Acousmatic

  • Ryojinfu (3D Multi-channel with 20 ch, 10’09“, Karlsruhe, 2013)                                                                       Composed by using ZKM’s Zirkonium 3D Sound system in KlangDom. This sound-fantasy was inspired by a legend of Japanese emperor. Go-shirakawa, born as a forth prince, was devoted in Buddhist chant Imayo since his childhood. However, he had to succeed to the throne and since then he had to fight many battles. The more he fought and killed, the more religious became he. Felt he the dilemma between his religious thought and the reality of battles? The musical development is based on his psychological distortion I imagined. Ryojin is the Imayo text-book which Go-shirakawa compiled. The title was named after a legend of Chinese master singers Guko and Kanga whom Go-shirakawa dreamed to become like; When Guko and Kanga sang, all dusts in the temple-hall danced musically for three days long. The singing voice and the dusts (musical-spirits) reacting to it was the basic idea for sounds and movements of the composition. This piece has been dedicated to my husband, composer Wilfried Jentzsch.
  • Ginn-Tokio 2006 (Double quad., 8′ 18″, ZKM Karlsruhe, 2013)
    The series „Ginn“ was started during my composer-in- residence in 2006 at ZKM. Ginn-Tokio 2006 is the final version of this series.
  • SHINRA (8 channel, 8’05“, Cologne, 2011)
    There was the recording of cutting-tree. It includes various kinds of noises and sounds. Percussive attack of cutting, noises of rubbing leaves and tearing branches and more, then finally a noise of bumping to the ground of falling.
    Other material sounds, several recordings of voices of the human-being (singing speaking, shouting) and birds‘ twitter, have been chosen based on my imagination − the cut-down tree should have offered a paradise environment for millions of lives; insects, birds, small animals and other parasites such as moss and bacteria. „Cutting a tree“ did not simply mean cutting tree, but destroying a world. It meant a catastrophe for all livings in it, on it, and around it.
    This piece was composed as a psychological healing process from the shock of  experiencing the gigantic earthquake hit Japan in 2011.
    SHINRA_ex
  • Ginn-Klang (4 channel, 7’29“, MusicAcoustica Beijing, 2008)
    [Important further performances: Montreal eucue, Musiques&Recherches Brussels]
    Some phrases of the satsuma-biwa (Japanese lute) and the player’s singing voice are the material of this piece. The material used was played by the biwa player Mr. Kazuyuki Shiotaka. The title Ginn means ‘chant’ in Japanese, and Klang means ‘sound’ in German. The biwa sound symbolises traditional Japanese culture whereas sharp metallic electronic sounds  symbolise super-modern westernised Japan. The series „Ginn“ was started during my composer-in- residence at ZKM.
  • Ginn-Gesang (4 channel, 6’58“, Dresden, 2007)
  • Summer Grasses (6 channel, 11’41“, London, 2004)
    [Important further performances: electroacoustic concert at Manchester University, 2004, The 14th Electroacoustic Music Festival Florida, Scarborough (EXPO 966, 2005)]
    Some sounds of hitting&rubbing metal objects, and insects‘ singing were used as material. For processing sounds, formant data of insects‘ sounds were applied. Summer Grasses was composed as an experiment to generalise the acoustical structure of Japanese traditional music.
    Several kinds of music which thrived during the Edo period (1603-1867), such as Gidayu, show a strong tendency to extend their timbral and acoustical expression. In these musics various noise expressions, such as are heard in harsh voice production or in the use of sawari (a device intended to add noise), were considered an important factor in timbral expression and included as a part of the desired sound…The contrast of less than ppppp (to the ‚vanishing point‘ of hearing) with sudden sharp fortissimo pulses which cover the whole of the audible frequency range create a dynamic expression. Also these various kinds of sounds are considered as a whole in contrast to ma – moments of nothingness or emptiness.
Summer Grasses explores how to bring these timbral expressions into acousmatic music, which has no performers. Hiroshige Ando’s print, A Picture of Listening to the Insects, a short haiku by Basho Matsuo and an appreciation of Japanese swords produced as art crafts,  helped to create a fantasy of insects and a metal sound world. An English translation of the poem is as follows:
    Summer Grasses… 
traces of dreams 
of ancient warriors
    Translation by Cobb, D., Haiku, The British Museum Press, 2002.
    SummerGrasses_ex
  • Dreaming Stones (4 channel, 8’49“, Dresden, 1999)
    [Important further performances: Lüneburg, Poznan]
    Some sounds of hitting/rubbing lava stones were used as material. These lava stones named Sanuki-iwa(Sanukite), is only found in Shikoku island of Japan.
    Unlike usual stones, their sounds have a clear pitch and rich&long resonance.
    Two main elements of the sounds, percussive noise and harmonic resonance, were applied to structure the music.
    DreamingStones_ex