Leo Lehtinen - piano
Tilen Lebar - composition & saxophone
Mauricio Valdes San Emeterio - live electronics & art of sound
Programme:
Hassan (for prepared alto saxophone, tape & live electronics)
Limen II (for piano, tape & live electronics)
Hassan (for prepared saxophone and sound recording), commissioned by the Cultural Center Nova Gorica and the 10th International Saxophone Competition SAXGO22, was composed in 2022 as an obligatory piece for the first round of the competition. The piece is written for prepared saxophone and sound recording. Originally, I draw from the linguistic material of my own improvisations, extended techniques such as "whistle tones", microtonal polyrhythmics and the expansion of my own knowledge of electroacoustic sound processing through spectral filters. Hassan is a composition that has more to do with prose than poetry. It does not allow for an extremely abstract musical imagination, as it is written in a very narrative fashion, meaning that the musical material appears in the places where we expect it to appear, and uses this form to argue for its own existence. For example, the technique of "whistle tones" can first be traced to the soundtrack, which later appears in the acoustic form. Preparing a saxophone with a glass jar is quite "unusual" and allows the expansion of natural spectral multiphonics, extreme dynamics, introverted acoustics and so-called "whistle tones". Why did I name the song Hassan? It was my own motivation and the presence of the name itself in my social environment, as I live in a particular part of The Hague that is predominantly associated with the Moroccan community. This allows me a connection that leads me to explore their cultural heritage, the religion of Islam, the constitutional monarchy, and the extraordinary connection within the community in everyday conversations. The piece is dedicated to my long-time mentor and friend Matjaž Drevenšek.
The composition Līmen II for piano, tape and live electronics contextually develops my further fascination and continuation of a series of works Līmen. There are seven pieces by now. The collection includes a sound installation, concerto for flute and clarinet with tape and live electronics, the third in a series of compositions is a piece for trumpets and percussion, the fourth one is a symphonic orchestra piece, the fifth one is a concerto for harp, electric guitar, tape and ambisonics and the most recent one is Līmen VI for soprano and large ensemble commissioned by Orkest de Ereprijs.
By Tilen Lebar:
Līmen is my way of expressing the conceptual anthropological definition of initiation rites, which has been described by Arnold van Gennep as the transience of space through a three-part structure.
Līmen II is also divided into three parts. The first relates to the 'pre-liminality' which in a metaphorical way leaves the original state and in this case, realizes a minimalistic tremolo on piano performed by rubbing the top of the piano string 'f sharp 1' and gradually enables an introduction to the acoustic space. With isolated harmonics on the string itself through the immersive six-channel sound system the introduction begins. The sonic environment does not allow any development and is from the harmonic point of view and macro form extremely static. Internal balance, which in this case refers to movements of individual harmonic partials enables the liveliness of the sonic material.
In the second part of 'liminality,' I gradually include other extended techniques on the piano that include condensation of sound material through the bowing of piano string which causes the drone sounds, that gradually merge with the previously mentioned 'pre-liminality' and opens up the width of the harmonic spectrum.
Incorporating sound by rubbing the rubber against the strings gradually includes sound relations using e-bows and opens up micro-processes (including interference with microtonal differences and pulsating sonorities). That way it gradually transitions to 'post-liminality' that leads to bright percussive colours and thus the search for palettes that merge with the technique of the prepared register in the piano combines the 'jumping' magnets and occasional hits with glass objects by the frame of the piano.
The macrostructure is thus linked to a strict sequential development of events that make the changes possible. The identity of the previously mentioned static leads to 'destructiveness' and the tendency towards the sound within the micro-processes and a macrostructure embraces the development of condensation and gradually builds its fullness through its own 'spatial' arrangement of the sound. 'Post-liminality' again leads to associations of static sound, which is in its final state altered and distorted.