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Dark Flower and SPEKTRA

Thu, 13 Jun

|

Spriten

Cikada Piano Quartet presents Dark Flower by Linda Catlin Smith and premieres a brand new commissioned work by Martin Langerød

Dark Flower and SPEKTRA
Dark Flower and SPEKTRA

Time & Location

13 Jun 2024, 19:00

Spriten, Tømmerkaia 19, 3732 Skien, Norway

About the Event

Nylyd and Cikada Piano Quartet presents Dark Flower by Linda Catlin Smith and premieres a brand new commissioned work by Martin Langerød

Martin Torvik Langerød - SPEKTRA (2024)

Linda Catlin Smith - Dark Flower (2020)

Duration: approx. 45 min

Martin Torvik Langerød - SPEKTRA (2024)

I. harmoníā

II. morphḗ

III. frācta

IV. êkhos

V. khrôma

SPEKTRA is an attempt to understand and compose with what precedes the understanding of what music's building blocks and rules are. A meeting with the physical world of sound, which in interaction with humans has influenced why instruments look and are played the way they do—the material behind the specific pitches, patterns, and systems we use when creating and performing music.

From the ancient Greek roots sṕek (to see) and eîdos (image/form), the word originates from the relationship between the observer and the observed. SPEKTRA is as much a tribute to the continuous and free as it is a conflict between reality and cognition, and all unavoidable cultural and aesthetic connections. Large parts of the work's material and form emerge from modulated overtone spectra, duration spectra, rotated number sequences, the golden ratio, fractal structures, and serial systems. But in the seemingly cold starting points, there are constant frictions and tensions toward patterns and tendencies that can be glimpsed in the material and processes. Toward the beautiful and harmonious, and a kind of equilibrium.

Martin Torvik Langerød (b. 1993) studied composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music and  teaching at the music department at Skien High School. He writes experimental music for acoustic and electroacoustic constellations and explores timbre and the friction between the intuitive, random, and logical in his works. He has written commissioned works for the Norsjø Chamber Music Festival, and in recent years he has been selected for, among others, Ultima, UNM, platform GÁTT, and most recently Nordic Music Days. He has collaborated with musicians and ensembles such as Cikada, Pinquins, August Schieldrop, and others.

Linda Catlin Smith - Dark Flower (2020)

In Dark Flower, silence is Smith's canvas. The harmonies are soft but suggestive and colorful. At the same time, echoes of both new and old can be heard. Smith recently said in an interview: "I often feel that the work emerges like the development of a photograph. Dark Flower [for piano, violin, viola, cello] for instance: I started with the idea of rolled low register piano arpeggiations in a bed of string chords – that was the starting point, just that one image. And that’s enough for me ..."

Linda Catlin Smith (b. 1957) grew up in New York and lives in Toronto. She studied music in New York and at the University of Victoria. Smith taught composition for many years at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario (1999-2020) and still teaches privately. Her music has been commissioned, performed, and/or recorded by, among others, Goeyvaerts Trio, Psallentes, Tafelmusik, Victoria, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, Arraymusic, Thin Edge Collective, Continuum, Tapestry New Opera, Via Salzburg, Evergreen Club Gamelan, Exaudi, and the Penderecki and Bozzini string quartets, as well as by soloists such as Eve Egoyan, Philip Thomas, and Elinor Frey. Several solo albums of her music have been released, and some of her works are now available through Composers Edition.

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