a composition for 4 pianos and live electronic

The composition is an experiment focused on acoustic perception/hearing and the possibility of restoration of selective acoustic information/imitation.
The pianists will get very basic musical materials like scale/chromatic scale or different intervals and with few specifications from the composer, they will play a kind of composed improvisation within given time specifications.

Another challenge for the pianists will be hearing and imitating.
With an instruction from the composer, the pianists will switch their conditions between hearing, improvising and imitating. This applies also for the composer who will play live electronic.

Each piano player is provided with earmuffs (ear protectors) usually used by workers at construction or factory work with very high noise exposure. This prevents the interpreter from hearing anything during the time given.
Each score has three different instructions for the piano player:

– instruction for taking on the earmuffs
– instruction for taking off the earmuffs
– instruction for the beginning of imitating the tunes previously heard

Each interpreter has to imitate up to 4 tunes at the same time. This causes an excess of demand to the sense of hearing and sometimes the imitation becomes impossible due the limitations of the fingering. In case of such a situation the interpreter should imitate the subjective most dominant tunes heard.

Another compositional subject of the piece deals with the idea of site specific spatiality. This composition was a commissioned work of ÖGZM (Austrian Society for Contemporary Music) and Klaviergalerie Wendl & Lung, Vienna – a piano gallery in Vienna where the piece was performed.
The live electronic set involves the special ambiance of the Klaviergalerie. In contrary to the piano ensemble at the ground floor the live electronic music is audible only in the upper floor. The signal from the ensemble of piano players are routed directly to a computer via microphones and is edited by the composer in real time.
Within this special transformation in space it is impossible for the audience to experience the totality of sound of the piano ensemble and live electronics together. It is the personal decision of every listener to chose one or more individual places in the room for hearing during the piece.
Video documentary online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oK9arQMBNo