Composition Commission issued to Thomas Hummel: Timbre Unity and Timbre Masses

Lithuanian Ensemble Network, Vilnius, Lithuania

 

"Timbre Masses versus Timbre Unity" is the title of an international project featuring Baltic and German composers presented by the LENsemble Vilnius together with the festivals Gaida Vilnius and Arenafest Riga to mark the one hundredth Day of Independence of the Baltic countries Lithuania and Latvia. Two concerts will be held in Vilnius and Riga. Furthermore, the project will be presented and discussed at the international conference ‘Doctors in Performance’ at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.

In the concerts contrasting works will be performed that deal with tonal unity juxtaposed with the explosive tonal variety of the contemporary musical instrument. Here largely contemporary instrumental databases will be used. Today, virtual orchestras are available that are more than just a copy of real orchestras of New Music. They offer the entire experience in a vast variety of possible playing techniques and timbre nuances.

As part of the project a new composition will also be presented by Thomas Hummel that is being supported by the EvS Music Foundation. The composer has already published numerous works that deal with the organization of instrumental timbre using databases. In the new work for violoncello, two keyboard players and five trumpets the tonal unity of the trumpets on the one hand is to be juxtaposed with a mass of possible timbres from keyboards programmed with ever new con-timbre sounds. On the other hand, trumpets with their many different damper types as well as the violoncello can convey the spectrum between timbre unity and timbre masses.

With the project LENsemble Vilnius wishes to draw the Baltic audience’s attention to their exploration of artificial orchestras of New Music over real music or rather instrumental timbre masses over timbre unity. Here they demonstrate that new and audibly individual musical-aesthetic directions can be adopted. Thomas Hummel’s compositional work is indispensable for this goal.

 

September 4–6, 2018
Conference ‘Doctors in Performance’, Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre Vilnius: internal (lecture/pre-premiere), Vilnius, Lithuania

October 25 – November 7, 2018
Gaida Festival Vilnius, Contemporary Art Centre (Premiere), Vilnius, Lithuania

October 20 – November 3, 2018
Arenafest Riga, Reformation Church, Riga, Latvia

 

Further information:
lithuanian-ensemble.net