New Music By Karlheinz Essl

Die Transformation eines Fallenbildes von Daniel Spoerri erinnert uns daran, daß dieses Objekt auch vor und nach seiner Fixierung in anderen Anordnungen existiert. Wir erleben aber auch eine sehr wirkungsvolle Änderung der Sichtweise. Ein Fallenbild von Daniel Spoerri zeigt einen von der Tischgesellschaft verlassenen Eßtisch, welcher in einer Zeitfalle für die Nachwelt konserviert wurde. Daraus wird eine symbolhafte 1. Episode gestaltet, die zeigen soll, dass alles seinen Anfang und sein Ende hat. Der Zuseher entdeckt eine durch den Raum schwebende Anordnung von Tellern, Gläsern, einer Karaffe und Bestecken. Während des Vorübergleitens ist der Betrachter damit beschäftigt, die einzelnen Teile dieser Gruppe wahrzunehmen. Aus dem Ort des Verschwindens dieser Gruppe kommt nun das bekannte Fallenbild und wird dem Publikum präsentiert. Danach beginnt eine Verwandlung. Aus der Vogelschau entsteht eine horizontale und sehr räumliche Ansicht dieses Fallenbildes, die für den Zuschauer bislang unbekannt war. Doch auch

Das Stück beginnt mit Kurzzitaten der nachfolgenden Episoden. Eine Figur, die aus dem Triardischen Ballett von Oskar Schlemmer stammen könnte, paradiert über die Vorbühne und bringt Figuren und Formen der Episoden zum Vorschein, wie sie in den folgenden etwa 40 Minuten auf der Bühne imaginiert werden. Über diesem Geschehen „erglüht“ schließlich der Titel imagination. Nach dem verlöschen der Schrift entschwinden auch die Ankündigungsfiguren. Der Zuseher erkennt am Bühnenhintergrund eine Uhr, die während des Stückes unablässig an die Vergänglichkeit erinnert und zugleich als einzig berechenbare Konstante unter diesen sich andauernd verändernden Bildern erscheint. (Ulrich Chmel)

Auszug aus der generativen Klang-und Textinstallation "es wird" auf einen Text des Architekten Heinz Tesar. Im Rahmen des Festivals WIEN MODERN 2000 wurde diese Arbeit im neu eröffneten Essl Museum präsentiert. Info: http://www.essl.at/works/es_wird.html

Binaural production - listen with headphones! Live recording of the premiere performed in Brisbane (AUS) on July 29th, 2016. This piece was composed during my artistic residency at the Queensland Conservatorium in Brisbane, Australia in summer 2016. Ever morning, I woke up by the birds singing frenetically in front of my window. Sounds that I never had heard before although we know the same species (namely the magpie) also in Austria; but here they are sounding quite different. Exploring Brisbane and its surrounding with a bike brought me in closer contact to the botanic environment of the city, namely around the Brisbane river to which I was listening through so-called hydrophones. All these sounds and the pulsating flow of energy that I sensed everywhere inspired me to compose this piece which can be regarded as a personal garland to this wonderful city. Brisky Breath was performed on my realtime composition environment m@ze°2, an interactive software written in Max that allows the spontaneous creation

Karlheinz Essl's legendary realtime composition, performed by the composer himself at the NIME 2106 Conference in Brisbane, Australia on a Yamaha Disklavier. Lexikon-Sonate is an interactive realtime composition environment for musical composition and live performances. It takes advantage of composition algorithms that has been developed by Karlheinz Essl since 1985. With this algorithmic music generator on can easily create fascinating and complex musical structures on the fly. Furthermore, Lexikon-Sonate is an infinite music installation that can run on a computer for years without repeating itself. Finally, Lexikon-Sonate can be used as an instrument for live performance of electronic music. Download the software: http://www.essl.at/software.html

Free improvisation about Nietzsche and Wagner by OUT OF THE BLUE with Agnes Heginger (vocals) and Karlheinz Essl (live-electronics). Recorded live at the Essl Museum (Klosterneuburg/Vienna) on April 27th, 2016. Das Offene und Unerwartete ist Ausgangspunkt dieser Performance, die von Friedrich Nietzsche und seinem ambivalenten Verhältnis zu Richard Wagner inspiriert ist. Eine Auswahl seiner Texte, Gedanken und Gedichte dient als Material und Katalysator eines Prozesses, der sich momentan auf der Bühne ereignet und keinem vorgegebenen Plan folgt.

Parsifal-Kristall transforms the salvation choir from Wagner’s sacred festival drama by utilizing a new technique for his “art of transition”. The music of the finale, which dissolves all the dramatic tensions and conciliates all the contrasts of Wagner’s music drama, now runs backwards, beginning with the last crescendo and leading into clusters of interleaving layers of the musical material, as if Wagner’s promise of blessedness should again be questioned. Essl stretches the reversed sound segments of Wagner's original once, twice, four times and eight times. Like loops, these musical layers are interwoven into a texture. The composer controls the algorithmic mixture of the material creating individual combinations. In spite of his complex deconstruction, Essl saves the aura of Wagner’s homophonic music. In a process of condensation and equalization, the blurred transitions develop a musical dramaturgy of their own. This soundscape recalls Mahler’s polyphony, which let music of different origins sound toge

Sound scape "middle ages" from Karlheinz Essl's sound/video/performance OMNIA IN OMNIBUS (2015)

Sound scape "present time" from Karlheinz Essl's sound/video/performance OMNIA IN OMNIBUS (2015)

Granular synthesis processing of Heinrich Isaac's "Innsbrucklied" (15th century). Excerpt from Karlheinz Essl's sound/video/performance OMNIA IN OMNIBUS (2015).

Granular synthesis processing of Mönch von Salzburg's "Das Kühhorn" (14th century). Excerpt from Karlheinz Essl's sound/video/performance OMNIA IN OMNIBUS (2015).

Amazing Maze is a computer program written by Karlheinz Essl in 1993 ff. It automatically generates music by manipulating sampled instrumental sounds according to certain compositional strategies that are carried out in different structure generators. Each generator synthesizes its own characteristic sonic world. The compositional algorithms have been programmed in MaxMSP by taking advantage of my Real Time Composition Library (RTC-lib). This collection of software modules offers the possibility to experiment with a number of compositional techniques, such as serial procedures, permutations and controlled randomness. Free download of the software (Mac/PC)from http://www.essl.at

Performed and recorded by Karlheinz Essl on 14 Jan 2009 at Studio kHz. Having played the electric guitar as a rock-obsessed teenager, I re-discovered it 25 years later. In the meantime, I have studied composition and musicology and became heavily involved with electronic and computer music. Working as a composer writing complex musical scores I felt more and more the desire to re-connect to those ecstatic times when I was performing on stage with my electric guitar. But first I developed my own idiosyncratic electronic instrument called m@ze°2 (1998 ff.) which I am still using for free improvisation and live performances. In 2007, I was ready for another change when the handling with MIDI controllers, graphic tablets, keyboards, computer mouses and pedals became more and more insufficient. I was seeking for an instantaneous, tactile input device to be included into my live-electronic setup. First I was thinking of a custom-made wooden resonance box equipped with strings, contact microphones and pickups that

Ausschnitt aus dem 2014 entstandenen KUNSTRADIO-Hörstück "Herbeck extended" - eine Hommage an den Lyriker Ernst Herbeck. Als Ausgangsmaterial diente eine Tonbandaufnahme mit der Stimme des schizophrenen Dichters, der aufgrund einer Gaumenspalte sich sprachlich kaum artikulieren konnte. Info: http://www.essl.at/works/herbeck-extended.html

This is a 5 hour recording of Karlheinz Essl's sound installation WebernUhrWerk. Every 15 minutes, a short Carillon phrase based on the twelve-tone row of Anton Webern is played. Be aware that most of the time this piece is silent! The original composition, however, is based on a generative computer program which you can download from here: http://www.essl.at/works/webernuhrwerk/download.html It was created for commemorating the 70th anniversary of Webern's death on 15 September 2015 in a global event called "World-Wide Webern". In order to join in, you can use this recording. Start it exactly at the beginning of a full hour and let it run for 5 hours. When finished, you can repeat the piece as long as you like.

A computer program that automatically composes dodecaphonic Carillon music based on the twelve-tone row of Anton Webern's last composition - commemorating his sudden and unexpected death on 15 Sep 1945 as he was accidentally shot dead by an American GI. The program simulates a Carillon which plays a short musical phrase every 15 minutes which never repeats itself. More information and download link: http://www.essl.at/works/webernuhrwerk/download.html

Final part of Karlheinz Essl’s sound/video performance Omnia in omnibus, created for the 650th anniversary of the University of Vienna. Recorded live at Studio kHz on June 13th, 2015. Info: http://www.essl.at/works/OIO.html

Performed by Goska Isphording (harpsichord) and Anne Veinberg (toy pianos) during the Prix Annelie de Man on May 28th, 2015 at Het Orgelpark in Amsterdam (NL). In this piece, two toy pianos are combined with a two-manual harpsichord - an instrument with a long history and an impressive repertory, as opposed to the toy piano. Although both keyboards are so different in every respect, they are forming a unit where the differences are reconciled and their individual "weakness" is counter-balanced by the other instrument. With "united forces" (so the translation of the latin title), they are creating a new entity which results in a new sound, something that has never been heard before. Info: http://www.essl.at/works/viribus-unitis.html

Erster Teil aus Karlheinz Essl KUNSTRADIO-Stück "Herbeck extended" über den Dichter Ernst Herbeck (1920-1991), der die meiste Zeit seines Lebens im psychiatrischen Krankenhaus Maria Gugging verbrachte. Was zunächst wie ein herkömmliches Literaturfeature beginnt entwickelt sich aber schon bald zu einem bedrohlichen Szenario, in dem die Stimmen, die Ernst Herbeck Zeit seines Lebens verfolgt haben, die Oberhand gewinnen. Info: http://www.essl.at/works/herbeck-extended.html

Letzter Teil aus Karlheinz Essl KUNSTRADIO-Stück "Herbeck extended" über den Dichter Ernst Herbeck (1920-1991), der die meiste Zeit seines Lebens im psychiatrischen Krankenhaus Maria Gugging verbrachte. Im Nachlass Ernst Herbeck wurde von der Literaturwissenschaftlerin Gisela Steinlechner einen Fragebogen gefunden, den der Psychiater Leo Navratil aufgesetzt hatte. Die Fragen waren mit Schreibmaschine getippt; darunter hat Herbeck seine Antworten hingekritzelt. - Dieses Frage-und-Antwort Spiel zwischen der Stimmen von Sandra Kreisler und einer Computerstimme namens Leopold ereignet sich vor dem Hintergrund einer sich äußerst langsam bewegenden hochexpressiven Orchestermusik, in der Mozart anklingt, der erklärte Lieblingskomponist Ernst Herbecks. Info: http://www.essl.at/works/herbeck-extended.html