EXTINCTION SOUNDS
- new commisioned work
I am working on a new commission for the amazing festival TronTalks in Alvdal/Tynset, Norway. The work is titled Extinction sounds, and is a locally inspired variant of the idea behind Roraima. The music is written as a double bass concerto in a chamber orcestra format, with an ensemble featuring the wonderful musicianship of Jon Balke - prepared + normal piano, Torben Snekkestad - clarinet and saxophones, Sara Övinge - violin, Bendik Bjørnstad Foss - viola, Tanja Orning - cello, Veslemøy Narvesen - drums, Anders Kregnes Hansen - percussion, and myself on the double bass.
Composers blog
In the liner notes of RORAIMA, I wrote about a dear childhood memory:
“One of my dearest childhood memories is very much about sound. I grew up on a sheep farm in the deep forests of Norway and spent a lot of time every summer on our family cabin helping my parents look after the sheep grazing in the wild. Every morning I woke up to the sound of the animals, insects and birds - a wonderful symphony of nature embracing the new day. Even now, as I think of it after all these years, this sound is vibrant to my mind’s ear triggering all kinds of emotions, and also other kinds of sensory memories like the smell of the rich diversity of flowers surrounding the cabin. As I grew up and moved to the city, I always missed the soundscapes of my childhood even though I greatly appreciated many things in my new “habitat”.
EXTINCTION SOUNDS examines my memory of these sounds. A very personal approach to making music indeed… but, at the same time, the work also looks at more universal issues regarding the nature of sound. Every sound, and every perception of sound, vanishes and never comes back as it was in exactly that moment. Such is the nature of sound. But what we hear, be it spoken human words or the call of a bird, change our perception of reality and may trigger all kinds of emotional respones"
Stay tuned for more info!