Sunday, June 2, 2013

Windschatten - live recording of the premiere

Here comes the live-recording of my composition Windschatten:




Live recording of the premiere of my composition Windschatten for solo flugelhorn, symphony orchestra and live-electronics. Recorded at the St. Nikolai church on May 19 - 2013 (Pentecost). The recording was done with two mics which were located near to the mixing desk at the left side of the church, so of course this recording can't reflect the spatial aspects of this composition.


Performers:
solo flugelhorn: Markus Stockhausen
Hamburger Symphoniker orchestra
conductor: David Porcelijn
live electronics, sound direction: Simon Stockhausen

The performers change their position during the piece. In section A the soloist is located on stage in the altar area of the church together with a drummer (vibraphone, gongs and other instruments). The conductor, a brass section with 10 players and a drummer (timpanies/woodblocks) are located on the gallery, strings and woodwinds are playing at the back of the church.

At the beginning of section B the soloist moves to the gallery, all brass players walk to the stage and the conductor joins the strings and woodwinds.

During a procession before section C the conductor (occasionally ringing a handbell) and all string and woodwind players move from the back of the church to the stage, some musicians play while walking (2 solo violins, 3 flutes, oboe, english horn and 6 violas), the soloist walks from the gallery to the stage (sometimes ringing a hand bell) where everybody then joins to perform the final section C of the piece. At the end the soloist leaves the church while playing, the last motif is played from outside - the entrance area of the church.

Two shotgun mics are positioned outside the church in a park and at certain spots in the score I bring in the signal. Four speakers are positioned around the public to project the live-electronics, derived from the signal of the live instruments and pre-pepared samples.

During sections A+B a video camera films the conductor and transmits the signal to various monitors in the church to provide accurate synchronization of the musicians.

This was the 5th and last premiere during my artist in residence-season with the Hamburger Symphoniker orchestra in 2012/2013.