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[NS​-​R 01] Martin Mallaun and Karlheinz Essl - Ruderals (v 1​.​2)

by Martin Mallaun and Karlheinz Essl

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about

­­­Karlheinz Essl - born 1960 in Vienna, Austria

Austrian composer, performer, improviser, media artist and composition teacher. He studied composition in Vienna with Friedrich Cerha and completed his studies in musicology with a doctoral thesis on Anton Webern. As a double bassist, he played in chamber ensembles and experimental jazz bands.
Essl was composer-in-residence at the Darmstadt Summer School (1990-94) and at IRCAM in Paris (1991-93). Between 1995-2006 he taught Algorithmic Composition at the Bruckner University in Linz. Since 2007, he has been professor of composition and electro-acoustic music at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.
His work with computers and a long-term preoccupation with the poetics of serial music have been formative influences on his compositional thinking. During the 1990s he carried out various projects for the Internet and became increasingly involved with improvisation. In 1997, Karlheinz Essl was a featured composer at the Salzburg Festival. His compositions are now played all over the world.
Besides writing instrumental music, Karlheinz Essl also works in the areas of electronic music, interactive real-time compositions and sound installations. He develops software environments for algorithmic composition and live electronics. As a performer and improviser, he plays his own computer-based real-time composition environment m@ze°2 and also instruments such as electric guitar, toy piano and music box.

www.essl.at

Martin Mallaun - born 1975 in Kitzbühel, Austria

Martin Mallaun studied zither and botany in Innsbruck. Currently he works as a freelance musician and botanist and as a music teacher. He addresses a wide spectrum of musical genres – “whether dealing with improvisation, electronics, baroque lute music, alpine folk music or contemporary new music, the native Tyrolean is always looking for new tonal and stylistic forms of expression with the zither. In doing so, he strolls unperturbed along the edges of the aesthetic intersections of various musical genres” (Music Information Center Austria, www.mica.at).
For his solo debut, “zwischen steinen”, Martin Mallaun was awarded the “Pasticcio-Preis” by the radio station Ö1. For 2012/2013, he holds a scholarship from the Austrian Foreign Ministry’s NASOM (New Austrian Sound of Music) programme.
He gives concerts in countless countries from France to Israel and as far as Japan, and has been guest artist at international festivals (including the Edinburgh International Festival/United Kingdom, the Munich Biennale in Germany and the Klangspuren in Austria). In addition, he is a member of the research project GLORIA, which investigates the effects of climate change on the vegetation of the Alpine ecological systems (www.gloria.ac.at).

www.martinmallaun.com

[NS-R 01 ]Karlheinz Essl & Martin Mallaun - ruderals

free improvisations for zither and electronics
Nachtstück Records 2014

Dumps, waysides, industrial waste lands — lush vegetation issues forth everywhere in the wake of human retreat. Plants come in with the wind, with the birds, creep out of the earth itself. The emerging landscape is haphazard, rich in species, in constant flux. Spontaneous structures come and go. Planning is not necessary for this unfolding of events, the protagonists themselves determine the outcome.
ruderals [wild vegetation] is a product of the first musical encounter between two singular musicians — Karlheinz Essl, prominent exponent of the European improvisational scene, with his self-developed computer instrument m@ze°2, and Martin Mallaun, eminent sound researcher and innovator on the zither, a traditional instrument of the Alps. Far from the well-trodden paths of computer and zither "music" they break new ground, gaining unaccustomed musical perspectives, yielding a surprisingly rich world of sounds.

Recorded live at Die Bäckerei, Innsbruck (Tyrol) on May 18th, 2011
Mixed and edited by Karlheinz Essl at Studio kHz, Dec 2013
Mastered by Tiago Morais Morgado

reviews

www.musicaustria.at/magazin/jazz-improvisierte-musik/artikel-berichte/martin-mallaun-und

JAZZ/IMPROVISIERTE MUSIK
Artikel/Berichte
Martin Mallaun und Karlheinz Essl: Ruderals
Nun, es sind nicht unbedingt die gängigen musikalischen Entwürfe, die Martin Mallaun und Karlheinz Essl auf ihrem gemeinsam eingespielten Album „Ruderals“ Nachtstück Records) zu Gehör bringen. Was aber im Grunde genommen eigentlich auch wenig überraschen sollte, ist man mit dem bisherigen Schaffen der beiden vertraut. Hier sind zwei Musiker am Werken, die sich bekanntermaßen schon vor langer Zeit von den üblichen Formen des Musik-Produzierens verabschiedet haben, um sich ihrer ganz eigenen Art der Klang- und Sounderzeugung widmen zu können. Der Tiroler auf seiner Zither und der Wiener mit seinem selbst entwickelten m@ze°2 – Computer zeigen sich als überaus experimentierfreudige Tonkünstler, die auf einem Terrain weit abseits der traditionellen musikalischen Konventionen und stilistischen Fragestellungen agieren und alleine die hohe Kunst der Improvisation zu ihrem Ausdrucksmittel erkoren haben.

Eigenen Angaben nach verzichten Martin Mallaun und Karlheinz Essl auf jegliche vorgefassten Konzepte. Nahezu alles, was von den beiden auf „Ruderals“ dargeboten wird, folgt seinem ganz eigenen Regelwerk. Nach musikalischen Strukturen, Melodien und Harmonien im herkömmlichen Sinn sucht man vergeblich, vielmehr entwickelt sich die ganze Geschichte aus einem steten Prozess heraus, aus einem von spontanen Einwürfen bestimmten Dialog, der wirklich alle künstlerischen Freiheiten gewährt und in jede Richtungen führen kann.

Die Stücke des Duos leben von stetigen Steigerungen und entwickeln ihre Spannungsbögen über den immer wiederkehrenden Wechsel zwischen langgezogenen und eher reduziert gehaltenen Passagen und die stringente Linie brechende und manchmal auch fast schon noisig anmutende Sounderuptionen. Es ist die Auslotung der Möglichkeiten ihrer Instrumente, welche der Tiroler und Wiener im Geiste der Innovation an die Spitze zu treiben versuchen, das Spiel mit Andeutungen und dem unter der wahrnehmbaren Oberfläche Stattfindenden. Die Töne, Sounds und Geräusche verweben die beiden gekonnt zu permanenten Klangzuständen einer starken bildhaften Note, welche die Vorstellungskraft und Fantasie der HörerInnen animieren soll.

„Ruderals“ ist ein Album geworden, das musikalisch eindeutig avantgardistischen Prinzipien folgt, es ist ein sehr stimmungsvolles und abwechslungsreiches, aber auch eines, dem man Zeit geben muss. Tut man dies aber, eröffnet sich letztlich ein wirklich spannendes und unvorhersehbares, weil eben auch nicht alltägliches Hörerlebnis. (mt)

credits

released January 5, 2014

Martin Mallaun - zither
Karlheinz Essl - M@ze 2

Recorded live at Die Bäckerei, Innsbruck (Tyrol) on May 18th, 2011
Mixed and edited by Karlheinz Essl at Studio kHz, Dec 2013
Mastered by Tiago Morais Morgado. Artwork by Tiago Morais Morgado

Born in Vienna, 15 Aug 1960. Austrian composer, performer, improviser, media artist and composition teacher.

Karlheinz Essl attended the Vienna Musikhochschule (1981-87), where he studied composition with Friedrich Cerha and electro-acoustic music with Dieter Kaufmann. From 1979, he also studied musicology and art history at the University of Vienna (doctorate 1989 with his thesis Das Synthese-Denken bei Anton Webern). Active as a double bassist until 1984, he played in chamber and experimental jazz ensembles. As a composer he has contributed to the Projekt 3 composition programming environment of Gottfried Michael Koenig at Utrecht and Arnheim (1988-89) which later transformed into his own Real Time Composition Library (RTC-lib) for Max/MSP/Jitter.

Essl also served as composer-in-residence at the Darmstadt summer courses (1990-94) and at IRCAM (Paris, 1992-1993). Between 1995-2006 he taught Algorithmic Composition at the Studio for Advanced Music & Media Technology at the Bruckner University, Linz. Since 2007, he is professor of composition for electro-acoustic and experimental music at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts. Between 1992 and 2016, he acted as the music curator of the Essl Museum in Klosterneuburg / Vienna.

His work with computers (with emphasis on Algorithmic Composition and generative art) and a prolonged occupation with the poetics of serial music have been a formative influence on his compositional thinking. He has frequently sought to combine music with other genres and has collaborated with the graffiti artist Harald Naegeli (Partikel-Bewegungen, 1991), the writer Andreas Okopenko and the artists' group "Libraries of the Mind" (Lexikon-Sonate, 1992--8), the architect Carmen Wiederin (Klanglabyrinth, 1992-95), the video artist Vibeke Sorensen (MindShipMind, 1996, a multimedia installation for the Internet) and the artist Jonathan Meese (generative video and sound environment FRÄULEIN ATLANTIS, 2007).

During the 1990s Karlheinz Essl carried out various projects for the Internet and became increasingly involved with improvisation. At the festival WIEN MODERN 1989 he presented as an emerging composer, and in 1997 he was featured at the Salzburg Festival with portrait concerts and sound installations. In 2003, he was artist-in-residence of the festival musik aktuell, and in 2004 he was presented with a series of portrait concerts at the Brucknerhaus Linz. In 2004, Karlheinz Essl received the cultural prize for music of the state Lower Austria.

Besides writing instrumental music, Karlheinz Essl also works in the field of electronic music, interactive realtime compositions and sound installations. He develops software environments for algorithmic composition and acts as a performer and improviser, utilzing his own computer-based real time composition environment m@ze°2 and also instruments like electric guitar, toy piano and music box.

MARTIN MALLAUN - ZITHER
“Under Martin Mallaun’s hands the zither becomes an incredibly versatile, exceedingly expressive concert instrument.” (Max Nyffeler, Neue Musikzeitung, 07/2011)
The musician and biologist Martin Mallaun is successful in two completely different areas: in the one he examines the impact of climate change on high Alpine regions; in the other he is an active zither player comfortable with a broad spectrum of musical styles, including contemporary music, native folk music and European lute music.
Born in Kitzbühel/Tirol in 1975, he studied concert zither with Harald Oberlechner at the Tyrolean State Conservatory and botany at the University of Innsbruck. Both during and after his studies he attended workshops in the field of historical performance practice (Hopkinson Smith, Rolf Lislevand, Jürgen Hübscher) and of contemporary music/improvisation. Private studies with lutenist Hubert Hoffmann in Vienna have left a special mark on his musical development.
“Martin Mallaun is without doubt one of the most versatile artists currently active in the area of experimental music. Improvisation, electronic music, Baroque lute music, Alpine folk music, contemporary New Music: in all of these areas the Tyrolean musician seeks new sounds and new means of expression, while moving freely between utterly different performance concepts (music information center austria, www.mica.at).” Aside from his many projects in cooperation with other musicians, actors and writers, he has originated countless projects on his own. Martin Mallaun has been engaged by the National Royal Scottish Orchestra, the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire and the Orchestre de Picardie.
In 2004 Martin Mallaun was an award winner at the 1. Volkmann Prize Competition (Munich), the first international zither competition. He was a member of the jury of that competition in 2008. His debut solo album “zwischen steinen” (“between stones”) brought him the Austrian Radio (Ö1) Pasticcio Prize in 2005. His CD “OMONÉRO” with recordings of contemporary music for zither solo was released in 2010. In 2012/13 Martin Mallaun holds a grant from the Austrian Office of Foreign Affairs for the NASOM (New Austrian Sound of Music) program.
Martin Mallaun is a freelance musician and is also employed as a teacher for the Tyrolean Music School Organization. He gives concerts in countless countries from France to the Czech Republic and as far as Japan, and has been guest artist at international festivals (including the Edinburgh International Festival/United Kingdom, the Munich Biennale in Germany and the Klangspuren in Austria). In addition, he has been a member of the research project GLORIA, which investigates the effects of climate change on the vegetation of the Alpine ecological systems (www.gloria.ac.at), since 2001.

translator: Joan Marie Bloderer

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Nachtstück Records Hamburg, Germany

In the vibrant music scene of Hamburg, Germany there exists a dynamic record label under the management of Andrew Levine. The electronic / electro-acoustic label, founded and previously curated by Tiago Morais Morgado (Braga, Portugal) has undergone an exciting transformation and continues to output cutting edge contemporary music. ... more

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