Electronic Frequencies

1/ Dimensions of Dialogue #1 – Farzan Salsabili. 07:55.

For saxophone, accordion reed box, 4 balloons and fixed media “Dimensions of Dialogue #1” is the first piece of the cycle, inspired by the short stop motion animated film with the same title by surrealist filmmaker Jan Svankmajer. The piece explores different textures and sounds using the instruments and objects which have the same element between them; the air. Here, air is the reason of these instruments’ existence and them being heard and the most important way of communication. The air, as a language of these instruments illustrates the failures of human communication and the destruction of the concept and importance of the discussion.

2/ Pollock’s Dreams: Liquefied Sounds – Konstantinos Karathanasis. 09:59.
The title refers to Jackson Pollock’s paintings using his dripping technique, which became the source of inspiration for this piece. Volatile environmental sounds captured around the University of Oklahoma, Norman campus underwent a condensation process through Max/MSP (including phase vocoding, and/or granular synthesis “freeze”, filtering, envelope shaping, pitch shifting, among others) to be transformed in to liquid pigments. The liquefied sounds were then arranged in to the canvas (Pro Tools) and balanced dynamically through spontaneous real-time processes.
This piece was made possible with the support of funds from the Research Council of University of Oklahoma.

3/ One / Jedan for violin and live electronics – Branka Popović. 10:13.
Reasoning and acceptance / process and transformation which comes as a result in one specific moment, after a long soliloquy…
sound of violin transforms through a process of “negotiations” with electronics, changing identity and character, aiming to the ending point, to one moment of final transformation…
the piece is written for Paul Pankert and Ensemble 88

4/ Il Canto del Pane – Yeshi Silvano Namkhai. 06:09.

An acousmatic composition that aims to evoke an inner world that arises from the common experience of baking, an ancient rite that unites peoples. The listener witnesses the traditional preparation of bread, as a symbol of the evolution of humanity; kneading, molding, baking, cooking control and finally cutting. The title of the composition comes from the story of the bakers, of that moment in which the bread is allowed to cool before being able to taste it; the bakers say that it sings, in fact the bread makes nice creaks and crackles due to the sudden exchange of heat and evaporation. For about 5 minutes concrete sounds merge with synthesis and treatments; but then everything stops with the sound of the knife slicing the bread; 3 violent blows that break the spell and shortly thereafter the noise arrives, of which the listener has been deprived from the beginning of the piece. That white and saturated noise that the listener himself would certainly not have listened carefully, but which now comes almost as a relief. All the sound material is recorded live and in a single baking session, effects and treatments are derived through analysis and resynthesis processes; the composition is made entirely with Csound.

5/ The Lord of The Noise part I – III – Arsalan Abedian. 06:10.

A sonic journey dominated by distortion and noise. Its main sound materials are some early improvisations and electronic modifications made by myself and my late friend Reza— to whom this composition is dedicated— several years ago. I used those materials and further modified them in a dadaistic manner!

6/ Circuit – Vesal Javaheri. 05:34.

The piece, which employs digital sounds, reflects the mental turmoil that Human beings face from birth in today’s world. The sound waves are created by combining several distinct patterns to produce a wide range of sounds.

7/  Post (The Thin White Line)  – Vahid Verdi. 04:50.

It is futile demanding someone (who does not know the motivation behind of the action) an Explanation. (for more information the original music was composed for four channels.)

Composers biographies:

Farzan Salsabili (born 1998, Iran) started learning Piano from 12 and composition from 18 under the guidance of Karen Keyhani and currently under the supervision of Arshia Samsaminia. He has been a selected composer for several competitions, as two of his recent pieces won the 1st prizes for “Call for Young Iranian Composers” Petrichor Records and the sixth round of the “Reza Korourian Award”. He attended several online composition masterclasses held by Chaya Czernowin, Ken Ueno, Katharina Rosenberger, Don Freund, Joachim Heintz, Dimitri Papageorgiou, etc. His music has been published by different labels like Petrichor Records, Yarava music group, Noise a Noise and Tehran International Electronic Music Festival.

Konstantinos Karathanasis as an electroacoustic composer draws inspiration from modern poetry, artistic cinema, abstract painting, mysticism, Greek mythology, and the writings of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell. His compositions have been performed at numerous festivals and received awards in international competitions, including Musica Nova, SIME, SEAMUS/ASCAP, Música Viva and Bourges. Recordings of his music are released by SEAMUS, ICMA, Musica Nova, Innova, Equilibrium and HELMCA. Konstantinos holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from the University at Buffalo. A Stavros Niarchos Foundation Fellow for Spring 2020, he is Professor of Composition & Music Technology at the University of Oklahoma.

Branka Popović (1977, Belgrade) graduated from both Musicology and Composition departments (composition studies with Zoran Erić) of the Belgrade Faculty of Music. She obtained her Master of Music Degree in Composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London (composition studies with Judith Bingham). She stayed for another year at the Guildhall as the Composition Fellow. She finished her doctorate studies in composition at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade (composition studies with Zoran Erić).
Her pieces were performed by many prominent performers, to name just a few – Austrian Ensemble for New Music, ARTéfacts Ensemble (Greece), Ansamblul devotioModerna (Romania), Stephen Gutman (UK), Ellen Ugelvik (Norway), The Construction Site, Ensemble Metamorphosis, Studio 6, St. George Strings, LP Duo and have been presented at events such as the World New Music Days (Bratislava, 2013), Reims Scenes d’Europe (2016), Átlátszó Hang (Budapest, 2017), International Spring Orchestra Festival (Malta, 2016), Festivalul International Meridian 2014 (Romania), 4th International Biennial of Contemporary Music in Koper 2014 (Slovenia), International Review of Composers, City of London Festival, Sir Harrison Birtwistle Festival and International Rostrum of Composers.
Her first chamber opera Petersburg was premiered in June 2012. She won a prize for trio Dream (I. S. o. F) for clarinet, violoncello and piano at the Summer Music Academy Budapest-Prague-Vienna 2002 and was awarded the Best Music in Film accolade for her work in The Breaking Point (directed by Igor M. Toholj) at the 56th Belgrade Short and Documentary Film Festival in 2009. Her piece Lines & circles… for recorder, trumpet, harp and accordion was elected among ten recommended works at the International Rostrum of Composers 2015 in Tallinn. In 2016/17/18, she was one of selected participants to take part in the CEEC Composers Fieldtrip to China. As part of the project, in December 2017, her piece The Music of the South for chamber ensemble was first performed by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music National Chamber Orchestra conducted by Wu Qiang. Her piece Stardust for viola and string orchestra was awarded 2nd prize at the London Music Society 2017 International Composer’s Competition. As part of Hearing China IV project her piece In That Place Wholly Faraway for erhu, yang qin and symphony orchestra was performed by Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zhang Liang in Shanghai Symphony Hall in December 2018.
Branka Popović is an assistant professor of composition at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. Between 2010 and 2015 she was associate of Radio Belgrade 3. In 2007/2008 she was associate of Beta Radio France International and from 2015 she is a programme selector of International Review of Composers

Yeshi Silvano Namkhai is a composer born in Italy with training in photography, cinematography and computer science. Today he is studying electronic music at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory of Music in Florence and composes music on the computer. He loves all musical forms, especially live ones and those that make you think. In each composition he puts himself and all that he has learned about the world.

Arsalan Abedian (*1983, Tehran) graduated in 2007 from Azad University (Bachelor’s degree in composition) and in 2011 from Tehran University of Art (Master’s degree in composition). He continued his studies at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media (where he obtained a Master’s degree in Electronic Music in 2014 and a Soloklasse Konzertexamen degree in composition in 2016). Among other stipends Abedian has received a one-year composition scholarship (2018 – 2019) from the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture. Granted a Ph.D. scholarship, he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in musicology in Hanover.

Vahid Verdi: Playing classical piano since childhood and graduated from Fine Arts high school in Filmmaking courses. after earning Bachelor degree in Piano performances from University of Tehran maintaining the activity in computer music. The main works are interdisciplinary and experimental, some singularly and some in collaboration with different artists in Audio Visual, Video art, Theater, Installation and Painting fields.