Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Volker Bertelmann and múm
Drowning (2015)
- Bosworth Music (World)
Commissioned by mdr, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk
DROWNING consists of 7 separate pieces, each with a different orchestration.
- 2(alt)+pic.2+ca.2(Ebcl)+bcl(asx)+[asx].2(cbn)/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.3perc/hp.pf.cel/str
- Prepared piano (Hauschka), Electronics and various instruments (Múm - Örvar Þóreyjarson Smárason / Gunnar Örn Tynes on), Drum Kit (Samuli Kosminen)
- 45 min
- Volker Bertelmann and múm
Programme Note
DROWNING consists of 7 separate pieces, each with a different orchestration:
I – In Daylight (múm)
II – In Rippling Ink (HAUSCHKA)
III – In a Bathtub on a Hilltop (múm)
IV – In Hushed Decent (HAUSCHKA)
VII – In Nightlight (múm)
When múm and HAUSCHKA toured together in America around seven or eight years ago, there was always a lingering feeling that our paths would intertwine again at some other time and place. Rolling down the dusty highways, from state to state, none of us would have imagined that this place would be the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. This fortuitous crossing of paths was destined to be fertile ground. Both parties share a kinship, a similar musical vantage point, but in their individual approach the two are worlds apart.
The process
The proposed work was to consist of seven to ten individual, but interlinking parts: individual pieces weaving together in a thematic and atmospheric whole. After conversations via Skype and a highly beneficial meeting with HAUSCHKA in Leipzig in January, we were set on a course. To begin with, we individually started drawing up sketches of the pieces, keeping the notion of our discussed concept close by. HAUSCHKA would then travel to Iceland in early March in order to spend a few days in múm’s studio in Reykjavík, comparing these sketches and subsequently to exchange individual parts or pieces to be worked on simultaneously. On our side we were to be working closely with two orchestrators in the arrangements of our pieces: Eiríkur Orri Ólafsson, who has collaborated with múm since 1999, playing and touring with the band for many years. He has also arranged most of the string section recordings on múm’s albums, as well as the orchestrations for our collaboration with the National Dutch Chamber Orchestra at Holland Festival and The Sinfonietta Cracovia and the Polish Radio Choir for Sacrum Profanum festival. Eiríkur has also worked closely with Sigur Rós, arranging and overseeing both brass and string sections on recent tours. Then there is Örn Eldjárn, who graduated in Film Music Composition from the Iceland University of Arts in 2010. He has worked closely with film composer Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson on various projects and film scores.
The working concept: Drowning
“I can’t listen to you. I can’t listen to your voice. It’s as though I’d drunk a bottle of anise and fallen asleep wrapped in a quilt of roses. It pulls me along – and I know I’m drowning – but I go on down.” - Federico García Lorca, Bodas de sangre
Work on the conceptual side of the pieces has been simmering for a few months now and we are nearing a consensus. The idea of rooting our thematic approach in the notion of drowning might seem gloomy, even morbid, at first glance, especially considering the fact that the performance will take place in midsummer and the theme of the festival is clearly connected with the seasons. But the abstraction of drowning carries much wider connotations, which correspond as much with life as with death or with light as much as with darkness. In the English language the word itself may just as easily be associated with the positive as the negative and thus it would not seem out of place to say that someone was drowning in light, drowning in joy. Myths surrounding drowning often carry the notion that it is a rapturous, even blissful, way to die. It is a fascinating thought that, at this junction of life and death, we might find a euphoric state and one that would unquestionably lend itself comfortably to our approach to music: ethereal and ambiguous, resting in a space between darkness and light.
The performance
For the performance itself, the focus will be on the orchestra accompanied by and múm’s Gunnar and Örvar and long term múm percussionist Samuli Kosminen, keeping the option of additional performers from the múm collective open. If the compositions will call upon a certain voice, texture or instrumentation, we do have access to a wide pool of trusted collaborators. múm’s music has, through the years, been based around explorations in electronic music and this will be a central component in parts of the performance. The emphasis will be on locally amplified electronics, so as to integrate it better with the sound of the orchestra. A separate larger PA would, we feel, lead to disjunction from the whole and so we would look into strategic acoustic placement of both the source as well as any monitors needed for other performers. Samuli Kosminen has worked extensively with both múm and and is one of Finland’s most internationally successful percussion players. His long-term working relationship with Finnish accordion player Kimmo Pohjonen has led to work with both Kronos Quartet and the quartet’s former cellist Jeffrey Ziegler. Samuli has been nominated for the Harpa Nordic Film Composer Award and writes for both TV and film. As a session percussionist Samuli is best known for his work on key albums by Icelandic artists Jónsi, Emiliana Torrini and Bubbi Morthens.
I – In Daylight (múm)
II – In Rippling Ink (HAUSCHKA)
III – In a Bathtub on a Hilltop (múm)
IV – In Hushed Decent (HAUSCHKA)
VII – In Nightlight (múm)
When múm and HAUSCHKA toured together in America around seven or eight years ago, there was always a lingering feeling that our paths would intertwine again at some other time and place. Rolling down the dusty highways, from state to state, none of us would have imagined that this place would be the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. This fortuitous crossing of paths was destined to be fertile ground. Both parties share a kinship, a similar musical vantage point, but in their individual approach the two are worlds apart.
The process
The proposed work was to consist of seven to ten individual, but interlinking parts: individual pieces weaving together in a thematic and atmospheric whole. After conversations via Skype and a highly beneficial meeting with HAUSCHKA in Leipzig in January, we were set on a course. To begin with, we individually started drawing up sketches of the pieces, keeping the notion of our discussed concept close by. HAUSCHKA would then travel to Iceland in early March in order to spend a few days in múm’s studio in Reykjavík, comparing these sketches and subsequently to exchange individual parts or pieces to be worked on simultaneously. On our side we were to be working closely with two orchestrators in the arrangements of our pieces: Eiríkur Orri Ólafsson, who has collaborated with múm since 1999, playing and touring with the band for many years. He has also arranged most of the string section recordings on múm’s albums, as well as the orchestrations for our collaboration with the National Dutch Chamber Orchestra at Holland Festival and The Sinfonietta Cracovia and the Polish Radio Choir for Sacrum Profanum festival. Eiríkur has also worked closely with Sigur Rós, arranging and overseeing both brass and string sections on recent tours. Then there is Örn Eldjárn, who graduated in Film Music Composition from the Iceland University of Arts in 2010. He has worked closely with film composer Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson on various projects and film scores.
The working concept: Drowning
“I can’t listen to you. I can’t listen to your voice. It’s as though I’d drunk a bottle of anise and fallen asleep wrapped in a quilt of roses. It pulls me along – and I know I’m drowning – but I go on down.” - Federico García Lorca, Bodas de sangre
Work on the conceptual side of the pieces has been simmering for a few months now and we are nearing a consensus. The idea of rooting our thematic approach in the notion of drowning might seem gloomy, even morbid, at first glance, especially considering the fact that the performance will take place in midsummer and the theme of the festival is clearly connected with the seasons. But the abstraction of drowning carries much wider connotations, which correspond as much with life as with death or with light as much as with darkness. In the English language the word itself may just as easily be associated with the positive as the negative and thus it would not seem out of place to say that someone was drowning in light, drowning in joy. Myths surrounding drowning often carry the notion that it is a rapturous, even blissful, way to die. It is a fascinating thought that, at this junction of life and death, we might find a euphoric state and one that would unquestionably lend itself comfortably to our approach to music: ethereal and ambiguous, resting in a space between darkness and light.
The performance
For the performance itself, the focus will be on the orchestra accompanied by and múm’s Gunnar and Örvar and long term múm percussionist Samuli Kosminen, keeping the option of additional performers from the múm collective open. If the compositions will call upon a certain voice, texture or instrumentation, we do have access to a wide pool of trusted collaborators. múm’s music has, through the years, been based around explorations in electronic music and this will be a central component in parts of the performance. The emphasis will be on locally amplified electronics, so as to integrate it better with the sound of the orchestra. A separate larger PA would, we feel, lead to disjunction from the whole and so we would look into strategic acoustic placement of both the source as well as any monitors needed for other performers. Samuli Kosminen has worked extensively with both múm and and is one of Finland’s most internationally successful percussion players. His long-term working relationship with Finnish accordion player Kimmo Pohjonen has led to work with both Kronos Quartet and the quartet’s former cellist Jeffrey Ziegler. Samuli has been nominated for the Harpa Nordic Film Composer Award and writes for both TV and film. As a session percussionist Samuli is best known for his work on key albums by Icelandic artists Jónsi, Emiliana Torrini and Bubbi Morthens.
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