infotext:
STRUCTURES OF LIGHT AND SPRUCE When I tackle certain subjects, such as the construction of a stringed instrument or the noise in front of a subway stop, my aim is to amplify the poetry that is inhibited in these actions and in these places. To my ears, every sound that occurs in our everyday reality has potential musicality, and I proceed by developing stable actions performed by instruments and acoustic objects. For me, this transition results in a very focused experience of the physicality and presence of each of these sounds. A few years ago I lived part-time in Berlin and Paris and regularly traveled to New York and Tokyo. Composing in sidewalk cafes on Rue de Rivoli or Kantstrasse, I was overwhelmed by the complexity of urban counterpoint, with its layers of different speeds, activity interactions, and sound structures. I witnessed the slow transformation of the city like a living organism, gradually adapting its form and function to new generations of city dwellers, while at the same time remaining in dialogue with their predecessors. When turning concrete sounds into instrumental actions, I often use specific microphones. Flutes, clarinets and violins are amplified by lavalier microphones inside the instrument. For other instruments and objects, contact microphones are attached to the wooden or metal surface. Through careful experimentation with the members of the Curious Chamber Players, we have found very specific positions where a particular mic emphasizes the articulation of a very delicate action in the most detailed way, or a position that enhances a dynamic range in the bass. The method of close miking added some nuances to my sonic palette and made it easier to transfer documentary sounds to instruments and objects. structures of molten light (2011) When do everyday sounds like a car engine running, a suitcase rolling or the heel of a shoe scratching on the sidewalk become music? In structures of molten light I correlated field footage from Paris and Stockholm with footage from dawn and dusk in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Short fragments of recorded "street situations" were analyzed in detail and transformed into layers of instrumental sounds. On a documentary level, interesting and unexpected situations occasionally arose between the city's activities. My goal, however, was to transform the material into a semi-fictional world, a "staged" version of the original urban moment, where parameters such as sound triggers, dynamics and timbre have developed new dramatic meanings with purposeful interactions. arching (2013) arching consists of a dialogue between the cello and the tools used to build the instrument. Each phase of the construction process has a single goal: to produce the most beautiful, balanced cello sound. In arching I wanted instead to focus my attention on the fascinating sounds that are already being produced during the construction of the instrument. I visited violin maker Torbjörn Zethelius in Stockholm and recorded all the sounds that came up in his studio over the course of an afternoon. My goal was to focus on the tools used in each phase of the construction process and to explore the wide range of timbres and musical actions that result from the interaction of the cello with the movements of saws, rasps, markers, and files. The electronics consist of two voices (those of my fellow composers Clara Iannotta and Chris Swithinbank) reading fragments of two texts. One is an article by Zethelius in which he describes how he creates the resonance space in the cello body. The other text – in old Italian – comes from an 18th-century violin making dictionary and describes the nature of the manufacture of stringed instruments. palinode (2013) While other major cities struggle to keep their historical architectural styles as undisturbed as possible, disruption from changes in the urban landscape is what makes Berlin breathe and move towards the future. As a manifestation of this process, I have selected items from three locations that have recently undergone different types of transformation. The Swing: Between the new, orderly rows of apartment blocks in the sleepy suburb of Rummelsburg, just behind the memorial to the former penitentiary that closed in 1990, you can hear happy laughter and excited children's screams from the heart of the neighborhood - it's the kindergarten playground too his popular swings. The Vase: In Mauerpark, trade and street music flourish during the weekend flea market, a vital revenge of the past. The beautiful orange vase stands proud in the filthy soil among hundreds of pieces of furniture, just waiting to be freed for a musical purpose... The metal sculpture: The art institution Tacheles is closed. In April 2013 the metal workshop in the garden was still bursting with activity and production. Just one day before the fate of the sculpture park is sealed, I get the metal sculpture with the fascinating timbres from the artist Zeki Turan. purfling (2012) The English word "purfling" refers to the decorative bindings on the violin top, which serve to protect the instrument from possible cracks. The musical material for the piece comes from the same excursion to the violin making studio that arching led. I discreetly observed the process of making the instrument and recorded everything that happened: on the one hand the noise and the brutal sounds of the tree felling, on the other hand the concentrated atmosphere in the violin maker's studio with the noises of hands, small saws, rasps and gravers. The violin guides us through this process in constant interaction with its own creation. The fragile wood sounds are amplified by a contact microphone on the bow's frog and by a small microphone inside the violin. jasmonates (2017) Evidence that our planet is being depleted is flooding in from around the world – glaciers in the Arctic are melting, new summer heat records in India, the Kiribati Islands are slowly sinking into the ocean, the Amazon is rapidly disappearing. We are entering the sixth phase of extinction, with animal species disappearing 114 times faster than usual. As the climate warms, we are gradually approaching the end of this phase. The plant kingdom already knows this. "Jasmonates" are the chemical warning signals that plants emit in response to threats, such as poor environmental conditions. However, plant existence is much stronger than humans, and if the sixth phase of extinction occurs, it would take less than a century to erase traces of our civilization and cover everything with a lush green... The musical material for jasmonates is based on my music documentary drama kudzu and includes texts on the subject typed on a typewriter and written on a large legal pad. The instrumental material is influenced by the compromised conditions of air, water and soil, but also inspired by the vibrant growth of plants, represented here by the roots and stems of two of the fastest growing plants: the kopou bean. kudzu) and bamboo. The instruments are finally accompanied by two hourglasses lamenting our remaining time on this planet. Malin Bang |
program:
[01] structures of molten light (2011) 08:05 Curious Chamber Players [02] arching (2013) 11:37 UmeDuo [03] palinode (2013) 11:07 Curious Chamber Players [04] purfling (2012) 11:05 Karin Hellqvist, violin [05] jasmonates (2017) 17:56 Curious Chamber Players Total playing time: 59:50
World Premiere Recordings |
Press:
# 6_2018 Already the beginning of structures of light and spruce catapults the listener into an everyday urban situation: Every pore is groaning and snorting, creaky engine noises dominate the scenery. What initially appears to be a soundscape turns out to be a tableau drawn with musical instruments. In fact, field recordings from Paris, Stockholm and Tokyo form the source material in structures of molten light (2011), which Malin Bång meticulously dissects and has subjected to an instrumental implementation. The result is a “semi-fictional world” (Bång), an entertaining, extremely exciting snapshot of staged reality for ensemble. […] All five compositions, which are extensively introduced in the trilingual booklet with Bång's work comments, form a concentrated and diverse musical portrait at the cutting edge. Gerardo Sheige
Under the title "Sound Expeditions" Tilman Urbach wrote in the January 2019 issue: No sounds, but a rumbling, snorting, murmuring - and the silence that followed! As if we were hunting wild boar. Then chattering keys of the bass clarinet, a pulling over the strings of violin and cello. Everything only for a short time, like signals. Doesn't that make you think of Lachenmann? The composer, Malin Bång, born in 1974, comes from Sweden. But there is a link to the Swabian old and world champion of all instrumental noises: When Lachenmann turned 80, she wrote "ripost". No doubt: Malin Bång is about sounds. And certainly in the broadest sense: "For my ears", the composer specifies, every sound that occurs in our everyday reality has a potential musicality. In contrast to Lachenmann, Bång develops sounds from the noise of a subway stop, which are performed by acoustic instruments. (...) Bång therefore composes in street cafés on Kantstrasse in Berlin or on Rue de Rivoli in Paris. Can there be a more convincing example of a contemporary, timely composition that is radically dedicated to the here and now by “eavesdropping” on the music of the living urban organism?
December 10, 2018, Paco Yáñez wrote: La Composcitora Sueca Malin Bång (Gotemburgo, 1974) es una Perfecta Represante de la Inquieta Música Escandinava de Creación actual que se asoma cada año a los Festivales Europeos de Referecia en dicho Ámbito, Mostrándonos Perspectivas técnicas y estilísticas Muy Distintas de las autfreCidas por las figuras Nordics that dominate the mainstream orquestal and opera in the grandes salas de conciertos: composers like Magnus Lindberg or Kaija Saariaho, cuya música, al lado de la de Malin Bång, suena hoy hasta antigua y aletargada. Ofreciéndonos, así pues, other forms de comprender el hecho sonoro … German Record Critics' Award - Best List 4/2018 for "Malin Bång - structures of light and spruce" The jury of the association “German Record Critics’ Award” honored the NEOS production “Malin Bång – structures of light and spruce” by including it in the 4/2018 list of the best. In the five pieces on this CD, the Swedish composer Malin Bång creates music in which everyday noises – a car engine, footsteps and a trolley suitcase, the filing, rasping and sawing of a violin maker or the rattling of a mechanical typewriter – form a fascinating symbiosis with instrumental sounds. When transforming concrete sounds into instrumental actions, she uses special microphones that amplify the sound inside the instruments or are attached to the wood or metal surface as contact microphones. "Structures of Light and Spruce Wood" is the appropriate name of the album, the ensemble Curious Chamber Players the ideal partner for Malin Bång. Five radio plays of animalistic and poetic beauty at the same time! (For the jury: Marita Emigholz)
November 2018 Concrete sound poetry and musical fiction enter into an interesting symbiosis with Malin Bång (who recently received the orchestra prize of the SWR Symphonieorchester in Donaueschingen) with pronounced physical energies. The Swedish composer transforms the everyday into noisy, differentiated miked instrumental textures, not least with the aim of turning "reality" back into a "semi-fictional" world. There are no limits to the starting material. (...) Dirk Wieschollek |
Awards & Mentions:
German Record Critics' Award - Best List 4/2018 for "Malin Bång - structures of light and spruce" The jurors of the “German Record Critics’ Award” association honored the NEOS production “musica viva 26 – Salvatore Sciarrino: Un’immagine di Arpocrate / Giorno velato presso il Lago Nero” by including it in the 1/2014 list of the best. The jurors of the “German Record Critics' Award” association have recognized the NEOS production “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik” award the NEOS production “Malin Bång – structures of light and spruce” NEOS 11817 by including it in its Quarterly Critics' Choice 4 /2018. In the five pieces on this CD, the Swedish composer Malin Bång creates music in which everyday noises – a car engine, footsteps and a trolley suitcase, the filing, rasping and sawing of a violin maker or the rattling of a mechanical typewriter – form a fascinating symbiosis with instrumental sounds. When transforming concrete sounds into instrumental actions, she uses special microphones that amplify the sound inside the instruments or are attached to the wood or metal surface as contact microphones. "Structures of Light and Spruce Wood" is the appropriate name of the album, the ensemble Curious Chamber Players the ideal partner for Malin Bång. Five radio plays of animalistic and poetic beauty at the same time! (For the jury: Marita Emigholz) |