Nikolaus von Bemberg
ALICE CPH
13th June 21.30
Programme
Jeppe Just Christensen: Cinema organ #1 (WP)
Pauline Oliveros: Horse sings from cloud
Rob Durnin: Polyptych (WP)
Through three distinct pieces, the multi-instrumentalist Nikolaus von Bemberg explores the complex relationship between performer and instrument. In Rob Durnin’s Polyptych, the many attitudes harbored by a pianist towards the piano – resentment, trepidation, intimacy – are presented as a sequence of short movements, whereas Pauline Oliveros haunting accordion and voice piece, Horse sings from cloud, features the performer singing in meditative symbiosis with his instrument. Jeppe Just Christensen’s Cinema organ #1 is written for an old practice piano designed for silently practicing finger placement, thus inviting the listener into an intimate space seldom heard by an audience.
The pieces are strikingly performative. In Polyptych, for instance, the grand piano is divided into a kind of theatre containing other smaller instruments. The pianist is bound to the instrument through a complex network of transducers and microphones connected to their fingers, creating a sphere of feedback between performer and instrument. As a contraption that absorbs the experiences of the musician playing it, the piano of Polyptych regurgitates the music that has already been. Similarly, in Cinema organ #1, the "instrument" has been transformed into a kind of multi-piano able to activate and control a range of automated instruments and machines. The silent piano, then, although seemingly useless as an actual instrument, suddenly becomes capable of producing a whole range of sounds.
Support
Supported by Dansk Komponist Forening & KODA Kultur, Wilhelm Hansen Fonden, and Statens Kunstfond.
Venue
ALICE CPH
Nørre Allé 7 2200 København
> See MapArtists
Nikolaus von Bemberg (1991)
Pianist and multi-instrumentalist renowned for his surprising and unconventional programs. He specializes in contemporary mixed media works and music that incorporates performative elements. At the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, he recently conducted an artistic research project challenging the role of the classical pianist.
Rob Durnin ((1998-))
Copenhagen-based composer and performer. His music often fixates on the characteristics and architectures of musical technologies, as well as novel manners of interacting with them. As both pianist, performer, and curator, he is a member of the experimental ensemble K!ART.
Pauline Oliveros ((1932-2016))
American composer and accordionist. As one of the key figures in the development of the practice known as “deep listening”, she emphasized the importance of paying attention to sound in all its forms and contexts. Her works often blended elements of improvisation, meditation, and non-traditional music-making techniques.
Jeppe Just Christensen ((1978-))
Danish composer and music theorist. His work explores everyday objects, movement, childhood, and nostalgia, often incorporating amateurism, folk music, and street music. He creates one-man-band concepts and reconfigures found objects and instruments both musically and visually.
