VOM RAUSCH IM SCHWARM II
A work for ensemble (fl. (bs.fl. + picc.), bs.cl., bar.sax., vl., vlc., d.b.)
With a text and electronic playback track (4 channels).
Duration: 16 minutes.
Written for, and premiered by, SCHALLFELD ensemble,
18th January 2016, KUG University Graz, Austria.
This is the 2nd version, arranged for a different set of instruments, slightly longer, including an electronic Zuspiel instead of the wind machine in the first version.
About the piece
In this work, I frame the ensemble as a self-organising community. The conductor is replaced by a timeline display on a screen/i-phones (although of course, a conductor could indicate the necessary timing-signals, too). The performers occasionally whisper and murmur words; for some words they have to organise themselves into pairs/groups.
A wind machine or electronic track is added to the cast of performers. There is a playback track, an Ableton-patch, available.
The title is almost impossible to translate. I love the German word RAUSCH – it can be translated as intoxication (as from wine, or dance, whatsoever) as well as noise (like from water or wind). An interesting collection of meanings, and much more poetic and open than intoxication.
I draw on cultural-theorist Byung-Chul Han’s writings in my title. Han mentions noise and swarming in the context of the digital world, referring to emotional upheavals in social media. This relates to the structure/material of the composition.