Michael Pisaro | Wandelweiser Ensemble

Michael Pisaro’s A wave and waves (2006) is an evening-long score for one hundred percussion instruments that, explores in two parts the overlapping and statistical distribution of extremely quiet sounds (sandpaper on stone, plant seeds on glass, knitted bells, small pebbles gently falling on a tam-tam, etc.) in undulating waves. A kind of granular synthesis is created by instrumental means, in which a global sound progression is formed by small, fine, differentiated segments.

For this presentation in WellenFeld H 104 at the TU Berlin, the recording by Greg Stuart on 100 channels was specially adapted for the wave field synthesis system and the acoustic qualities of the concert room. The performance version that will be premiered here connects the technically mediated sounds of the concert with the instrumental sounds of five musicians performing live in the room.