trombone

Oboe

Some pictures of the concert:

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