Ensemble Dedalus III

Peter Ablinger’s subtle open scores, often based on concise instructions and detailed drawings, characterise both his work Instruments & (sketchbook) and the WEISS / WEISSLICH series, which the Austrian composer and long-time Berlin resident developed over a period of 30 years. The Dedalus Ensemble presents several pieces from Instrument und Rauschen, in which individual instruments are contrasted with different qualities of noise, sound, and microtonal sound structures.

Since her childhood, Pascale Criton has been experimenting with finely tuned instruments, which she tunes down to one-sixteenth of a standard tone for her compositions. The Dedalus Ensemble is focusing on her latest compositions: Bothsways combines solos and duets for violin and cello, which are played in sixteenth-tone tuning. The piece explores expressive qualities and extended microtonal techniques that arise in the duality and harmony (both) of the vibrations (sways). It is carried by the principle of instability, by flowing transitions between different states and playing styles. Each movement brings to the fore the subtle sonic variations between timbre, sound, and noise in a different expressive style. Process for quintet plays with a balance of free-floating variables, tense at first and then slowly shifting into a descending movement. These mobile elements gradually stabilise into a regular beat pattern. Steppings is based on a constant percussive motif. On top of this, the microtonally tuned string instruments and multiphonically played wind instruments create subtle sonic variations at the borders between timbre, sound, and noise. Streams explores transformations of sound in interaction with the surrounding space. The five instruments play with tiny variations that encourage interference such as beats and other psychoacoustic phenomena.

As part of MaerzMusik, the Dedalus Ensemble is performing several portrait concerts offering insight into unique projects, all based on open scores. These projects and the exceptional musicians involved have enabled the ensemble to develop its own distinctive, dense sound. Defying traditional categories, the ensemble’s artistic practice follows elaborate concepts yet conveys a sensual experience that remains both radical and captivating, subtle and powerful.