New Music By Karlheinz Essl

Performed and recorded on 10 Mar 2019 by Karlheinz Essl at Studio kHz using a virtual Steinway D grand piano and a Max patch.

Karlheinz Essl's latest composition for toy piano performed by Isabel Ettenauer (Michelsonne toy piano) and Karlheinz Essl (live-electronics)on July 24th, 2021 at the festival Kulturbrücke Fratres. This composition is an transformation of the original piano piece Trois cent notes where the resonances of the sympathetic strings of the grand piano are simulated by electronic means. By this, the toy piano becomes a new instrument with an artificial sustain pedal. More information and score download at: https://www.essl.at

Binaural recording - listen with headphones! Part of the work-in-progress H.E.A.D. Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, recorded in spring 2021 at various creeks in Lower Austria and processed with MaxMSP: 1) Krumpenwasser ("Gießgang") inside the Stockerauer Au 2) an artificial creek ("Fischwanderhilfe") at the Danube power plant Greifenstein 3) the river Schwechat which flows through Helenental close to the monastery of Heiligenkreuz 4) the Mauerbach near the Carthusian monastery of the same name

Deploração was written in autumn 2020 for the concert project "Lamenti" by the newly founded guitar duo santorsa~pereyra. It was premiered on Mar 26th, 2021 at "Schwere Reiter" in Munich. The piece is not a duo in the conventional sense. The instruments neither engage in a musical dialogue nor accompany each other. Instead, the two guitars together form a meta-instrument. On it, two musicians play a solo piece together as a collective mourning work. One guitarist performs only bottleneck glissandi with the right hand (the left is used solely for muting). The other plucks only the low E string in a wide variety of sound colors and articulations. The idea of lament is transformed into musical gestures. "Always rolling the same stone up the same mountain" (Heiner Müller) - a truly Sisyphean task! The continual ascent and descent take place with relentless rigor. As if the screw of pain and sorrow is being turned tighter and tighter - until the lament and its sound finally die away. More info and score for do

Binaural recording - listen with headphones! Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes with animals, recorded between 2019-2021 at various locations in Austria: 1) pigsty in Carinthia 2) pasture with Angus cattle near Raabs/Thaya 3) pond with bathing dogs at the Prater, Vienna 4) a toddler feeding sheep, goats, and a goose in an animal enclosure near Greifenstein Info: https://www.essl.at/works/HEAD.html

SATOR is an interactive live-electronic extension of my organ piece "tenet opera rotas", based on a computer program written in MaxMSP. It was composed right after the studio recording of the former piece at the request of Pier Damiano Peretti. By using real-time sound processing on the spectral domain, the acoustic organ is transformed into an electroacoustic hyper-instrument which expands itself, opening virtual spaces into the unknown. Info: https://www.essl.at/works/sator.html

Binaural production - listen with headphones! Live-electronic sound performance based on a computer program written in MaxMSP. Recorded live at Studio kHz on 22 Feb 2021. No edits, no overdubs. Info: https://www.essl.at/works/apres-lavant.html

A palindromic organ piece by Karlheinz Essl in memory of Anton Webern and the 75th anniversary of his tragic death on September 15th, 1945. Recorded with Pier Damiano Peretti at Heillersaal of the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna on 17 Feb 2021. Edited and mastered by Karlheinz Essl. https://www.essl.at/works/tenet-opera-rotas.html

300 notes in 4 minutes, the most recent toy piano composition by Karlheinz Essl. Score available for free: www.essl.at Although notated solely in quavers, the tempo encompasses a wide range from very slow to extremely fast. Starting with a speed of MM = 50, it gradually accelerates to MM = 400 which equals three “time octaves”, speaking with Karlheinz Stockhausen (cf. his famous article ...how time passes... from 1957). A similar transition also happens in the harmonic domain where the range of three octaves (from F to f”) finally collapses into a single pitch (f'): And also in the dynamics, a permanent process of crescendo and diminuendo takes place. Needless to mention, all these processes happen simultaneously at the same time. Despite its strict structure, the piece should be played in a fluent rubato attitude with lots of espressivo. Produced by Karlheinz Essl on April 12th, 2020 at Studio Ölberg.

Binaural recording - listen with headphones! Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, recorded between 2018-2020 in different forest in Europe, Africa, and Asia: 1) bamboo grove at Mt. Inari near Kyoto, Japan with Swiss hikers passing by 2) stereophonic water lapping at Levada do Carniçal, Madeira 3) within a dried up corn field near Lake Wörth in Carinthia, Austria 4) a meadow with crickets inside the alluvial forest of the Danube near Stockerau, Austria Part of the work-in-progress H.E.A.D. http://www.essl.at/works/HEAD.html

Binaural recording - listen with headphones! Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, recorded on May 1st, 2019 in Cluj, Romania: 1) inside Biserica Franciscană, a catholic church at the historical center 2) inside Catedrala Mitropolitană, an orthodox temple 3) next to the old city wall 4) families with kids at Parcul Central Simion Bărnutju

Binaural recording: listen with headphones! Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, recorded between 2019 and 2020 during rehearsals with Karlheinz Essl in Vienna, Austria: 1) dress rehearsal of the Arditti Quartet performing Essl's 3rd string quartet at the Mozartsaal of Konzerthaus Vienna 2) setting up the space for a concert of Essl's composition class with the Bösendorfer CEUS computer piano at the University of Music and Performing Art in Vienna 3) Ensemble Reconsil rehearsing Essl's toy piano concerto "under wood" at REAKTOR in Vienna 4) organ registration for Essl's piece "unbestimmt" at the St. Michael, Vienna for a concert of the festival WIEN MODERN http://www.essl.at/works/HEAD.html

Performed by the Arditti Quartet on Nov 1st, 2001 at Konzerthaus Vienna during the festival Wien modern. Binaural recording - listen with headphones! http://www.essl.at/works/upward.html In his story "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius", Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges tells of a fictional culture whose language has no nouns at all: "There is no word that corresponds to the word 'moon', but there is a verb that would be 'lunare' in Latin or ‘to moon' in our language. ‘The moon rose above the river’ reads: blör u fang axaxcas mlö or in exact order of the words: 'Empor hinter dauer-fließen mondet'es (Xul Solar translates in a short form: upa tras perfluyue lunó. Upward, behind the onstreaming it mooned)." In this language, the simplest statements can only be expressed through complicated grammatical constructions, which are, however, full of poetry and magic, as in the example quoted above, to which my quartet owes its title. The string quartet has always been regarded as the supreme discipline of composition

Comment on the Wienerlied "Herrgott aus Sta" by Karl Hodina, performed by Konstantin Reymaier at the new Giant Organ of St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna on Sep 27th, 2020. - Binaural recording: listen with headphones! http://www.essl.at/works/herrgott.html

Binaural recording of the toy piano concerto "under wood", performed by Isabel Ettenauer (toy pianos) and Ensemble Reconscil Vienna (dir. Antanina Kalechyts) on OCt 7th, 2020 at REAKTOR Wien (A). Listen with headphones! http://www.essl.at/works/underwood.html

Binaural recording: listen with headphones! Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, recorded between August 2-4, 2020 in the Castle of Lockenhaus (Burgenland) during cultural talks with representatives of the Austrian music life about the COVID-19 crisis: 1) a round-table discussion on cultural politics), 2) setting up the space for the next panel discussion, 3) morning concert played by the pianist Marino Formenti, 4) thunderstorm with rain and flashes.

Binaural recording - listen with headphones! Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, recorded in 2018 and 2020 at four different churches: 1) evangelical morning service London-Brompton, UK), 2) catholic mass (Funchal Cathedral, Madeira), 3) church concert (Vienna-Lainz, Austria), 4) church cleaning (Tulcea, Romania). Contains organ music from Johannes Ockeghem and from the Buxheim Organ Book. Part of the work-in-progress H.E.A.D. (Hearing Entirely Artificial Dreams) http://www.essl.at/works/HEAD.html

Karlheinz Essl und Eva Linder über ihre Zusammenarbeit für das Hörstück ZUNGENREDEN, das 1990 für das ORF Kunstradio im Studio RP4 produziert wurde. Moderation und Gestaltung: Reinhard Handl Redaktion: Heidi Grundmann

Binaural recording - listen with headphones! Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, recorded between 2019 and 2020 in four different parks around the world: 1) Brompton Park (London, UK), 2) Pötzleinsdorfer Schlosspark (Vienna, Austria), 3) Ryoan-ji Temple Garden (Kyoto, Japan), 4) ressort park (Ooty, Tamil Nadu, India). - Binaural recording: listen with headphones!

Binaural recording: listen with headphones! Generative soundscape based on a two-dimensional random walk between four binaural soundscapes, recorded in 2018 and 2019 at four different bathing locations: 1) Wörthersee (Pörtschach, Carinthia), 2) doggie pool inside the Prater (Vienna, Austria), 3) public beach in Sirmione (Lake Garda, Itay), 4) swimming lake with children (Suchdol nad Lužnicí, Czech Republic).